[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 95 (Wednesday, July 19, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                            CONNECT THE DOTS

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, after 9/11 there were calls to connect 
the dots. And as we approach the first anniversary of Katrina, with 
wildfires raging across the West, it is time to connect the dots 
dealing with natural disaster.
  Former National Parks Director, Roger Kennedy, wrote an outstanding 
op-ed in the New York Times yesterday entitled `` Houses to Burn,'' and 
recently published a book `` Wildfires in America.'' He documents that 
we in government are part of this problem. We construct roads and 
infrastructure into hazardous areas. We don't have appropriate building 
codes, and often we don't even enforce the building codes that we have. 
We even build, as the Federal Government did, Los Alamos Research 
Laboratories in the midst of an area that has burned repeatedly decade 
after decade for centuries. And it is only going to get worse by sprawl 
and global warming.
  It is time for government at all levels to connect the dots, to 
reduce and ultimately protect Americans from wildfires and other 
natural disasters, to make our communities more livable and our 
families safer, healthier and more economically secure.

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