John Jefferson
FIRST ON FOX: GOP Congressman Darrell Issa has introduced a bill in response to the devastating California wildfires aimed at slashing through the regulatory burdens that prevent firefighters from most effectively preventing the fires.
Issa, who represents California’s 48th Congressional District, is putting forward the Green Tape Elimination Act which would exempt hazardous fuel reduction activities on federal lands from federal regulations for a decade.
Eliminating those regulatory burdens, Issa says, will allow firefighters to clear brush, cut shrubs, prescribe fires, along with other fire prevention activities without being hindered by six major federal environmental regulations.
Those regulations include the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Clean Air Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Migratory Bird Conservation Act.
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“For years, environmental rules have become regulatory ‘green tape’ — locking in dangerous conditions and contradicting common sense reforms,” Issa, who will be touring the Palisade Fire devastation with President Trump on Friday, told Fox News Digital. “That’s why this is no time for tinkering around the edges. We can’t wait for the next deadly disaster.”
“Giving a blank check to finance even more of California’s mismanagement would be like giving matches to an arsonist,” Issa continued. “We’re dedicated to helping the victims of this disaster first and working to prevent the next one. It’s a message I’ll bring to President Trump when I see him today in Los Angeles.”
The Golden State’s struggles with preventing or at least moderating severe wildfires over the past few decades has been a longstanding concern that was only exacerbated by the recent Eaton Fire and Palisades fire which killed at least 28 people.
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Many have argued that a wide range of federal and state regulations make it more difficult to conduct mitigation activities, like prescribed burns or treatments to remove hazardous trees and vegetation.
Chuck Devore, a former member of the California State Assembly and the chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told FOX Business in a recent interview that federal and state rules have hampered wildfire mitigation efforts, resulting in larger fuel loads that drive more intense wildfires.”
“The nature of the wildfire problem changes a little bit from north to south… In both cases, you have the issue of air quality management districts that are under both federal and state mandate to clean up the air. That makes it difficult to have prescribed burns with the sort of frequency that needs to happen to be able to reduce the fuel load,” Devore said.
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