[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 9 (Thursday, January 24, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S234-S236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WILDFIRE RELIEF
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of a
critical issue for my State; that is, much needed wildfire relief.
I wish to be more specific. Colorado has been in dire need of
emergency watershed protection funds since fires raged in my State just
6 months ago. Just 6 months ago we were in the news not only in our
country but around the world because of fires in our State.
This is an important issue, one of the most important issues
confronting my State because the last fire season was the worst,
literally, on record. Although the fires no longer burn, the threats
they pose to entire communities persist long after the final embers are
extinguished. Literally, hundreds of thousands of Coloradans remain
vulnerable to flooding and tainted water supplies in the aftermath of
these fires.
To people not from the West, the reason why this is an emergency may
not be immediately clear, so let me explain. In my State, the Hyde Park
and the Waldo Canyon fires--these are two fires that were all over the
news--tragically took lives, burned more than 100,000 acres, and led to
catastrophic property loss. President Obama declared them national
disasters, and he actually came to Colorado and joined me and the rest
of the delegation to visit the scenes of destruction, where over 300
homes were destroyed in Colorado's second largest city, Colorado
Springs.
But that initial impact in those initial scenes could pale in
comparison to threats these communities will face in the coming days,
months, and years. Why is that so? Because once a mountainside is
stripped of all its trees and foliage and the soil is burned down to
bedrock, there is nothing left to hold back the water and debris as it
races downhill toward our communities.
Without rehabilitation and restoration, the watersheds that provide
municipal and agricultural water are at risk from landslides, flooding,
and erosion. In turn, that could result in serious infrastructure
damage, water supply disruptions, and even loss of life.
Stabilizing and protecting these communities' watersheds is simply
the right thing to do and, moreover--and this is important--taking
action now is also fiscally responsible. Quite simply, if we do not do
the repairs now, we will pay more later.
When Coloradans came to Senator Bennet and me to share these needs
confronting our State, we immediately went to work. We delivered on the
promise of providing fire relief when the Senate passed the emergency
supplemental spending bill in December of last year, which also
provided much needed relief funds for Hurricane Sandy victims. That was
a bipartisan bill supported by Senate Republicans and Democrats alike.
But the Republicans in the House regrettably gutted the bill and sent
back legislation that explicitly cut out wildfire relief.
In that context, let me make one point absolutely clear. This is an
emergency. Some people question the need for funding and have asked why
we wouldn't limit dollars to just Hurricane Sandy areas, such as the
bill does before us today. The short answer is it is a fiscally smart
thing to do, the right thing to do, and the fair thing to do.
This bill is an emergency appropriations bill for all national
disasters, not just Hurricane Sandy. It is our best hope of seeing
wildfire relief.
I emphatically note the Colorado emergencies occurred before
Hurricane Sandy, and the West should not have to continue to wait. Very
few emergency supplemental bills pass Congress. This bill is passing
now, and it should include aid for Colorado and other States across our
country.
We, as Americans, are in this together. When deadly disasters strike,
we all support each other. I know the Presiding Officer's home State of
Hawaii has experienced natural disasters. We stand together when we get
into these situations. That is why I am so frustrated that the House of
Representatives dismissed Colorado's needs and
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ruined our chances, the West's chances, of immediate wildfire relief
when lawmakers there failed to include emergency watershed protection
funding for Colorado in this disaster relief legislation.
This neglect is particularly disappointing, because if the House had
quickly taken up the Senate-passed disaster assistance bill at the end
of last year, we would not be in this desperate position today. I say
this somewhat reluctantly; I served in the House for 10 years. But I
have to say the House is setting a dangerous precedent of arbitrarily
legislating disaster relief funds. Communities across this country, and
not just those affected by Hurricane Sandy, are at risk of catastrophic
flooding and contaminated drinking water.
But House Republicans are either sending a message that the West
doesn't matter or saying they don't care about certain communities once
the TV cameras are focused elsewhere.
What is the latest development in this ongoing fight to help wildfire
victims? Yesterday, I introduced an amendment to the House-passed
disaster relief legislation that would help national disaster areas
repair their drinking water supplies and the systems that back up those
water supplies. This amendment would not add a single cent to the bill
and instead simply reverses the House's decision to exclude all States
other than those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
No one questions that we need to help hurricane victims in the
Northeast. But wildfire relief is not pork. I will say that again.
Wildfire relief is not pork. Colorado's record-setting wildfires in
2012 displaced tens of thousands, destroyed more than 600 homes
statewide and tragically resulted in deaths. Wildfires destroy
communities, and their devastation persists for decades.
These restoration projects of which I speak must get started now
before our spring snow melt sends tons of ash and sediment into our
water supplies and buries homes and infrastructure under mudslides and
floodwaters.
As I said earlier, I know these fires may seem to be old news for
some, but Coloradans are living under the ongoing threats every day. I
wish to remind all of my colleagues that in the past the Natural
Resources Conservation Services, the NRCS, had the flexibility to
provide EWP assistance for earlier disasters before moving on to the
needs created by subsequent events.
As of December, 2012, an estimated $47 million was needed to mitigate
damaged watersheds in the aftermath of other Presidentially declared
Stafford Act disaster areas in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida,
Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Utah, and Wisconsin, North, South,
East, and West.
Of the $180 million the House approved for Sandy-related emergency
watershed protection relief, only $30 million has been requested. Yet
the House bill is saying other communities cannot have access to these
funds to protect their own people. It is senselessly wasteful to leave
these other communities behind to suffer the effects of less-recent
disasters, whether they faced wildfire, hurricane or flood.
Mr. President, I am not being an alarmist. Coloradans unfortunately
have already experienced some of these effects. For example, the
usually crystal-clear Poudre River has been flowing black--literally
flowing black due to ash and runoff from the fires. This forced the
downstream city of Fort Collins to shut off its water intake for over
100 days. Senator Bennet was on site just a week ago, and the pictures
were tragic and they compel action.
Further downstream on that important water course, the Poudre, the
city of Greeley shut off its water intakes for 36 days and is still
only able to take a small fraction of its normal intake.
I have a photo here that shows a water main that supplies 75 percent
of the backup drinking water supply for the city of Colorado Springs,
our second largest city, south of Denver. This pipeline used to be
buried 8 feet deep but is now exposed due to runoff. It has been
exposed because of the runoff from the fire area, and, of course, it
will be exposed to more runoff.
You can see the effect of what is happening after these fires. How
much more of an emergency do we need, when our most basic resource--
drinking water supplies for three of Colorado's largest cities and its
families and businesses--is threatened?
Let me share one more example. The flood potential in the burned
areas is now 20 times higher than before the fire, which means that
areas are experiencing 100-year floods from the same amount of rainfall
that would have caused a 5-year flood before the wildfires.
Look at this photo. This is Highway 14, which is the major east-west
artery through northern Colorado. This mudslide is one of many that
occurred during one very minor rainstorm after the High Park fire.
These mudslides on our major roads put people, property, and commerce
at risk. Already families in the Colorado Springs vicinity, which I
mentioned earlier, have received at least four flash flood warnings
since the Waldo Canyon fire. Stabilizing this ground and restoring the
burned areas on both Federal and private land is critical to public
safety, public health, and the prevention of another disaster.
So as I begin to close, I would just say, don't get me wrong, I
support the recovery of the communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy,
but I want to ensure that my colleagues understand the gravity of the
situation we are facing in Colorado and in other States that are
confronting disaster needs. The Senate delivered when it came to
providing fire relief, in part because of my colleague Senator Bennet's
great work on the Agriculture Committee, but the House unwisely sent us
a package that turns a blind eye to Colorado and the West. If we do not
act soon, communities across this Nation will see unnecessary flood
risks, contaminated water supplies, and the potential looms for tragic
deaths caused by our inaction. That is simply not acceptable.
So when someone asks whether the EWP--the emergency watershed
protection provisions and program--is necessary, critical, or even an
emergency, the answer is an emphatic yes. For many of our communities
in Colorado, this is their No. 1 priority in Congress, and I, for one,
am not going to let their critical needs go unmet. Mark my words. This
is not an issue I am going to let die. It is not an issue Senator
Bennet will let die. We are going to keep at it until we stabilize
these soils, protect our water supplies, and stand up for the people of
Colorado and the people of our country.
I thank the Acting President pro tempore for his attention, and I
yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 7
minutes on the same topic as my colleague.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleague, the senior
Senator from Colorado, for his remarks and for his commitment to this
important issue, and I rise today to speak briefly about the disaster
bill that is in front of the Senate and to address an issue of enormous
importance to the people of Colorado.
We have in front of us a disaster bill to respond to the widespread
damage caused by Hurricane Sandy along the east coast, and we should
obviously pass this bill to help our fellow citizens in their time of
need. It is in that exact same spirit that the Senate passed a disaster
relief bill at the end of last year that helped victims of natural
disasters all across this country--not just the victims of Hurricane
Sandy but also the victims of the devastating wildfires in my home
State of Colorado and other States across the West.
We worked very hard to get that money into the bill the Senate passed
in December. With the leadership of Mark Udall, we were able to
successfully make the case that Colorado has a significant need for
resources to help protect communities affected by the wildfires. We
worked closely with the Senate Appropriations Committee, and they
answered Colorado's call for help, and I thank those Members--Members
from both sides of the aisle--who supported us. That was hard to do. It
was hard to do, but in the end the idea that we are all in this
together prevailed.
The House, however, let that bipartisan bill die at the end of last
session, and now Congress has to start anew. Now here we are, asked to
consider a
[[Page S236]]
House-passed bill that leaves Colorado behind, a bill where the House
arbitrarily stripped out the money that would help our struggling
communities in Colorado, and we are told this bill is unamendable. We
are told the House has drawn a line in the sand and won't take any
changes. Like my senior Senator, I am stunned by this and profoundly
disappointed.
So let me tell my colleagues what this means for the people of
Colorado. The Waldo Canyon and High Park fires in the summer of 2012
were the first and second most destructive fires in Colorado's history.
They tragically resulted in the loss of life for several Coloradans.
The fires destroyed hundreds of homes and caused millions of dollars of
damage to critical infrastructure and some of the worst and most
lasting damage to our watersheds. As anyone from Colorado or the West
knows, our watersheds and the clean water they provide are the
lifeblood of our communities.
Here is a hilltop that was completely devastated by the fires of 2012
and a road near Fort Collins that was overrun with sediment and debris
in a mudslide after the High Park fire.
Here is the Poudre River after the fire, running completely black as
the sediment, ash, and soot are washed off the singed hillsides into
the water. This river provides drinking water for the cities of Fort
Collins and Greeley, CO, home to one-quarter of a million people--home
to 250,000 people--and home to agriculture and businesses that rely on
having clean water to get through the day.
I recently met with the water providers at the treatment plant for
this area, situated just yards from the charred mountains. They showed
me a mason jar of black water, just like this. It could have been
pulled directly from the Poudre. That is, unfortunately, because of our
inaction and our foolishness, our shortsightedness, and that is what
communities can expect if we don't start recovery work in these
watersheds.
The resources provided under the USDA's emergency watershed
protections--the EWP Program--would directly help these communities in
Colorado. We fought for those resources, for the EWP Program, in the
Senate bill last December, and reason prevailed. Republicans and
Democrats came together and said: We understand the people of Colorado
need this; they need our help. And I again thank our friends on the
Senate Appropriations Committee for helping to make that happen. Yet we
stand here today with a bill that doesn't include these funds, the
funding stripped out, while an unmet need of $20 million persists in
Colorado alone. And it is not just our State, there are 51 other
projects across 19 other States that need these resources to recover
from their disasters. This is a major national issue, and it is crazy
that we are standing here in this position today. Lest anybody think
this is a decision that somehow is fiscally disciplined, let me stand
on this floor and guarantee you that as these hillsides wash into the
river in the spring snowmelt, the cost of restoring these water
treatment plants, the cost of making sure we have clean water will
dwarf the $20 million we are talking about today.
To conclude, it is incredibly unfortunate, given the history we have
in this country of coming together after a disaster, that the House
would not follow our lead in the Senate and provide us these resources.
There are reasons we are the United States of America, and one of those
reasons is that we come to each other's aid at moments of natural
disasters and help our friends and neighbors in other States. We make
sure they get through to the next year.
Perhaps adding insult to injury is that funding for Colorado was
stripped under the rationale, as I said, that the House was somehow
being fiscally responsible, even though the exact opposite is true. The
reality of this situation is that it is fiscally irresponsible because
we can say with 100 percent certainty that the cost of fixing these
problems later will be significantly more than it is now. So an ounce
of prevention in this case is clearly worth a pound of cure. Any
household or small business understands that making these investments
today is the right move, instead of just waiting for the next disaster
to happen, instead of waiting for matters to get worse, although that
is the habit of this town, as the Acting President pro tempore will
come to learn. The House just couldn't put rigid ideology aside and do
something for the country as a whole.
Mr. President, I am not going to oppose the Sandy bill. We need to
help our fellow citizens on the east coast. But this is a real head-
scratcher for me and I know for the senior Senator from Colorado, even
for this place. We are going to continue to work with our colleagues in
the Senate to get these resources signed into law, but the fact is we
had it done. We had it done in the Senate, in a bipartisan way, with
the help of our friends on the Appropriations Committee and both
Republicans and Democrats on this Senate floor. The House of
Representatives let Colorado down, and now we are going to have to go
back and find a way to make it right.
With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the
absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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