Two western senators urged members of the conference committee negotiating a comprehensive energy package to move quickly because their states have been devastated by this year’s wildfire season. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Steve Daines, D-Mont., sent a letter Tuesday to the top lawmakers on the energy bill conference committee to include changes to the way wildfires are fought by the federal government.
Reforms to the U.S. Forest Service’s management of wildfires are included in the legislation. Lawmakers want to end the Forest Service’s practice of fire borrowing, or taking money from other parts of the agency’s budget to fight wildfires. About half of the Forest Service’s budget is now spent on fighting wildfires.
Daines and Feinstein co-sponsored legislation to allow the federal government to declare wildfires natural disasters, which would open new streams of funding.
“We urge you to include reforms in the final energy bill to enable the Forest Service to pay for fighting extraordinary wildfires similarly to how other agencies pay for disaster responses — through funding that is unconstrained by stringent spending caps,” the letter stated. “We believe this reform is critically needed and appropriate considering that natural conditions such as chronic drought unquestionably elevate the risk and severity of wildfires.”
According to the letter, more than 630,000 acres of California and 100,000 acres of Montana have been burned in wildfires this year. Millions more acres are considered in danger of burning.
From the Washinton Examiner: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senators-push-wildfire-legislation-in-energy-bill-negotiations/article/2603619