#Wildfires
#WDFA
Written content reposted from:
GARAMENDI SIGNS DISCHARGE PETITION TO COMPEL VOTE FOR WILDFIRE DISASTER AID FUNDING
Jul 11, 2014 Issues: Agriculture, Economy, Environment, Fiscal Responsibility, Transportation and Infrastructure, Water
WASHINGTON, DC – As the scourge of wildfires in California continues, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-03), former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Interior, today joined 85 of his colleagues in signing a discharge petition that would force consideration of H.R. 3992, the bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014. When a majority of Members of the House of Representatives sign onto a discharge petition, the bill automatically comes to the House Floor for a vote.
“This commonsense bipartisan legislation would enable us to better protect our communities and land from the dangerous spread of wildfires,” said Garamendi. “The historic drought in the West has turned California into a tinderbox. While these are both natural disasters, they are both within our control to effectively manage.”
The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, a bipartisan bill authored by Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID-02) and Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR-05), makes commonsense changes to treat the budget for federal wildfires like those for similar major disasters, such as floods and hurricanes. It ensures that money intended for forest management activities is used as it was originally intended. For example, it would ensure resources go to needed ongoing services like general forest management and hazardous fuel reductions that would help to prevent catastrophic fires. When firefighting costs balloon beyond appropriated levels, the bill would require the use of contingency money rather than dipping into forest management money.
The Monticello fire near Lake Berryessa has burned nearly 6,400 acres in Northern California and has required 1,533 firefighters, 121 engines, 46 fire crews, three helicopters, 18 bulldozers and 25 water tenders. Under current law, the extraordinary expense of the Monticello fire will result in a reduction in money available for forest management. This will result in reduced funds for forest hazard reduction, thus creating a greater probability for more fires in the future. The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014 would help us prepare for future wildfires in order to make them less severe, which saves lives and saves money.
#Vote4Wilderness
#Wildfires
#WDFA
Written content reposted from Western Priorities:
Photo courtesy of July Complex Fire @JulyComplexInfo
THE REVEALING POLITICS BEHIND THE ISSUE OF “FIRE-BORROWING” AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT
The 31 Congressional Co-Sponsors of the Bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act Bills H.R. 3992 and S. 1875 Who Have Not Yet Signed Off On the Dishcharge Petition Needed to Avail Wildland Firefighting Funds
August 20. 2014
Author: Greg Zimmerman
By Greg Zimmerman and Jessica Goad
Wildfires are a perennial issue in the American West, and the question of how to pay their costs has never been more significant. http://headwaterseconomics.org/wphw/wp-content/uploads/fire-costs-background-report.pdf But, in a twist that could only occur in today’s political climate, a broad bipartisan fix to this issue is currently mired in gridlock.
At issue is the fact that when wildland firefighting costs exceed the funding that is appropriated every year, the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior are forced to dip into other accounts.
This is called “fire-borrowing,” and it’s not a good policy.
By “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” as the old adage goes, the federal government is actually draining critical money earmarked to reduce wildfire risks just to keep up with the growing costs of wildfire.
This week, the Western Governors Association even chimed in with a letter http://www.westgov.org/images/wildfire_letter_final.pdf to Congressional leadership “strongly urging” them to “resolve this burgeoning problem for the West without further delay.”
Unlike most public policy issues, and natural resources issues in particular, this one has a potential bipartisan solution.
The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014 https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3992/text has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Under this act, the most expensive wildfires each year would be paid from disaster funds, similar to how the federal government funds recovery for other natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes.
More than a quarter of the members of the United States House have co-sponsored this bill, including over 50 Republicans. In fact, a Center for Western Priorities analysis finds that 65% of all Western House members have co-sponsored the bill.
But here’s the rub: in order to quickly move the bill through the House of Representatives, 218 members (an absolute majority) must sign a “discharge petition” http://clerk.house.gov/113/lrc/pd/petitions/DisPet0010.xml for the bill. Currently, the discharge petition is only a few dozen signatures short of the necessary 218. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/04/hung-out-to-dry-simpson-gop-lawmakers-abandon-wildfire-bill
Here are the bill’s cosponsors who have not yet lent their names to the discharge petition:
Arizona: Rep. Matt Salmon (R)
California: Rep. Ken Calvert (R), Rep. David Valadao (R), Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R), Rep. Paul Cook (R), Rep. Devin Nunes (R), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R), Rep. Darrell Issa (R), Rep. Buck McKeon (R), Rep. Edward Royce (R), Rep. Tom McClintock (R), Rep. Jeff Denham (R), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R)
Colorado: Rep. Scott Tipton (R), Rep. Cory Gardner (R), Rep. Mike Coffman (R), Rep. Doug Lamborn (R)
Idaho: Rep. Michael Simpson (R), Rep. Raul Labrador (R)
Montana: Rep. Steve Daines (R)
New Mexico: Rep. Stevan Pearce (R)
Nevada: Rep. Mark Amodei (R)
Oregon: Rep. Kurt Schrader (D), Rep. Greg Walden (R)
Utah: Rep. Rob Bishop (R), Rep. Chris Stewart (R), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R), Rep. Jim Matheson (D)
Washington: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R), Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R), Rep. David Reichert (R)
It’s unclear why these politicians have not yet signed the discharge petition. An explanation could go a long way toward resolving the future of wildfire suppression funding in the west.
#Vote4Wilderness
#Wildfires
#WDFA
WILDFIRE DISASTER FUNDING ACT
S.B. 1875 and H.R. 3992
Reposted from The Sacramento Bee:
VIEWPOINTS: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SHOULD HAVE SEPARATE ACCOUNT TO FIGHT WILDFIRES
Tracy Porter of Paradise uses an ax to break up a burning tree damaged in the Eiler fire last month in Lassen National Park.
Photo credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez / The Associated Press
By Ron Sundergill
Special to The Bee
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2014 - 12:00 am
This summer’s El Portal fire threatened Yosemite National Park, destroyed homes and wildlife habitat, and endangered historic buildings and local economies. With the 4,500-plus-acre wildfire now fully contained, Americans are left with a price tag exceeding $10 million.
Wildfires like this one are emergencies that put us at the mercy of Mother Nature, the same as hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. It’s time to take a critical step toward financing wildfire response in the same manner as other disasters. It’s time for Congress to pass the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.
Like many Americans, I am a homeowner. I have insurance, so if a fire damages my house, I don’t have to rob my grocery budget to repair the damage. Our national parks are not so fortunate. While an emergency account addresses tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters, wildfires are not covered.
Instead, the outdated funding system relies on the Interior Department and Forest Service to project firefighting budgets on the average of what was spent over the last decade. However, anyone who remembers last year’s Rim fire – which affected Yosemite and surrounding communities and cost more than $127 million to fight – can understand that with the increase in the number and severity of wildfires, coupled with severe drought conditions, averages from previous years do not cover current needs.
When funding runs out after such expensive disasters, our National Park Service http://lingows.appspot.com/link/?@li2=2845&is_lhid=0&key=ATPUCNWCXV&portal_key=3_Sacbee&ps_id=GoNzJxbi49&q=QQ:lqOTqjptCQ{:[UISSZSORJJOPUG.HOGSPDVOqptJ:pnCAOqmj_J:pnCGGO4aJm8CUGURA:GHZGKVV§ion_key=&site_id=&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftopics.sacbee.com%2FNational%2BPark%2BService%2F&url_key=_TaCSO0CDPI{UGHGBK&v=1&~boot=1409678853788 and other federal land agencies have to borrow from their own proverbial grocery budgets to cover the costs. At our national parks, which are already significantly underfunded, that can mean delays for critical upkeep and repair projects, adding to a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $11 billion. This puts our historic landmarks, visitor centers, campgrounds and well-traveled park roadways at risk, and will cost taxpayers more in the long run.
Since there is no dependable mechanism for paying for even the most catastrophic fires, by the time the next year’s budget cycle begins, our national parks start day one with a deficit – at the expense of much-needed park services, including rangers and educational programs.
When it reconvenes this month, Congress has an unmatched opportunity to address this growing problem through the widely supported, bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. Unfortunately, as with many other important pieces of legislation surrounding the future of our national parks and public lands, our congressional leaders are stalled.
If Congress fails to act, it will be yet another example of how its inaction has shortchanged parks and the American people. The inability to compromise over the last four years has led to a 13 percent cut, when adjusted for inflation, to National Park Service budgets.
Last year, despite a 16-day government shutdown that cost local communities $500 million and months of damaging across-the-board “sequester” cuts, our 401 national parks welcomed more than 273 million visitors who spent $14.6 billion in nearby communities and supported nearly 240,000 jobs. Our national parks provide a $10 economic return for every one dollar invested. Investing in them is one of the smartest decisions our congressional leaders can make.
This year, we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant Act, which originally protected the park’s beloved Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley. As we look to the park’s next 150 years, as well as the upcoming 100th anniversary of our National Park System in 2016, it is essential that Congress ensures that funds are available to invest in our national parks, which protect our heritage and welcome American and international visitors.
We appreciate the support shown for the wildfire bill by 149 Senate and House co-sponsors, including California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Reps. Ken Calvert, Jim Costa, John Garamendi, Tom McClintock, Devin Nunes, Adam Schiff and Mike Thompson.
We ask other members of Congress from California and throughout the country to support the bill and move it forward this year.
Photo:Ron Sundergill
Ron Sundergill is senior Pacific regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association.
• Read more articles by Ron Sundergill
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/02/6667868/viewpoints-national-park-service.html#storylink=cpy
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Reposted from CONGRESS.GOV ~ BETA:
H.R.3992 - Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014
113th Congress (2013-2014)
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Reposted from U.S. News & World Report:
Wildfire Funding Fix Hasn't Been Abandoned
Rep. Mike Simpson stands firmly behind the bill, and so do his colleagues.
Aug. 7, 2014 | 12:15 p.m. EDT + More
Your recent article “ Hung Out to Dry: Politics Puts Out Wildfire Funding Fix” http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/04/hung-out-to-dry-simpson-gop-lawmakers-abandon-wildfire-bill [Aug. 4, 2014] did an excellent job outlining the dire need to fix the way the United States responds to, and pays for, fire suppression on our forests and grasslands.
But we need to offer one notable correction to your otherwise factual article – that Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Id., has “abandoned” the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which he co-introduced with Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., this past January. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As an organization that supports a bipartisan, long-term solution that provides the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior the resources they need to keep our communities and forests healthy, we have firsthand experience of Simpson’s continued strong support for the bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act among his colleagues.
Like many Americans, we are disappointed by the recent political logjams in Washington, and are thirsty for signs of a responsive Congress. Simpson, along with Schrader and his Congressional colleagues Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Id., continue to demonstrate what passionate bipartisan leadership can look like for people, water and wildlife. For that, he and his colleagues deserve praise, not criticism.
Sincerely,
Chris Topik
The Nature Conservancy
Arlington, Virginia
TAGS: wildfires environment politics
_______________________________________________
#Vote4Wilderness
#Wildfires
#WDFA
WILDFIRE DISASTER FUNDING ACT
S.B. 1875 and H.R. 3992
Reposted from The Salt Lake Tribune:
EDITORIAL: WILDFIRE DISASTER FUNDING ACT SHOULD NOT BURN AWAY ~ WILDFIRES DESERVE THEIR OWN FUND
FILE - The Slide Fire burns near 89 A south of Flagstaff, Wednesday, May 21, 2014. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Tom Tingle)
First Published Aug 14 2014 05:12 pm • Last Updated Aug 15 2014 11:19 am
Whenever anyone is placed in charge of anything, making sure the place doesn’t burn down has got to be among the most important tasks.
The U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior have been spending ever larger portions of their ever-tightening budgets on fighting fires that occur in the forests and range lands they are responsible for. The firefighting budget not kept up with the need, and for the past couple of decades those agencies have had to borrow from — and never repay — accounts that were supposed to pay for all kinds of other operations and projects — just to keep everything from burning up.
The Forest Service, for example, notes that it spent only about 13 percent of its total budget on firefighting back in 1991. This year, it expects to spend half of its $5 billion just on efforts to keep more trees, plants, animals and encroaching buildings from going up in flames.
Democrats and Republicans, the executive branch and Congress, have said they know that cannot go on. That’s why there was widespread support earlier this year for something called the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014, a bipartisan bill that would have created for firefighting the same kind of emergency fund that exists to cover the costs of other natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
That bill would have allowed the government to sock away as much as $2.7 billion a year for seven years into an account to be used only to fight fires on federal land. No more borrowing from monies that Congress had intended to go for buying or maintaining land, improving roads or other facilities or, most troubling of all, from efforts to manage land so that it would be less likely to catch fire in the future.
But that bill, co-sponsored by all four members of Utah’s House delegation, was among many that saw no action at all before Congress decamped for its summer vacation.
Sponsor Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, has been fighting off rumors that he’s abandoned his bill. And, if he does continue to champion it, he will have to overcome accusations of big-spending from fellow Republicans and live down the handicap that President Obama supports his legislation.
The cost of fighting fires, like everything else, keeps going up. Even if more blazes are left to burn themselves out, as some environmentalists argue that they should, a perfect storm of climate change and the increased number of human residences along the edges of wild lands will still place a huge demand on the system.
And put more lives at risk.
TAGS: wildfires environment politics
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Reposted from The Nature Conservancy:
BIPARTISAN WILDFIRE DISASTER FUNDING INCLUDED IN PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FY15 BUDGET
President Obama followed the lead of bipartisan legislation to resolve fire disaster funding inefficiencies in the release of his FY15 budget
Arlington, VA | March 04, 2014
Today President Obama followed the lead of bipartisan legislation to resolve fire disaster funding inefficiencies in the release of his FY15 budget. The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act seeks to improve the way the USDA Forest Service and Department of the Interior funds the response to emergency fires, a response to the explosive growth of megafires experienced by much of the West since the turn of the century.
Representatives Simpson (R-ID) and Schrader (D-OR) introduced the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014 (H.R. 3992) on February 6, 2014. Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Crapo (R-ID) first introduced the Act in the waning days of 2013 (S. 1875).
An incredibly broad spectrum of 160 of conservation, timber, tribal, recreation, sportsmen, ranching and employer groups support the bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.
What the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (WFDA) would do:
This bill ensures funding for both wildfire first responders and for land managers who care for public forests and streams. For the first time it would create an emergency funding process for fire response, mirroring the funding mechanism FEMA depends on to respond to other natural disasters. This structure would significantly reduce “borrowing” from other USDA Forest Service (USFS) and Department of the Interior (DOI) programs, which disrupts a wide variety of projects, some of which help reduce the risk and costs of future megafires.
When the USFS and DOI wildfire suppression expenses exceed 70% of the 10-year average, WDFA would provide funding from disaster funding sources (similar to FEMA). This would likely eliminate the need to transfer funds from non-fire suppression accounts when fire suppression funds run out.
• Currently USFS and DOI are the only agencies required to pay for natural disaster response out of their annual discretionary budgets.
• Since 2000 these agencies have run out of money to fight emergency fires 8 times.
• In the last two years more than $1 billion was “borrowed” from Forest Service programs to cover fire suppression shortfalls.
Many factors contribute to the increase in wildfire frequency and severity, including changes in climate, build-up of hazardous fuels, and increasing populations in the wildland urban interface. This past decade fires have burned 50% more land than in the previous four decades; the fire season has expanded by two months; and the average size of fires has increased by a factor of five since the 1970s. The frequency and severity of these wildfires need to be matched by significant levels of funding to protect people, water, and wildlife.
“Following Congress’s bipartisan lead, the President is recognizing the need to ensure we efficiently and responsibly fund both fire suppression and the forest restoration projects that support our lives and livelihoods,” said Cecilia Clavet, Senior Policy Advisor on Fire and Forest Restoration for The Nature Conservancy. “The incredibly broad spectrum of groups supporting this legislation clearly demonstrates this is not a partisan issue, but one that affects the health of people, water, and wildlife.”
“We need establish a long-term solution for fire suppression funding that will finally end the senseless series of fire transfers and guarantee firefighters adequate resources to protect our communities and lands,” said Darrel L. Kenops, Executive Director of National Association of Forest Service Retirees.
“We need an approach to fire suppression funding which lets Forest Service manage the Forests, instead of constantly moving funding to emergency suppression needs. Wildfire costs and fire borrowing disrupts forest management and other key programs”, said Bill Imbergamo, Executive Director of the Federal Forest Resources Coalition. The President’s budget follows the bi-partisan lead provided by Congressmen Simpson and Schrader, as well as Senators Wyden and Crapo. This is good government and responsible budgeting. Anyone who cares about our National Forests should get behind this bill.”
“Important USDA Forest Service programs can be and are significantly impacted by fire transfers, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund, urban and community forestry, roads and trail maintenance, wildlife, recreation” said Rebecca Turner, Senior Director of Programs and Policy of American Forests, “including the very programs that would reduce wildfire risk, like State Fire Assistance and restoration. This new proposed mechanism will help stop this from happening.”
“The practice of transferring funds from non-fire programs has undermined the agencies’ ability to help sustainably manage the nation’s forests,” said Chris Maisch, Alaska State Forester and President of the National Association of State Foresters. “State foresters believe this new approach is needed to enable the USFS and DOI to deliver on their missions and implement needed forest management activities on all of America’s forests, both public and private. Our forests deliver many essential benefits to society such as wood products, jobs, clean air and water, and wildlife habitat; but these benefits are at risk if we don’t take action to stop the destructive cycle of fire transfers.”
“The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act is the kind of common-sense approach we need to address the well-being of our public lands,” added John Audley, President of Sustainable Northwest. “By treating wildfire like the natural disaster it is, this bill will end the troubling cycle of fire funding transfers, give federal agencies greater certainty in land management planning, and ensure that forest restoration funds are used for the purposes they were intended.”
“Many people may associate wildfire funding with America’s publically owned forests, but the truth is transfers from non-fire accounts the past several years have significantly affected America's family owned forests, too,” shared Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation. “The 22 million family forest owners, who make up the largest forest ownership group in the United States, rely on critical Forest Service program resources that have been affected by program cuts due to this budgeting problem.”
“Healthy forest ecosystems are a long-term investment that require meaningful and consistent contributions. This legislation provides the stability our federal foresters and their partners need to implement plans aimed at accelerating the pace and scale of management activities to improve forest health and resilience,” said Society of American Foresters' President, Dave Walters.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org
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Letter to the Honorable Ron Wyden regarding S. 1875, the ...
Congressional Budget Office
May 8, 2014 - ... you requested, CBO has reviewed S. 1875, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2013, and H.R. 3992, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2014.
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