[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 74 (Monday, May 1, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H2991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
               ELECTRIC RELIABILITY AND FOREST PROTECTION

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, with all of the wildfires we have in the 
West each year in the summer and the fall, did you know that if a 
utility has a right-of-way through Federal forests, through the Forest 
Service, it can still take months for these utilities to receive Forest 
Service approval to remove trees from transmission line rights-of-way 
even if the trees are already in contact with electric transmission 
lines?
  We have had blackouts for large portions of several States that have 
happened from this; and the power lines, when they contact a tree, can 
start more wildfires even. Yet, still it takes months sometimes to get 
the Forest Service to approve the utilities to go out there and do a 
commonsense removal of these trees and other material.
  Well, we have a remedy that passed last week in the Natural Resources 
Committee. Working with my colleague, Representative Kurt Schrader from 
Oregon, we passed H.R. 1873 through committee to streamline the red 
tape to have preapproval for utilities to be able to do the necessary 
and commonsense work through these already existing transmission 
rights-of-way through our forests, preventing fire, preventing 
blackouts, and just good common sense.

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