Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer a commonsense amendment that redirects funds from EPA bureaucracy to the Forest Services' hazardous fuels account in order to prevent dangerous wildfires.
In 2015, over 10 million acres burned throughout the country, setting a new record. In that same year, fire season appropriations requests were approximately $4 billion for all wildfire programs. Shamefully, the President requested only $356 million of those funds go toward hazardous fuels reduction activities.
Thinning overgrown forests and removing hazardous fuels creates jobs and increases overall forest health. Unfortunately, extremist self- interest groups and Washington bureaucrats have failed to recognize this correlation. As a result, timber harvests are down 80 percent over the last 30 years.
Such flawed thinking also negatively impacts education and local communities. Historically, 25 percent of the receipts from timber harvests by the Federal Government go toward schools and important infrastructure projects.
The failure to prioritize hazardous fuels reduction activities is also bad for our environment, as sound data from NASA concludes that one catastrophic wildfire can emit more carbon emissions in a few days than total emissions in an entire State over the course of a year.
As it currently stands, the Forest Service consistently raids its own treasury when firefighting costs exceed their estimated yearly allotment, taking money from programs that clear brush and remove dead trees. This represents yet another classic example of Washington's misguided prioritization of Federal funds.
The Forest Service's own Fuel Treatment Effective Database reports that ``over 90 percent of the fuel treatments were effective in changing fire behavior and/or helping with control of the wildfire.''
Hazardous fuels reduction activities work. In eastern Arizona, areas that were treated in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest as part of the White Mountain Stewardship Project help prevent further destruction from the catastrophic Wallow Fire.
Today there are still healthy trees as firefighters were able to control previously thinned areas. On other lands that were untouched by thinning practices and managed by the Forest Service, all that is left behind is scorched earth and sterilized soil.
It is of the utmost urgency that the Federal Government adopt a forward-thinking, active management strategy that combats dangerous wildfires before they get started. My amendment helps accomplish that task by redirecting scarce resources to important hazardous fuels reduction activities.
I am honored that this amendment is supported by the Americans for Limited Government, Public Lands Council, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona, Lake Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce, New Mexico Wool Growers, New Mexico Federal Lands Council, Yavapai County Cattle Growers' Association, Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, and countless other organizations and individuals in my home State of Arizona.
I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. I thank the chairman and ranking member for their good work on this bill.
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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).
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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chair, how much time do I have remaining?
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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chair, while the bill does include nearly $2.9 billion for wildfire activities, which I am thankful for, most of these dollars are focused on suppression activities.
As I stated previously, the 2015 fire season set a new record, burning more than 10 million acres throughout the country. It is easy to make that statement when it is not your home burning. Clearly, we must focus on proactive solutions for our Nation's forests.
The best way to do so is by providing the Forest Service hazardous fuel account with appropriate funding in order to prevent hazardous wildfires. My amendment accomplishes that task by redirecting scarce resources from the EPA's bureaucracy.
The EPA is far from being underfunded. As it stands, this bill currently funds the EPA at over $7.98 billion. This marginal loss to a rogue administration that continues to circumvent Congress in order to implement lawless regulations is better spent through my amendment and will dramatically increase the Forest Service's ability to prevent dangerous wildfires. Again, I urge the support of my amendment.
Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Grijalva, who represents southwestern Arizona, is seeking to lock up 1.7 million acres in northern Arizona, at the behest of special interest groups, for the sole purpose of preventing mining, retiring grazing permits, closing roads to OHV users, and preventing forest thinning activities. There is significant opposition in Arizona to this proposed land grab, as Americans for Responsible Recreational Access recently reported that a scientific poll found that 71.6 percent of Arizonans are opposed.
In April, I held a public meeting to hear concerns about this proposal, and hundreds of local stakeholders showed up in opposition. More than 30 Arizona witnesses submitted formal testimony against this land grab, including Arizona's Governor, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, numerous businesses, sportsmen's groups, ag groups, local officials, and countless taxpayers. In fact, several of the comments pertaining to today are out of line.
In fact, in this proposal, the entire town of Tusayan, which is in Coconino County, would be swallowed up by this proposed monument. Town managers testified against it.
Arizona State Land Department Commissioner Lisa Atkins submitted testimony stating: ``Of the 1.7 million acres included in the proposal for the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument, 64,000 acres belong solely to the Common Schools beneficiary: K-12 education.''
The list goes on and on and on. I asked everybody. In fact, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey stated: ``Imposition of a preservation management objective overlay on 1.7 million acres of land in Arizona thwarts Arizona's land management objectives and values, and it does so by bypassing a public process that would most certainly result in a much more thoughtful result. The Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument is not narrow, targeted, warranted, or being considered through an open cooperative public process.''
I, last but not least, bring up that attorneys also have testified that this proposed monument will tie up future surface water use and future groundwater use.
I urge a ``no'' vote on amendment 41.
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