[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 26 (Friday, February 9, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING LEGISLATION

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I wish to speak about an urgent 
challenge facing my constituents and my colleagues in the Pacific 
Northwest that unfortunately was ignored in this massive legislative 
mishmash we were asked to vote up or down on in the middle of the 
night: wildfires.
  Communities across the West, including my home State of Washington, 
are being torn apart by these disasters. Last year, the Diamond Creek 
fire burned 128,000 acres in my State. In 2016, the Okanogan Complex 
burned 305,000 acres. Just those two fires alone burned an area around 
two-thirds the size of Rhode Island, and both devastating events spewed 
ash and toxic smoke across a vast region and destroyed billions of 
dollars' worth of forest products.
  I am very concerned that these are not freak or rare, once-in-a-
generation events. According to our best scientists, the killer 
combination of climate change and decades of inadequate forest 
management has made these monster infernos the new normal.
  The numbers speak for themselves.
  Ten thousand, that is the number of houses that have been burned down 
in wildfires last year.
  Eighteen billion, that is the initial estimate of how much damage 
wildfires caused just in California last year.
  Sadly, 54 Americans were killed by these wildfires in 2017.
  That is why I have spent years collaborating with other Senators from 
affected States to hammer out commonsense, bipartisan solutions to this 
increasingly urgent challenge.
  First and foremost is the inadequate funding for fire prevention and 
suppression programs.
  How much longer are we going to shortchange fire programs? The fire 
budget Congress allocated for this last year was short by over $1.4 
billion.
  Under current law, when there is a funding shortfall like this, the 
Forest Service has to rob its own programs to make it up. What 
programs? The ones dedicated to fire prevention and forest restoration 
that could help prevent future fires. That is crazy and very short-
sighted.
  Also, we need a better management strategy for our national forests--
an innovative strategy to manage our forests in smarter, more 
efficient, and more sustainable ways. There are many case studies of 
how we can reduce fire risk and increase local forestry jobs, all while 
restoring forest ecosystems.
  For example, the Colville National Forest has been using innovative 
management tools to reduce the risk of wildfire in northeast 
Washington. The forward-thinking restoration work being performed by 
Vaagen Brothers Lumber in Colville has enabled this small National 
Forest to be ranked in the top three forest products-producing national 
forests in the country. Their holistic approach to forest restoration 
has also earned them the proud spot as the No. 1 national forest for 
number of culverts replaced to improve fish passage and water quality.
  The success of local projects cannot help but inspire me and my 
colleagues. I am pleased to report that all of the Senators from the 
Northwest--both Democrat and Republican--have agreed on what is needed 
to enable the Forest Service to be proactive rather than simply 
reactive when it comes to wildfires.
  Senators Risch, Wyden, Crapo, Murray, Merkley, and I agree that the 
Forest Service's fire-borrowing problem needs to be fixed. All of us 
cosponsored legislation to do that.
  Senators Risch, Wyden, Crapo, Murray, Merkley, and I also all agree 
that we should treat the most at-risk parts of the national forests 
before they burn up and do so in a way that is supported by science. 
All of us cosponsored legislation to also do that.
  These bills have been endorsed by environmental groups, timber 
industry, firefighter organizations, and local governments. All of 
these local and national stakeholders are in agreement, that we need to 
supply the Forest Service and impacted communities with funding, 
provide jobs in rural communities, and reduce the fire risk in our most 
at-risk forests.
  Unfortunately, despite the urgency of the problem, despite the strong 
consensus on both sides of the aisle and amongst a diverse range of 
stakeholders, despite the fact that we have hammered out legislative 
text, it appears the inclusion of our bipartisan measure is being 
blocked from being included in the pending bill.
  It is hard to overemphasize my frustration at the current situation. 
It took weeks, months, and in some cases years to develop these 
proposals and vet with affected stakeholders this suite of bipartisan 
bills.
  The bipartisan consensus legislation we offered last week included a 
permanent fix to the Forest Service's fire-borrowing problem. That was 
legislation cosponsored by 15 Senators. Our proposal also included 
funding for Secure Rural Schools. That bipartisan legislation was 
cosponsored by 32 Senators.
  It turns out there were actors set on blocking our attempts to enact 
reasonable wildfire legislation. We received a counteroffer at the 
eleventh hour, and it contained only a short-term funding solution, 
with eight new radical land management policies that they knew we could 
not accept.
  The new provisions ranged from repealing protections for old-growth 
trees on the Tongass National Forest to giving away Federal land. Other 
objectionable provisions included allowing exemptions for large 
clearcuts from environmental review and removing people's ability to 
file lawsuits on Forest Service projects in Montana, Wyoming, and 
Colorado. That is ridiculous.
  Instead of working to forward bipartisan ideas, Republican leadership 
decided to inject ``poison pill'' environmental riders into the process 
in a ``take it or leave it'' midnight offer.
  This leaves many of us with a lot of doubt as to whether Republican 
leadership has ever been serious about fixing wildland fire budgeting. 
History tonight shows that they see it only as a vehicle to sideline 
long-established environmental laws that protect people, wildlife, and 
our public lands.
  Well, I want to tell everyone here that we are not giving up. There 
are so many bipartisan, noncontroversial improvements to Forest Service 
management that can be enacted.
  Members, like my colleagues from the Northwest, want to get something 
done. Our constituents are demanding it, and we need to do it before 
the next fire season starts in just a few months.
  I want the record to reflect that, while there were many provisions I 
supported in the underlying legislation, I could not in good conscience 
vote for a bill that purposely left urgently needed wildland 
firefighting legislation on the cutting room floor. We can and must do 
better next time, and I am going to keep working at it until we get 
this problem addressed.

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