[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8045-8050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       THE DISASTER IN NEW MEXICO

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I note on the floor with me this 
afternoon is Senator Bingaman. We are both here to speak about the 
disaster and catastrophe that has occurred in New Mexico. I would like 
to speak maybe for 5 or 6 minutes, then yield to my colleague, and then 
come back and do a little more.
  During my time in the Senate, which is now approaching 28 years, I 
vividly remember coming down and hearing Senators have to tell the 
Senate about a disaster of significant proportions in their home State. 
The Senator wanted to tell us about how bad things were and lay the 
groundwork for the Congress, the Government of the United States, to do 
what it must to help those who are victims in a disaster.
  To tell you the truth, I have been to Los Alamos, oh, so many times 
over the last 28 years. Most of them have been very joyous occasions, 
when we met with some of the greatest scientists in the world, talked 
about some fantastic science, met some wonderful people, and saw a 
beautiful town up there in the mountains. It came into being when the 
United States of America decided a former boys' academy up there in the 
mountains would be the center around which we would develop our first 
atomic weapons. It was a closed city for a long time but a beautiful 
place.
  Sure enough, never did I expect to see what I saw last Thursday when 
Senator Bingaman and I, the Secretary of Energy, and James Lee Witt, 
the head of our emergency disaster relief agency for the United States, 
and others flew out there. Then we helicoptered around. Then we drove 
the streets to see what was occurring.
  Senator Bingaman took a little different tour than I. He saw some of 
the housing. I saw where they set up the

[[Page 8046]]

headquarters to manage and operate things. So he will have some very 
vivid recollections of what he saw, of houses burned to the ground.
  Essentially, it is, indeed, a very sad day when probably one of the 
greatest laboratories human beings have ever set up--in terms of great 
science, not just because of great buildings but because great 
scientists have lived there and worked--is surrounded by flames. Many 
people supported those most talented of Americans--and even some of our 
greatest friends from other countries have been there as part of 
America's research in atomic and nuclear weapons safety, 
responsibility, and reliability--to go there and see a ghost town as 
you drive the streets, with smoke on one side, fire on one side, a 
house burned down, your heart kind of goes out. A great deal of empathy 
pours from you.
  We are very lucky, the Senate should know; even though over 44,000 
acres have burned, something like 400 housing units have burned to the 
ground, and upwards of 25,000 people have been evacuated--many are 
returning now. Damage and fire are still going in some of the canyons--
but, we are very grateful that in the canyons that are still burning 
there are not very many housing units in the path. The forest is still 
burning and will burn for a long time. Yet nobody died, nobody got 
seriously hurt. Two or three firemen were injured, as I understand it, 
and none of those was serious.
  The fire is now no longer threatening the houses of the city of Los 
Alamos or of White Rock, the adjoining community. In some very 
miraculous way, none of the big administrative and research buildings 
of the laboratory was hit by this fire. It went around them and got 
some housing subdivisions, but only a few buildings of minor 
significance that are part of this enormous science complex were 
burned.
  The houses that burned, burned right to the ground. All that is left 
is cement foundations, as Senator Bingaman will describe and perhaps 
show some pictures. If there were houses that had cars in the front 
yards, the cars were burned to a crisp. The metal is twisted and 
burned. In some places, you can see an icebox that is hanging over the 
vacuum that used to be sheltered by walls and roofs. The icebox just 
melted. It is no longer even noticeable. You cannot recognize it as 
being such. It is melted and completely different in form.
  Essentially, all this was going on right around and close to a 
laboratory that does an awful lot of nuclear work, that has some 
compounds that are housed in cement bunkers so nothing can happen to 
them. And, sure enough, to this day there has been no radioactivity 
escape from any of these buildings and/or research facilities.
  That is not just the Federal Government saying it. The New Mexico 
environmental department has monitored this. The greatest and best 
monitors from around the country are located there, and the ambient air 
monitors have indicated there is no radioactivity in the air. So now we 
have to start back up the path of trying to see how we can rebuild the 
lives of people there.
  I am not going to go into detail other than to say we are beginning 
to move in the right direction. The laboratory personnel will begin to 
move in and see what is needed. In one of the communities, people are 
coming back. Parts of Los Alamos will be reoccupied soon. But I am sure 
Senator Bingaman and I will be asking the Senate, from time to time, to 
assist us, either with legislation that will direct how this should be 
handled, or certainly with money that will make the repairs and bring 
this facility back to where maybe we could say we will make it as whole 
as possible.
  I want to close my first few remarks, and then yield to my friend, 
Senator Bingaman, by saying that right next to this forest, which 
surrounds Los Alamos, the Los Alamos property that belongs to the 
Department of Energy, is a national monument called Bandelier. It is 
rather renowned.
  Both Senator Bingaman and I have had reason to work specifically for 
things to preserve and make the Bandelier National Monument a great and 
beautiful place. But it appears that in order to clear out that 
Bandelier forest a bit, because so much growth had accumulated and 
because of so many fallen trees and other things, that a planned burn 
took place. It looks as if that planned burn got out of hand. It 
further looks as if it maybe should not have been started at all. I 
think the House passed a resolution today indicating that the U.S. 
Government is responsible for all these damages because of this 
controlled fire that got out of hand. Surely that will be looked at.
  The Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Senator 
Murkowski, with Senator Bingaman as ranking member, has asked the 
General Accounting Office to begin an investigation. The executive 
branch has been rather forthcoming. They have told us, by Thursday 
evening, no later than Friday, they will give us, and I presume the 
people of New Mexico, the country, and Los Alamos, the results of an 
evaluation by some of the Government's best experts on controlled fires 
and forest maintenance. They will tell us what they think went wrong.
  At this point, I do not think there is any question that, at least--I 
start with the proposition, and I am certain Senator Bingaman will 
address the same issue--we are responsible to make that community 
whole, to make those individual residents who lost their homes and lost 
their property whole, and whatever expenditures have been incurred by 
the people and by the community that we, as a national Government, must 
make them whole. I am not sure what that means. But it will not take us 
long to find out.
  In the meantime, I am very pleased that New Mexico's delegation is 
going to meet this afternoon. Hopefully, we will all be working 
together, the three House Members and the two Senators--Senator 
Bingaman and myself--in an effort to bring before the Senate and the 
House the appropriate remedies and the appropriate resources that are 
needed to do everything we can to make that community whole and make 
the individuals who have been subject to this terrible disaster as 
whole as possible.
  I have additional remarks, about another forest fire occurring in 
another part of New Mexico and about some of the heroes there. There 
were heroes in other fires, too. But I yield to Senator Bingaman for 
his comments, and then I will reclaim some time when he is finished.
  I thank the Senate and the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New 
Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. I thank my colleague, Senator Domenici.
  It is a pleasure to work with him in trying to solve some of these 
imminent problems that afflict our State. We hope very much we can do 
that in an effective way, with the help of the rest of the Senate and 
the rest of Congress.
  Mr. President, on May 4, National Park Service officials set a fire 
in Bandelier National Monument to clear brush and deadwood that had 
accumulated in one corner of the monument, known as the Cerro Grande. 
We all know now what happened next.
  That fire became an uncontrollable wildfire as high winds fanned the 
flames over the next several days.
  Its smoke plume stretched across New Mexico and into Texas and 
Oklahoma--a plume that was visible from outer space.
  The fire spread across the Santa Fe National Forest and torched the 
northern and western parts of the City of Los Alamos, destroying 260 
homes and other residential units that had housed over 400 families.
  The fire has, as of yesterday evening, consumed over 44,000 acres. 
Its perimeter last night was 85 miles.
  The City of Los Alamos and the neighboring community of White Rock 
evacuated a total of over 20,000 people. A voluntary evacuation of 
3,000 persons also took place in the next closest city, Espanola
  The fire has damaged over 10 percent of the Santa Clara Pueblo Indian 
Reservation, where 1,500 people live, and threatens both the water 
supply and economic lifeline for that community.
  On Saturday, President Clinton declared a Major Disaster in 12 New 
Mexico counties, as a result of the Cerro

[[Page 8047]]

Grande fire and wildfires in several other locations in the State.
  This week, and perhaps next week as well, we will be considering 
appropriations bills that contain emergency supplemental spending for a 
variety of disasters that have occurred over the past several months. I 
believe that it is important for the Senate to make some critical 
adjustments to these spending bills to mitigate the effects of the 
Cerro Grande fire, and to prevent the occurrence of other catastrophic 
fires in the West this spring and summer.
  As a first step, we should consider additional defense emergency 
spending to mitigate damage that has occurred at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory due to the fire. Thankfully, the laboratory was spared major 
destruction. At the same time, the damage to the laboratory was not 
zero. A number of buildings and trailers were destroyed, and the fire 
pointed up some systemic weaknesses in some of the laboratory's 
emergency and security systems that need to be addressed
  Second, we need to deal with the aftermath of the destruction of 
dwellings for over 400 families in Los Alamos. The Administration and 
the Congress needs to act quickly to make them whole for the 
destruction of their homes and the loss of their belongings. I'm sure 
we have all seen pictures that show the total loss suffered by many 
families.
  Making these Los Alamos community members and their families whole is 
not simply a matter of fairness--the government, after all, set the 
fire that burned them out. What happens to the residents of the City of 
Los Alamos and the surrounding communities also affects our national 
security.
  The prime national security asset at Los Alamos, when you stop to 
think about it, is not some scientific facility at the lab or a 
stockpile of some special nuclear material. The most important national 
security asset at Los Alamos are the people who work there. It is their 
brains, their special expertise, and their detailed knowledge of 
nuclear security issues that won the Cold War. Without the continuance 
of this human resource, the long-term future of our nuclear deterrent 
will be in jeopardy, and we may find ourselves prone to unpleasant 
surprises in a world where nuclear proliferation is still an important 
threat.
  If we do not act quickly to help the scientists and engineers at Los 
Alamos rebuild their lives there, some of them may take their insurance 
money and go to rebuild their lives in other places where they can find 
high-tech employment. That would be a terrible loss to this country's 
national security. I believe that we have to especially worry about two 
populations at the laboratory who may find it hardest to rebuild 
there--the young scientists and engineers who have recently been hired 
at the lab, and the scientists and engineers who are nearing 
retirement.
  The young scientist or engineer who has been at the laboratory for 
only a few years has many other professional options in today's high-
tech economy.
  For most of them, working at Los Alamos pays considerably less than 
working for the private sector. Many of these individuals may not be 
fully insured for their potential losses. If we face these younger 
investigators with a prolonged stay in temporary housing a substantial 
distance from the laboratory, or if we ignore their uninsured losses, 
they may wonder about our long-term commitment to their careers 
supporting the nuclear security of this country. Already, there have 
been concerns that the recent attrition rate for these investigators 
has been higher than the historical average.
  Another population at risk for loss to the lab is typified by the 
senior scientist or engineer who is close to retirement. It is hard for 
these individuals to start all over again, when they face the prospect 
of a potential second starting-over when they retire in a few years. 
These individuals are particularly needed over the next 4 to 5 years. 
That is the time period during which we will have to make the 
transition from a laboratory workforce with substantial experience in 
designing and conducting underground nuclear tests to a workforce that 
will have to maintain our nuclear stockpile without nuclear tests. 
According to an analysis carried out last year for my staff, much of 
the workforce at Los Alamos with substantial experience at the Nevada 
Test Site testing the primary components of nuclear weapons is aged 56 
or older. The lab has an aggressive plan to capture and formalize their 
expertise in computer models over the next 4 to 5 years. We need to 
validate the computer codes that will be used in the long-term to 
certify the nuclear weapons stockpile before these weapons designers 
with direct test experience retire.
  As far back as 1955, laws like the Atomic Energy Communities Act 
stated that the continued morale of nuclear defense laboratory 
personnel ``is essential to the common defense and security of the 
United States,'' and that the federal government needed to maintain 
conditions in these communities ``which will not impede the recruitment 
and retention of personnel essential to the atomic energy program,'' as 
the nuclear weapons program was then called. These principles are still 
true today. They indicate that we quickly move to restore the homes, 
the community facilities, and the physical infrastructure of the 
communities around the laboratory.
  In addition to the workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the 
Cerro Grande fire is also threatening some of the most economically 
vulnerable citizens of northern New Mexico. These are the rural 
residents and the Native Americans who depend critically on the land 
that is being burned and its resources for their livelihood. I am 
particularly concerned about the residents of the Santa Clara Pueblo 
Indian Reservation, who face the loss of their natural water supply and 
of numerous sacred and historic sites as the fire progresses. Native 
American firefighters have been at the forefront of battling this 
blaze, and have been unstinting in their time and efforts to protect 
the federal government's property and that of their neighbors. We need 
to make sure that they are not forgotten in any restitution and 
recovery plan.
  The Cerro Grande fire is one of several major fire disasters now 
facing the State of New Mexico.
  Down in Otero County, New Mexico, near the town of Cloudcroft, the 
Scott Able fire in the Lincoln National Forest has burned over 21,000 
acres. The fire was started last Thursday by a downed power line and is 
still not contained.
  In Otero and Lincoln Counties, the Cree Fire, which started May 7 
from a campfire, has burned over 8,700 acres. It has cost over $1.7 
million to fight this fire to date.
  Up north in Mora and San Miguel Counties, the Manuelitas Fire in the 
Santa Fe National Forest, which also started last Thursday from an 
unknown cause, has burned approximately 1,400 acres. And yesterday, 
another fire broke out and closed a five-mile portion of Interstate 25 
near Pecos, New Mexico.
  We need to make sure that we provide the persons and communities who 
have been damaged by these fires emergency relief and, where 
appropriate, compensation, as well.
  All of these fires, taken together, illustrate the broader danger 
that States like New Mexico face in this severe fire season from areas 
of our national forests and public lands that are very close to towns, 
but in need of management of their vegetation to remove or reduce the 
dangers of wildfire and to improve the health of the forests. The 
Forest Service has asked for funds for the past few years to support 
such activities. This kind of funding would reduce the risk to human 
life and property while providing a source of local jobs in the rural 
West. As part of the upcoming emergency appropriations, we need to make 
sure that we not only provide extra funds for fire fighting, but also 
for the type of vegetation management, including thinning the forests 
of certain small-diameter trees, that will help prevent catastrophic 
fires near cities and towns in the West that are bordered by public 
forests.
  I hope that all my colleagues here in the Senate will join me in 
making sure that the destruction caused by this fire is quickly 
remedied, and that the funds

[[Page 8048]]

are rapidly made available to help prevent more repeats of that 
destruction this spring and summer out West.
  Mr. President, to reiterate, it is clear now, and acknowledged by the 
Park Service and by the Secretary of the Interior, that the fire was 
started by the Park Service on May 4 --well over a week ago--and was 
set as a so-called controlled burn, which got out of control.
  This is, unfortunately, not the only instance we know of right at 
this current time where we have fires out of control which started as 
controlled burns. So we have a serious problem here.
  Let me show you a couple of these photos that have been in the 
newspapers in New Mexico and in some of the national newspapers to show 
what we are talking about.
  As you can see from this photo, this is the smoke plume from the 
fire. From the photo, you can see the red. This is Los Alamos. This is 
the State of New Mexico. This is the State of Colorado above, and then 
Texas and Oklahoma.
  You can see this smoke plume extending to the east out of Los Alamos 
and out of New Mexico into Texas, into Oklahoma, and into Colorado. 
That gives you some sense of the size of this conflagration we have 
been trying to put out as a result of this so-called controlled burn.
  I have one or two other photos which I also would like to show, just 
to give you an idea. This is a picture of the perimeter. Last night the 
perimeter of this fire was 85 miles. The fire has now destroyed 
something over 44,000 acres. This photo shows the largest of the fires.
  As Senator Domenici has said, we have other fires going on in our 
State. Those have also been devastating for those communities.
  Let me just mention those and indicate that we hope that whatever we 
do here will also provide relief for those communities as well.
  The Cerro Grande fire is the largest in our State. But in Otero 
County, near Cloudcroft, we have the Scott Able fire which has burned 
over 21,000 acres. The fire started last Thursday by a downed power 
line.
  In Otero and Lincoln Counties, the Cree fire was started May 7 from a 
camp fire. It has burned nearly 9,000 acres.
  Up in Mora and San Miguel Counties, we have another fire that was 
started last Thursday that has burned approximately 1,400 acres.
  We have serious human tragedies resulting from each of these fires. 
We hope we can get it all addressed.
  The particular thing about this large Cerro Grande fire at Los 
Alamos, as Senator Domenici pointed out, is it was started by the 
Government. The laws we have passed, as I understand them, providing 
for Federal assistance in the case of disasters, do not contemplate a 
circumstance where the disaster was caused by Government action. They 
are generally disaster relief proposals and resources made available 
through those statutes, because the Government is stepping in to try to 
assist where there has been a hurricane or there has been an earthquake 
or there has been a flood or there has been a fire. Here we have all of 
that, but we also have the extra overlay and responsibility that I 
think comes with the fact that the Government set the fire.
  Los Alamos National Laboratory was spared major destruction. That is 
a very important fact. It was not spared totally. There have been some 
damages. I hope we can see to it that those damages are repaired. But 
fortunately for the country, as well as for our State and the community 
of Los Alamos, the major facilities of the laboratories were not 
burned.
  I do think this fire, though, reminds us of our national security 
assets located in Los Alamos. They are not just the facilities, and 
they are not just the nuclear material or equipment that has been 
developed there over many decades; the main asset we have there with a 
national security significance to it is the scientists and engineers 
and other people who work at that facility.
  For that reason, it is absolutely essential we step up, as Senator 
Domenici said, to make these people whole, do what can be done by way 
of resources at this point, to help them rebuild, help them get through 
this period of turmoil, and get back to work on our very important 
national security needs.
  We have various distinctions in our State. One that I have always 
enjoyed is that we have more Ph.D.'s per capita in New Mexico than any 
other State in the Union. People say, well, that is an unusual 
statistic. It is a statistic which relates directly to the Los Alamos 
National Laboratory and to the Sandia National Laboratory.
  We have many extremely well-trained, well-qualified people working 
there. These are people who have alternative careers they can pursue; 
these are not people who need employment there. They could go to any of 
a number of private firms and be compensated, probably substantially 
better than we are compensating them to do this very important national 
security work.
  We need to keep those people at our laboratory. We particularly need 
to keep those people, the young ones who have come in recently and 
those who are near retirement but who have very valuable information 
and very valuable expertise, in our nuclear-weapons-related work.
  I know there is an aggressive plan that the Department of Energy and 
the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed for the next 4 to 5 
years to try to capture some of that expertise and ensure that we 
retain that before some of these people retire.
  We cannot allow this fire and this disruption of activity in the 
laboratory and in the community of Los Alamos to interfere with our 
ability to keep that expertise at that laboratory. So that is an 
important reason why this needs to be done quickly, why we need to move 
aggressively to deal with this.
  Let me also mention the other populations in our State that have been 
very adversely affected by the fire. One, of course, is the Santa Clara 
Pueblo. If the fire continues--and it has already consumed some 10 
percent of their reservation--it continues to threaten that pueblo and 
the livelihoods of many of those people. We need to see to it that 
whatever we are able to do benefits them and helps them to recover from 
the devastating effects of this fire, as well as other individuals in 
Rio Arriba County, Santa Fe County, and the community of Espanola.
  All of those factors need to be taken into account. There is a long 
list of needs that people will have and a long list of damages that 
people in the communities involved and the businesses involved will 
have suffered. I need to just say that, to my mind, we need to step up 
and accept responsibility. We, the Federal Government, we, the country, 
need to step up and accept responsibility for making those people 
whole.
  These natural disasters can result in extended litigation and efforts 
by people to try to get compensated. We hope that can be avoided to the 
extent possible in this case, because we hope that we can get a 
sufficiently effective and coordinated and rapid response from the 
Federal Government to allow that to happen. So I hope very much that 
all of this occurs.
  Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Levin, I ask unanimous consent 
that following the remarks of Senator Biden, Senator Levin be 
recognized for up to 30 minutes.
  Mr. DOMENICI. On behalf of the manager of the bill, I have been asked 
to object to that. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The senior Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I thank Senator Bingaman for his remarks and his 
observations.
  Mr. President, I've visited Los Alamos countless times during my 
years of service in the Senate. I've been there for many celebrations, 
celebrations of their immense contributions that have helped to 
preserve our national security and maintain our scientific leadership.
  Well, I was there a few days ago, and it was no celebration. I 
witnessed incredible devastation caused by the massive forest fire that 
is ravaging the area. Thousands of beautiful trees have

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burned and smoke was rising everywhere. Hot winds were fanning new 
flames. Thousands of acres of forest were devastated. The lives of many 
people were shattered. Over 20,000 people had been evacuated, and were 
receiving shelter with friends and in public areas. Many homes lay in 
ruins, consumed by flames.
  These are homes of people who have dedicated their lives to 
preserving our precious freedoms. They are true patriots. It only added 
to my heavy heart to know that the fire was caused by an ill-advised 
``prescribed burn'' in nearby Bandelier National Monument.
  In the face of the tragedy, I was immensely impressed with the superb 
emergency services that were being provided. The State Governor spent a 
long night in Los Alamos. The Red Cross set up shelters throughout the 
northern area. The Forest Service mobilized hot shot firefighting units 
and brought superb expertise, capabilities, leadership and coordination 
to this horrible situation. The FEMA Administrator was on site. The 
Secretary of Energy arrived with some of his key staff.
  The local emergency personnel were doing wonderful work, trying their 
best to safely cope with the immense challenge of protecting public 
safety during a complex evacuation, while also ensuring that none of 
the hazardous operations at the Laboratory caused additional concerns. 
The evacuation of Los Alamos took only about half the time anticipated, 
partly because they had recently practiced an evacuation drill.
  There have been many acts of heroism, in which emergency personnel 
performed critical functions. Many of the lab personnel who manned 
emergency posts lost their homes in the fire, yet they continued at 
their stations to ensure the safety of others. People from throughout 
New Mexico reached out to help their neighbors. Assistance to evacuees 
from Pojoaque, Espanola, Taos and Santa Fe, along with other 
communities throughout the State, has been heart warming. Community 
leaders of these areas, like Jake Villareal from Pojoaque Pueblo and 
Richard Lucero from Espanola, were some of the first to offer generous 
assistance.
  Given the state of the devastation, it's amazing that there has been 
no loss of life, or even serious injuries. The fire burned over bunkers 
full of high explosives--those bunkers provided the planned levels of 
protection and there were no accidents. Laboratory buildings, which 
house hazardous operations, remained secure, thanks in large part to 
years of careful planning. In fact, Laboratory leadership, under the 
direction of John Browne, deserves accolades for assuring that the 
Laboratory did not compound the fire-related crises, and bringing the 
laboratory through the events without significant loss of the 
facilities they require to accomplish their mission.
  In the near term, we need to care for the immense human dimensions of 
the tragedy. We must ensure that people have adequate shelter, that 
public health and safety are protected, that public services are 
rapidly restored, and that some semblance of normalcy can return to 
their lives. We need to provide assistance to people as they rebuild 
their lives and their houses.
  In the longer term, we need to ensure that the town regains its 
vitality, which is essential for our national Laboratory to return to 
full productivity. With the cessation of nuclear testing, the 
challenges facing that Laboratory are even greater than in years past. 
Now we've asked their staff to assure that our nuclear deterrent is 
safe, secure, and reliable--and do it without any nuclear tests. Our 
nation depends on that deterrent. We need these patriots to continue 
their work.
  While I'd like to list the groups and individuals that have worked 
together to mitigate this catastrophe, that's really an impossible 
task. I do want to especially thank President Clinton, FEMA 
Administrator James Lee Witt, and regional FEMA Director Buddy Young 
for their quick reaction to this devastating disaster. FEMA's 
assistance has and will continue to be critical in helping to make the 
community whole again.
  Up to this point, much of the focus has been on the tragedy facing 
the Laboratory and the communities of Los Alamos County, but there are 
additional dimensions to this horrible fire. It is still burning, and 
may threaten other communities. In fact, it could burn for months, as 
dry fuel in these mountain areas is plentiful.
  As we are speaking, the Abiquiu land grant has been voluntarily 
evacuated. Beautiful and sacred areas of the Santa Clara Pueblo are 
burning or are threatened. We must make the same assistance package 
being prepared for the Los Alamos community available in these other 
locations, if this fire damages property there.
  Last Wednesday, Governor Johnson requested that the President declare 
a state of emergency in New Mexico, and President Clinton signed that 
request within hours. The emergency declaration triggered immediate 
assistance to Los Alamos, as well as Sandoval and Santa Fe Counties, 
and Rio Arriba County was added soon thereafter. The emergency 
declaration provided for short-term assistancem including funds for 
things like: Food, water, medicine and other essential needs; shelters 
and emergency care; temporary housing assistance; emergency repairs and 
demolition; and emergency communications service and public 
transportation.
  Over the weekend, at Governor Johnson's request, the President 
declared parts of northern New Mexico to be a federal major disaster 
area. This triggers additional federal assistance from FEMA and other 
agencies for the following counties: Bernalillo, Cibola, Los Alamos, 
McKinley, Mora, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, 
Taos and Torrance.
  FEMA has only begun the process of assessing the damage, but the 
assistance will include funds to help individual families with rental 
housing, hotel/motel costs and other living expenses. Federal aid also 
will be available for county and city governments to help begin the 
process of rebuilding their infrastructure.
  Thankfully, it is estimated that 98 percent of the homes destroyed or 
damaged by the fire were insured. But, there are other effects this 
fire will have on the community, particularly the business community so 
heavily dependent on the Laboratory for its existence in Los Alamos. 
SBA will make available low interest loans to help small businesses pay 
for their property losses and to cover cash flow shortages or working 
capital deficiencies because of the fire's impact.
  FEMA has completed its initial assessment of the situation in 
northern New Mexico, and I have been assured that all appropriate 
federal agencies that can provide support will do so. FEMA will 
coordinate these activities and work closely with local officials to 
implement a comprehensive plan. No amount of money can replace many of 
the things which have been lost during this devastating tragedy, but 
all available federal resources will be brought to bear to do the best 
job we can.
  Over the next few weeks, we will begin to understand the types of 
assistance that will be required for the Laboratory and its staff to 
return to productive work. I stand ready to work with all of you to 
assure that those resources are provided swiftly and surely.
  Unfortunately, FEMA may be called upon to assist other communities in 
New Mexico, as my State is being devastated by a series of major fires. 
In the southern part of New Mexico, there are fires comparable in size 
to the Los Alamos fire. My heart goes out to those people as well, as 
they work to rebuild their lives.
  I've joined a call within the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 
together with Chairman Murkowski and Senator Bingaman, to carefully 
establish the chain of events that led to the horrific events 
associated with the Los Alamos fire. The Government Accounting Office 
has begun a detailed investigation. Even with the limited information 
we have now, it appears clear that major human errors caused this fire. 
We need to understand those errors and be sure they don't occur again. 
We may, for example, need to reexamine the procedures for evaluating 
the safety of ``controlled burns.''
  It's also clear, even with the information we had last week, that the 
federal

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government is responsible for this disaster. Thousands of people were 
impacted by this mistake, and hundreds of those people have suffered 
major financial losses. Those folks are plenty angry, and they have 
every right to be furious. In Congress, we need to find ways to make 
those folks ``whole'' again, as quickly and efficiently as possible, 
with an absolute minimum of red tape.
  All our citizens owe a tremendous gratitude to the workers at Los 
Alamos. We won the Cold War because of their contributions. Today we 
enjoy our freedoms because of their dedication. We need their continued 
dedication to assure that those freedoms survive for our future 
generations. And they need our help to rebuild their lives and return 
to their vital missions.
  Mr. President, there are a lot of people to thank. I thank the 
President for acting expeditiously in declaring a national emergency. I 
thank James Lee Witt, the FEMA Administrator. He visited personally. He 
has put one of his best directors in charge. I thank Buddy Young from 
FEMA, who is out there setting up the appropriate centers. Obviously, 
at the forefront throughout this entire disaster has been our 
distinguished Governor, Governor Johnson. He probably knows more about 
it than any outsider today. He has spent untold numbers of hours, along 
with his wife, finding out what was going on, making sure things were 
coordinated and organized. I thank him in a very special way for all he 
has done. There are many others to thank whom I will forget to mention 
and they are very important.
  I think the people in this country ought to know this laboratory was 
very well organized. It is the center of some very significant 
activities that require expertise and require that we do things 
absolutely right. They had an evacuation plan. It was followed to a tee 
and, believe it or not, with just four roads out of the mountains, all 
of these people went to other parts of our State 20, 30, 40, 50 miles 
away. That occurred without anything other than a mild jam up of 
automobiles on a couple of occasions as they left. They are staying 
with friends and neighbors everywhere. Motels offered the people from 
Los Alamos some very excellent, reasonably priced, accommodations and 
were very generous in doing that. Now, people from Los Alamos are 
starting to move back and we anxiously await their return. I have a few 
comments for them.
  Without a doubt, it is the people who make this laboratory great. It 
is imperative that in our efforts to make this community whole, we do 
so with as much dispatch as humanly possible. Let it not be a long, 
dragged out, protracted effort to focus our attention and resources on 
what the people are entitled to and need, and let's get it done. We 
don't need any discouragement directed at those who are either new on 
the job, with great scientific prowess, or those who have been there a 
long time and are a part of the real nucleus of our nuclear and our 
deterrent capability. We don't need to discourage them. They should not 
be discouraged. We hope they come back and take up their jobs. Nobody 
should lose anything because of this fire in terms of remuneration, or 
pay, or the like. It is our responsibility.
  As I indicated in my remarks, we have acts of God where lightning and 
other things burn our forests, and we have people in recreation areas 
who make a mistake and start a fire. This one apparently was started by 
the U.S. Government, although another department of Government, the 
Park Service, under the Interior Department; that is different from the 
Department of Energy that manages this laboratory.
  Nonetheless, it seems to me that there are lawyers talking about 
trying to get our constituents there to sign up with them so they can 
get remuneration. I am very hopeful, as Senator Bingaman has indicated, 
and as Congressman Udall from the district where this laboratory lies, 
who spoke last night at an event. We ought to give our assistance in an 
effort to make people whole. We ought to do that quickly and make sure 
the people understand they don't have to go through protracted 
litigation and courts to get the compensation they are entitled to. We 
intend to make them whole. But obviously, there may be different 
definitions, depending upon what vantage point you take, as to what 
``making them whole'' means. But wherever you can measure property 
losses such as a house, that which was in a house, personal property, 
automobiles, and the like which might have been damaged or destroyed, 
it is pretty easy. We need to put somebody in charge. We owe the people 
for what these destroyed assets were worth to them.
  This isn't a town way up in the mountains. It is not going to be easy 
to build 400 new residences, if that is what people choose to do. It 
will take some time. The Federal Government has a lot of resources that 
it puts to bear and focus in emergencies. They will all be there, and 
hopefully organized in such a manner so that people will not be 
frustrated, and we will get on with this.
  In the meantime, the process of controlled burns ought to be looked 
at thoroughly by Congress, but also the entire process of how we are 
maintaining our forests and our national parks in terms of trees that 
are knocked down; blighted areas where we have timber standing that is 
totally dry and dead; underbrush that is growing; pine needles that are 
piled up everywhere making a tinderbox out of some of our national 
monuments, some of our national parks, some of our forests, and some of 
the Bureau of Land Management land. We have to take a look to see what 
we should be doing about that.
  Should we leave that independent kind of situation waiting around for 
a fire of this magnitude or should we begin some orderly process of 
doing some things that will clean it up a bit and make it a little more 
safe? I opt for the latter.
  I hope there will be some detailed hearings about that because I 
believe something should be done.
  I understand the Senate is going into recess for the Republican and 
Democratic lunches. But I am not in charge of that time, unless 
leadership wants me to do something in that regard.
  I yield the floor and thank the Senate.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, is there a unanimous consent agreement?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is a unanimous consent agreement that we 
recess for the caucus meetings.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, starting at what time?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. At 12:30.

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