E&E: Senators promise bipartisan fix to ‘fire borrowing’

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  • by BPC Staff
  • on August 7, 2015
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Senators promise bipartisan fix to ‘fire borrowing’

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter

Published: Thursday, August 6, 2015

Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and 10 other Western senators today pledged to work across party lines to reform how the nation budgets for wildfires, a sign that lawmakers are hoping to coalesce around a solution this summer.

The goal of all 11 senators is to prevent “fire borrowing,” which occurs when the Forest Service runs out of funding to fight wildfires and must transfer money from non-fire accounts. Borrowing has occurred with increasing frequency over the past decade and disrupts the agency’s ability to keep forests healthy and accessible to the public.

Bills have been introduced to let the Forest Service access disaster funding in severe fire years — which would prevent borrowing — but Democrats and Republicans have disagreed over what conditions the agency must meet in order to access those funds.

Some lawmakers want the Forest Service to continue paying for the full, anticipated cost of fire suppression, while others believe disaster funding should kick in after 70 percent of the 10-year average suppression tab is spent. Other lawmakers believe disaster funding should be contingent on the Forest Service spending significantly more to remove hazardous fuels, which could reduce long-term suppression costs.

Each senator entered a statement in the Congressional Record today offering his or her thoughts on the matter. Enzi was joined by Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mike Crapo of Idaho, John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Steve Daines of Montana, and Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Jon Tester of Montana.

Their full statements can be read here.

The colloquy came one day after the Forest Service released a report warning that, for the first time in its 110-year history, it is spending more than half its budget on wildfires and that it expects suppression costs to rise rapidly over the next decade (Greenwire, Aug. 5).

“I know there are differences of opinion out there as to how to solve this problem, but the key to solving it is getting everyone in a room to discuss it,” Enzi said. “As cap adjustments are under the jurisdiction of the Budget Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues on a durable and long-lasting solution that fits our fiscal priorities and is responsible budgeting.”

Enzi said the Forest Service still has $500 million left to fight fires this year, but he acknowledged funds have run dry in past years.

Wyden, who is the co-author of S. 235 with Crapo to release disaster funding after 70 percent of anticipated suppression costs are spent, said “the time for talking is coming to an end, and the time to negotiate a fix to this very serious problem is at hand.”

Murkowski, who is chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations panel that funds wildfire programs, noted that she included language in the chamber’s fiscal 2016 spending bill that would allow disaster spending after the Forest Service spends 100 percent of anticipated suppression costs.

“But there is more to the issue of wildfire budgeting, as my colleague, Sen. Cantwell, points out,” she said. “We need to ensure the dollars Congress appropriates are well spent.”

Cantwell said that she has “a number of ideas to round out the solution” and that she’ll be working with colleagues over the recess on “comprehensive legislation that solves this budget problem.”

McCain said there is “growing agreement” that the Forest Service should budget for 100 percent of anticipated wildfire suppression costs. He said he looks forward to working with Wyden and Enzi on “an agreeable solution that protects wildfire prevention and wildfire suppression as the two top priorities of the Forest Service.”

McCain, Flake and Barrasso are promoting a bill that would make disaster funding contingent on the Forest Service spending more to reduce hazardous fuels.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues on enacting this funding fix as well as incorporating provisions that ease the removal of the hazardous fuels that create fire-prone landscapes,” Flake said.