[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8630]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            WHO IS TO BLAME

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the White House announced that it 
would work to compensate the victims of the Los Alamos wildfire. Well, 
Mr. Speaker, how generous of the administration to compensate the 
victims of a wildfire which its own agency, the National Park Service, 
is responsible for starting.
  Of course, neither the administration or the Park Service accepts 
responsibility for the environmental disaster that has left hundreds of 
people stranded, over 400 homes destroyed, and has burned almost 50,000 
acres. Instead, they have pledged compensation, which will ultimately 
cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars.
  Meanwhile, the local superintendent who has acknowledged 
responsibility for igniting the blaze, in spite of adverse weather 
warnings, was given a paid vacation. They might as well have said 
congratulations. Mr. Speaker, the National Park Service and its 
personnel need to be held responsible for their actions, especially 
when those actions result in such extensive environmental devastation.
  I yield back the administration's disgraceful inability to accept 
responsibility for its own negligence.

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