[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 21, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H244-H246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACCURATELY COUNTING RISK ELIMINATION SOLUTIONS ACT
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 204) to require that the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior submit accurate reports regarding
hazardous fuels reduction activities, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 204
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Accurately Counting Risk
Elimination Solutions Act'' or the ``ACRES Act''.
SEC. 2. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION REPORTS.
(a) Inclusion of Hazardous Fuels Reduction Report in
Materials Submitted in Support of the President's Budget.--
(1) In general.--Beginning with the first fiscal year that
begins after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each
fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary concerned shall include
in the materials submitted in support of the President's
budget pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States
Code, a report on the number of acres of Federal land on
which the Secretary concerned carried out hazardous fuels
reduction activities during the preceding fiscal year.
(2) Requirements.--For purposes of the report required
under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall--
(A) in determining the number of acres of Federal land on
which the Secretary concerned carried out hazardous fuels
reduction activities during the period covered by the
report--
(i) record acres of Federal land on which hazardous fuels
reduction activities were completed during such period; and
(ii) record each acre described in clause (i) once in the
report, regardless of whether multiple hazardous fuels
reduction activities were carried out on such acre during
such period; and
(B) with respect to the acres of Federal land recorded in
the report, include information on--
(i) which such acres are located in the wildland-urban
interface;
(ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, moderate, or low) on
the first and last day of the period covered by the report;
(iii) the types of hazardous fuels activities completed for
such acres, delineating between whether such activities were
conducted--
(I) in a wildfire managed for resource benefits; or
(II) through a planned project;
(iv) the cost per acre of hazardous fuels activities
carried out during the period covered by the report;
(v) the region or system unit in which the acres are
located; and
(vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction
activities on reducing the risk of wildfire.
(3) Transparency.--The Secretary concerned shall make each
report submitted under paragraph (1) publicly available on
the website of the Department of Agriculture and the
Department of the Interior, as applicable.
(b) Accurate Data Collection.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned shall
implement standardized procedures for tracking data related
to hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out by the
Secretary concerned.
(2) Elements.--The standardized procedures required under
paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) regular, standardized data reviews of the accuracy and
timely input of data used to track hazardous fuels reduction
activities;
(B) verification methods that validate whether such data
accurately correlates to the hazardous fuels reduction
activities carried out by the Secretary concerned;
(C) an analysis of the short- and long-term effectiveness
of the hazardous fuels reduction activities on reducing the
risk of wildfire; and
(D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities that occur
partially within the wildland-urban interface, methods to
distinguish which acres are located within the wildland-urban
interface and which acres are located outside the wildland-
urban interface.
(3) Report.--Not later than 2 weeks after implementing the
standardized procedures required under paragraph (1), the
Secretary concerned shall submit to Congress a report that
describes--
(A) such standardized procedures; and
(B) program and policy recommendations to Congress to
address any limitations in tracking data related to hazardous
fuels reduction activities under this subsection.
(c) GAO Study.--Not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall--
(1) conduct a study on the implementation of this Act,
including any limitations with respect to--
(A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction activities under
subsection (a); or
(B) tracking data related to hazardous fuels reduction
activities under subsection (b); and
(2) submit to Congress a report that describes the results
of the study under paragraph (1).
(d) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) Hazardous fuels reduction activity.--The term
``hazardous fuels reduction activity''--
(A) means any vegetation management activity to reduce the
risk of wildfire, including mechanical treatments and
prescribed burning; and
(B) does not include the awarding of contracts to conduct
hazardous fuels reduction activities.
(2) Federal lands.--The term ``Federal lands'' means lands
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or
the Secretary of Agriculture.
(3) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned''
means--
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National
Forest System lands; and
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public
lands and units of the National Park System.
(4) Wildland-urban interface.--The term ``wildland-urban
interface'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of
the Healthy
[[Page H245]]
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).
(e) No Additional Funds Authorized.--No additional funds
are authorized to carry out the requirements of this Act, and
the activities authorized by this Act are subject to the
availability of appropriations made in advance for such
purposes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Huffman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and to add extraneous material on H.R. 204, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of Representative Tiffany's
legislation, H.R. 204, the Accurately Counting Risk Elimination
Solutions, or ACRES Act. This is a commonsense, good-governance bill
that will bring sorely needed transparency and accountability to the
misleading way our Federal land managers are tracking and reporting
hazardous fuel treatments.
This month, wildfires in southern California leveled entire
communities and took the lives of at least 24 people. Local residents
forced to flee their homes described the scene as a war zone.
Unfortunately, the tragedies in southern California are just the
latest consequences in what has been a historic wildfire crisis,
devouring an average of 7 million acres every year for the last two
decades. This alarming figure is more than double the annual losses
seen during the 1990s. This worsening problem is directly linked to
insufficient forest management, which has created a dangerous build-up
of hazardous fuels in our forests.
Despite the clear need to confront this crisis head-on, Federal land
management agencies like the Forest Service are still failing to
increase the pace and scale of their treatments. Alarmingly,
investigative reporting from ``NBC News'' found that the Forest Service
is overreporting the number of acres they treat annually by over 20
percent, but that is not all. The same report found that overcounting
was worse in areas of greater risk, such as California, where the total
acres treated were overcounted by 35 percent in the wildland-urban
interface. In one example, the Forest Service reported that they
treated 744 acres of land when, in fact, only 173 acres of land had
been treated.
This means that the Forest Service suggested to Congress and the
public that they had done four times more work than they had actually
accomplished. This is unacceptable, particularly in an area where
wildfire risk and the risk to communities and lives is extremely high.
This inaccurate and misleading reporting results from the Forest
Service counting the same piece of land towards its risk reduction
goals multiple times if different treatments, such as prescribed
thinning and burning, are completed on that land. In some cases, the
Forest Service counted the same parcel of land 30 times, meaning the
agency reported to Congress that they reduced hazardous fuels on 30
acres when, in fact, only 1 acre received treatment.
This legislation simply requires the Forest Service to submit data to
Congress annually that details their hazardous fuels reduction work by
only counting each acre once, even if multiple treatments were
performed. This exact idea has been supported in reports from the
Government Accountability Office and the USDA's Office of Inspector
General.
The fact that we even need to pass legislation to tell the Forest
Service how to count makes it clear just how deep this problem runs
when it comes to confronting our catastrophic wildfire crisis. Holding
our Federal land managers accountable for their actual work on the
ground is a good first step. We need to improve the health of our
Nation's forests as we fight against these catastrophic wildfires, and
this bill will help us do that.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Washington, DC, January 10, 2025.
Hon. Bruce Westerman,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter confirms our mutual
understanding regarding H.R. 204, the ``ACRES Act.'' Thank
you for collaborating with the Committee on Agriculture on
the matters within our jurisdiction.
The Committee on Agriculture will forego any further
consideration of this bill. However, by foregoing
consideration at this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction
over any subject matter contained in this or similar
legislation. The Committee on Agriculture also reserves the
right to seek appointment of an appropriate number of
conferees should it become necessary and ask that you support
such a request.
We would appreciate a response to this letter confirming
this understanding with respect to H.R. 204 and request a
copy of our letters on this matter be published in the
Congressional Record during Floor consideration.
Sincerely,
Glenn ``GT'' Thompson,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, DC, January 13, 2025.
Hon. Glenn ``GT'' Thompson,
Chairman, Committee on Agriculture,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I write regarding our mutual
understanding of H.R. 204, the ``ACRES Act.''
I recognize that the bill contains provisions that fall
within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Agriculture and
appreciate your willingness to forgo further consideration of
the bill. I acknowledge that the Committee on Agriculture
will not formally consider H.R. 204 and agree that the
inaction of your Committee with respect to the bill does not
waive any jurisdiction over the subject matter contained
therein.
I am pleased to support your request to name members of the
Committee on Agriculture to any conference committee to
consider such provisions. I will ensure that our exchange of
letters is included in the Congressional Record during floor
consideration of the bill. I appreciate your cooperation
regarding this legislation.
Sincerely,
Bruce Westerman,
Chairman.
Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume. The Forest Service manages millions of acres of forestland,
including vital watersheds, critical wildlife habitat, and countless
outdoor recreational areas.
The Forest Service's 10-year wildlife crisis strategy implementation
plan stresses the importance of fire-adapted landscapes and hazardous
fuel treatments to build resilient forests. These critical wildfire
risk reduction projects are complex, multistep processes requiring
significant planning and investments often carried out over several
years.
In order for these projects to operate effectively, we must receive
accurate, transparent, and accessible data on how they are planned and
implemented. This bill proposes requiring the Forest Service and the
Department of the Interior to include in the President's annual budget
a report on hazardous fuel activities carried out in a given fiscal
year to account for each treated acre.
The ongoing reporting requirement would enhance transparency and
accountability, providing critical information that could help guide
investments in the management of our national forests, including how we
deploy the historic funding for wildfire risk reduction efforts that
were included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and in the
Inflation Reduction Act if we can hang on to that historic funding in
the coming months. I certainly support this bill for proposing that
idea of an ongoing reporting requirement. However, I want to clarify
that the bill does not actually require or even authorize it. The
Congressional Budget Office found that the reporting requirements
proposed by this bill would need significant funding, including for
hiring 30 additional Federal employees.
[[Page H246]]
Now, I think that would be a worthwhile investment for wildfire risk
reduction. These days the Freedom Caucus tends to call the shots on
these matters, and they don't allow us to consider bills that authorize
that kind of money without spending reductions elsewhere.
So what we have before us is a revised version of the bill, a
workaround, that doesn't even authorize the reporting activities that
it describes. It is right there on the last page of the bill in all
caps: No additional funds authorized.
Madam Speaker, you will notice that the CBO score on this bill is now
zero. That is because the revised bill doesn't actually do anything.
We need to do better than this. We have a serious, real fire crisis
in front of us. We can't fight climate change with window dressing or
thoughts and prayers. I am going to support this bill because it
doesn't do any harm and it does bring attention to a good idea, but
this is nowhere near enough.
I will point out that the Biden-Harris administration achieved record
acres of annual forest treatments thanks to the investments secured by
House Democrats in both the IIJA and the IRA. This includes vegetation
management to reduce hazardous fuels and prescribed burns.
That is important work worth doing, and I look forward to continuing
to work with the majority and the new administration if they are
willing to make those investments. We have to ensure that agencies have
resources so they can continue reporting back with record-breaking
numbers that we achieved under the last administration.
Unfortunately, this bill and the so-called Fix Our Forests Act that
we will be considering later this week simply fail to provide any
resources. Team extreme might be unhappy with a bill that includes a
price tag, but I guarantee that it would be far less than the cost of
the mass destruction from fires that we are seeing in places like L.A.,
and it is certainly worth the lives that would be saved.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank my friends across the aisle,
Mr. Huffman and the minority, for supporting forestry bills both small
and large. This is, I think, a small step in the right direction, and
it shouldn't cost any more to report accurate data than to report
inaccurate data.
I look forward to passing this bill as well as some larger bills like
the Fix Our Forests Act that we hope to have before the body this week.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Tiffany), who is the lead sponsor of the bill.
Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, in spite of what was just said on the
other side of the aisle, I want to invite the gentleman from California
to Wisconsin. He can get some good fishing in in northern Minnesota,
good musky fishing, but if the gentleman wants the best, then come to
northern Wisconsin. I have an invitation for my friend.
This bill will bring transparency, Mr. Speaker, to the misleading and
inaccurate way hazardous fuels treatments are reported.
Decades of mismanagement of our Federal lands have left our forests
overstocked with trees and created tinderbox conditions, and we have
long known the reported pace and scale of forest management has been
insufficient to truly address our catastrophic forest health crisis.
There is a better way to actively manage our public lands, and that
starts with holding our Federal land management agencies accountable by
requiring accurate reporting on the effectiveness of their work in fuel
reduction.
According to troubling reports, the situation is even worse than we
have been led to believe, as agencies have been overstating their
treatments by over 20 percent. Accurate reporting is necessary to
broadly track the progress made on our larger wildfire mitigation
targets as well as individual projects.
The ACRES Act is a simple solution to hold our Federal agencies
accountable to see the actual work they are doing to reduce the
enormous risks of wildfire. American taxpayers deserve to know they are
getting what they paid for. This bill will help ensure that happens.
Mr. Speaker, this is a small step in what needs to be a number of
steps to get back to active forest management to protect the life and
health of our forests and the people who live around them in the United
States of America. I hope this incoming administration and this
Congress are active in getting us back to active forest management here
in America.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''
{time} 1500
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with our friends
across the aisle on the accounting issue that has been discussed here
today. Obviously, we want to make sure that the Forest Service is not
taking advance credit for phases of projects that haven't happened yet.
I think that is for the most part what has happened that the
gentleman from Arkansas identified. I don't believe there has been any
actual double or triple counting, but either way, we want it to be
accurate. We all need good, accurate data on that reporting.
We will work together on that. In the meantime, I urge my colleagues
to support this bill. I have no further requests for time, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, as we continue to pray for communities
across the Nation that have been impacted by wildfire, we do need to
put feet to our prayers to ensure that our forests are being properly
managed.
The ACRES Act is a step in the right direction and a commonsense
solution to a problem that really shouldn't even exist in the first
place.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bost). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 204.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________