Recognizing Tom Seaver

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, ``Tom Terrific'' Seaver, a member of the Miracle Memorable Mets championship season in 1969 that won the World Series. He passed away peacefully earlier this month.

A native of my hometown, Fresno, California, that has had a lot of terrific baseball players, no one ever played the game any better than Tom Terrific. He was a graduate of Fresno High and Fresno City College. During that time, he became a first-round draft pick in 1966. But in between that time, he served in the United States Marine Corps.

Of the many seasons that he played in baseball, he had 12 All-Star appearances, won multiple Cy Young Awards, and was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame when he first became available on a near- unanimous decision--a gifted and once-in-a-lifetime player.

As I said, he served honorably in the Marine Corps.

Last year, he retired from public life after being diagnosed with dementia. His passing has been a terrible loss for the community of Fresno and all baseball fans across the country.

Please join me in celebrating the life and career of one good person, Tom Seaver. Devastating California Wildfires

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to draw attention to the devastating wildfires burning in the West, throughout Washington, Oregon, and California, and other Western States, and, more precisely, this fire, the Creek fire, that is burning near my district in the central Sierra Nevada.

Let me first salute the incredible men and women, the firefighters, the first responders, all of those volunteers who are doing their best, over 14,000 of them throughout California, and many more throughout Western States. They are putting their lives on the line trying to protect us and trying to protect our forests.

Last Friday, I toured the devastation firsthand and spent 6 hours in the southern perimeter of the Creek fire in the Shaver and Huntington Lake areas. I witnessed the devastating damage that has been done, not only in this picture that is illustrated here, but the many homes that have been lost, as you see here, 1400-degree tornado firestorms that literally melted homes, such as this one here, and many, many other structures.

This summer alone, clearly, has indicated that the numbers of fires that we see, not only in California, but throughout the West, are growing both in quantity and the scope of the devastation. This summer alone, with record heat and extreme conditions made worse by climate change, California has experienced 6 of the largest 20 wildfires in its history--and, sadly, most of those wildfires are still burning.

In the foothills in the high Sierra Nevada outside my home in Fresno, California, the Creek fire continues to grow, and we only have, as of today, about 15 percent containment. But that is similar not only in California but Oregon and Washington and other States, and it is making the air quality something that you have to see to understand and believe. When I left Monday, the air index was 304.

So, what must we do?

We must learn the lessons from these devastating fires, these wildfires. And I think, first of all, it requires much better forest management. We have tried to make changes within the U.S. Forest Service, but much more needs to be done in terms of resources to better manage our forest.

We also must do better land management planning. We have hundreds and thousands of people in the last 30 years living where they didn't live before, and it requires better land use planning.

And, finally, we must address the issues of climate change. When we have extended draught periods and dry conditions, the beetle bark and other factors play into a situation which, in California, from Lassen down to Lake Isabella, we have over 100 million dead trees, and that creates the fuel that adds to the problem.

These are among the lessons that we must learn to better manage our forests for future generations to come.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source