Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016

Floor Speech

I rise in strong support for the inclusion of H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act, in the House amendment to S. 2012.

The House passed H.R. 2647 with 262 bipartisan votes last July, and it has been waiting for Senate action since then.

When we passed the bill nearly a year ago, we knew we were facing a severe wildfire season. We were correct. More than 10.1 million acres of forest land burned across the country, the largest number of acres ever recorded. Over 4,500 homes and other structures were destroyed.

Mr. Speaker, these fires destroyed valuable resources, and emitted in the order of magnitude of 100 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere while burning up the equivalent renewable energy stored in our forests of 20 to 30 billion gallons of gasoline. Tragically, these fires also claimed the lives of seven firefighters who worked courageously to stop the spread of these wildfires into communities.

When the House passed H.R. 2647 last summer, we hoped that the passage would spur action from the Senate. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. We have waited patiently for the Senate to offer its own legislation so we could sit down and negotiate a compromise. However, that has not been the case, so we should again ask the Senate to act on forestry reform.

H.R. 2647 is premised on a simple idea: that the Forest Service and the BLM need to do more work to restore the health and resilience of our Nation's forests.

We understand the problem clearly. Our forests are overgrown due to years of neglect. This problem cannot be solved immediately, but we have an obligation to our rural communities to do everything we can to help mitigate the problem.

In drafting this bill, we included provisions which would allow our Federal land management agencies to be able to shorten lengthy environmental review periods when they already understand the environmental impacts of a proposed management action. This bill also encourages and rewards collaboration between diverse stakeholder groups.

The Natural Resources Committee recognizes the chilling effect of unnecessary litigation and how that can prevent needed restoration work from occurring in our Nation's forests. The committee heard testimony from a variety of experts who testified about how restoration work is not being proposed by the Forest Service for fear that it will be litigated.

My bill takes the simple step of requiring anyone who litigates a forest management project to post a bond if they are challenging a project put forth by a collaborative effort. It is not unreasonable to ask a litigant who threatens an urgently needed project that is put forth by a diverse group of stakeholders to have some skin in the game.

This bill also recognizes the reality that we must rethink the manner in which we fund the fighting of catastrophic wildfires. The Forest Service is burdened with having to transfer funds from other accounts in order to cover the cost of wildfire suppression. Just last year, the Forest Service was forced to transfer $243 million from other agency accounts during 1 week in August in order to pay for firefighting costs. These transfers disrupt the very work that reduces the risk of wildfires in the first place.

H.R. 2647 addresses this issue by allowing catastrophic wildfires to be treated like any other natural disaster. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior would be able to access FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund to help fight wildfires when all appropriated accounts are exhausted. This provision was drafted in a fiscally responsible manner to ensure that fighting these fires does not become a drain on our budget.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will not make a difference in the health of our Nation's Federal forests overnight, but it provides urgently needed tools to help our land management agencies to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires in our communities and to be good stewards of a treasured national resource.

I urge my colleagues to support the House amendment to S. 2012 so that we can go to conference and work out a solution to the many problems facing our Nation's Federal forests.

Perfect policy is rare or even impossible. Good policy requires hard work, sound science, good data and data analytics, common sense, and a little bit of give-and-take. Mr. Speaker, this is good policy, fair policy. Most importantly, it will provide for a better way of life for Americans.

I urge support for S. 2012, as amended.

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