Wyden renews call for Congress to fix wildfire funding
Sen. Ron Wyden was back on the Senate floor Wednesday, renewing his plea to fix the nation's broken system of wildfire funding by treating the largest blazes as natural disasters, similar to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
The Oregon Democrat homed in on what he called "the bizarre and common-sense-defying practice of fire borrowing." That's the term used to describe the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management practice of shifting funding from fire prevention and forest restoration efforts to fire suppression. Critics contend the system allows downed trees, limbs and underbrush to accumulate in the forests, fueling bigger and hotter fires in the future.
Wyden has been pushing such a budget fix for years. His Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, a bipartisan effort introduced in 2013 and co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, failed to gain traction. Crapo is now on the Senate Banking Committee, and similar language to their freestanding bill is now included in legislation to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program.
The bill would fund the largest wildfires from disaster relief accounts similar to other natural disasters, freeing up funding for fire prevention and forest health projects.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/index.ssf/2017/09/wyden_renews_call_for_congress.html
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