DeFazio Blasts Republicans For Ignoring Western Wildfire Funding Crisis

Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR) blasted House Republicans for ignoring the wildfire funding crisis and instead wasting time on pointless legislation that undermines the Endangered Species Act.

“The West is on fire, and the Forest Service has notified us that they will run out of money to fight these fires in the very near future. What this means is they will borrow from their fuel reduction accounts and stop projects that mitigate, prevent, or lessen the severity of future fires. There is bipartisan, bicameral legislation that is supported by the President of the United States—rarer than any of the species we are talking about today. This legislation would fix the way we deal with these fires to give agencies the tools they need over time. This committee has not seen fit to hold a single hearing on this issue—not one. But here we are, at yet another hearing on bills that gut the ESA and are going nowhere in the Senate. I just spent five weeks out in the real world, and now I’m back inside the Beltway. I’m assuming my colleagues who are cosponsors of that bipartisan bill to fix wildfire were also back in the real world. Why haven’t these cosponsors signed onto the Discharge Petition to force a vote on this bill they claim to support, over the objections of Republican leadership? Yes, the Endangered Species Act needs updating. But none of the bills discussed in today’s hearing are real or thoughtful approaches,” said DeFazio.

You can access the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRaosETY8sY&list=UUB6LGE5-_i-xxtZxk1_SeTg

BACKGROUND

DeFazio, along with Representatives Scott Peters (D-CA) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), has led Democratic efforts in the House to force a vote on a stalled bipartisan, bicameral bill that would treat extreme wildfires as disasters and end the need to borrow from fire prevention efforts to pay to fight fires. House Democrats are using a discharge petition to try and bypass Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership to allow a quick vote on the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (H.R. 3992), introduced by Reps. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR).

Democrats began to gather signatures on the petition in July and need 218 signatures to bring the stalled legislation to the floor for an up or down vote. The petition currently stands at 196 signatures and needs just 22 more to force the vote.

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act currently has 104 co-sponsors, including 52 Republicans. The legislation would end the cycle of fire-borrowing by treating catastrophic wildfires like similar major disasters such as floods and hurricanes. Under the bill, routine wildland firefighting costs, which make up about 70% of the cost of wildfire suppression, would be funded through a normal budgeting process. The true emergency fire events, which represent about 1% of wildland fires but eat up 30% of the budgeted funds, would be treated like similar major natural disasters.

The proposal would immediately free up as much as $412 million, which could be used for a variety of programs to reduce fire risk and remove hazardous fuels.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) are the original sponsors of the Senate legislation (S. 1875).

In April, House Natural Resource Committee Democrats released a report that shows that deep budget cuts have hindered efforts by the U.S. Forest Service (Service) and the Department of Interior (DOI) to fight catastrophic wildfires in the last few years. The report found that fire suppression funding for the Service was slashed nearly in half over the last few years, from $1.4 billion in FY2010 to $850 million in FY2012. These cuts have forced the Service and DOI to “borrow”, or transfer funds, from other fire prevention and restoration programs to respond to the extreme wildfires of recent years and fill shortfalls in suppression funding.

The Forest Service in 2013 alone redirected more than $500 million to firefighting from other programs, while the Interior Department redirected more than $34 million.

In just 2013, the Service borrowed from many important programs, including the following:

• $183 million from Restoration of Forest Lands and Improvements;
• $40 million from the National Forest System;
• $30 million from Brush Disposal; and
• $30 million from Improvements and Maintenance.

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act would fix the “fire-borrowing” issue.

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