Letter to the Hon. Debbie Stabenow, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Hon. Maria Cantwell, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Hon. Joe Manchin III, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the Hon. Tom Carper, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, the Hon. Gary Peters, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Hon. Brian Schatz, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs - Merkley, Wyden Urge Funding for Wildfire and Drought Prevention, Mitigation, and Relief Efforts in Upcoming Reconciliation Bill

Letter

Dear Chairs:

As you develop budget reconciliation legislation, we request that you include dedicated funding to address the wildfires and drought afflicting Western states in the U.S. Each of your Committees received instructions from the Senate Budget Committee to fund programs for climate change mitigation, resilience, and/or research. In the West, climate change has increased the severity and frequency of wildfires and caused record high temperatures and drought conditions. In order to adequately address the climate crisis and support Western communities, the reconciliation legislation must build on the success of the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill and expand investments in wildfire and drought programs.

As you know, wildfires continue to worsen each year and pose a threat to human health, personal property, wildlife, and our public lands. In 2020, nearly 60,000 wildfires burned more than 10.3 million acres and destroyed more than 17,000 structures. Over 90% of the West is currently experiencing drought, with the majority of areas subject to significantly below-average precipitation and extended dry periods. Unfortunately, this means that this wildfire season will likely once again be catastrophic.

Each of your committees has the opportunity to address the growing threat of wildfires and drought. Within your respective committee jurisdictions, we ask you to include the following provisions in reconciliation legislation:

Funding for land management agencies to respond to and prevent further wildfires;
Emergency support for state, local, and Tribal governments, and to assist water districts
and other units of local government with emergency drought response needs;

Wildfire and drought research and development of technologies, including desalination
research and snowpack and evapotranspiration monitoring; and

Funding to combat air and water pollution from wildfire smoke, and environmental
drought funding.

We urge you to provide robust funding for programs across the federal government that will enable our communities to mitigate, respond, and recover from the wildfires and drought we are currently fighting.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Source