Two Trump administration Cabinet members on Tuesday called on Congress to give them authority to expand the pace and scale of forest management projects without having to go through strict environmental reviews, in order to help stop disasters like the wildfires that are still raging in California.
“These are disasters we can do some things about,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters in a press call. “But we need the authority to do that.”
Perdue and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said provisions could still be added to the farm bill this year that would help mitigate these disasters. The Trump administration favors the House-passed version of the farm bill, passed with only Republican votes, that would make it easier for forest officials to remove overgrowth and dead trees and conduct prescribed burns, in which officials intentionally set fires to take away ignitable material like brush off the forest floor.
The Senate-passed farm bill does not contain forest management provisions, and it passed by a bipartisan margin. The two chambers must reconcile their differences to reach a final agreement that President Trump would sign.
Democrats and conservationists say the House measures go too far in removing environmental reviews. They argue that Republican solutions to combat worsening wildfires cannot be taken seriously if GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration don’t also appreciate the role of hotter and drier weather caused by climate change for making fire seasons longer and fires more destructive.
Democrats also say the farm bill’s forest management provisions are unnecessary because Congress recently passed a bill making those projects easier.
The omnibus spending bill Congress approved in March, signed by Trump, contained $1.95 billion for fiscal 2018 fire suppression and prevention across the Forest Service and Interior Department. Those authorities cannot be used until fiscal 2020.
Trump last week came under fire from Democrats, firefighters, and even some Republicans for threatening to cut federal aid to California for an alleged “mismanagement” of forests. The president walked back the tweet later, expressing condolences to families who have lost loved ones and gave thanks to firefighters for their work to control the fires.
Zinke stood by Trump on Tuesday for focusing on forest management. He also acknowledged that “the fire season is getting longer and temperatures are getting hotter,” but he did not mention climate change.
“This is fixable,” Zinke said on the press call. “The president is right. This is the time to act.”
