Fighting fires, not red tape

As another fire season begins, I’m glad to report that my bill, the Forest Protection and Wildland Firefighter Safety Act, was included in the larger permitting package we moved through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

This legislation is straightforward: It allows the U.S. Forest Service to keep using aerial fire retardant without having to jump through a permitting process that could cripple our ability to respond quickly when fires start.

In California alone, more than15 million acres have burned since 2013. In our district, we’ve seen four of the five largest fires in state history. Retardant is a vital tool firefighters use to stop these blazes before they reach our towns. But thanks to a 2022 lawsuit by environmentalists, the Forest Service now has to secure permits that could take years and vary across 47 states, creating a logistical mess when time is of the essence.

Despite claims that this weakens the Clean Water Act, this bill simply builds on a decades-old existing exemption for forest work and lets firefighters keep using already-tested, approved products.

Our state burns every year. We cannot afford to take tools away from the people trying to save lives. I’m glad to see this bill move through committee and I hope to see it on the House floor soon.

You can watch my remarks on the importance of this piece of legislation here.