Statement of U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, II
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5541 and H.R. 5648
April 10, 2008

The Committee is meeting today to conduct a hearing on H.R. 5541, the FLAME Act, and H.R. 5648, the Emergency Wildland Fire Response Act introduced by Committee on Agriculture Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte.

The FLAME Act, which I along with Subcommittee Chairman Raúl Grijalva and Interior Appropriations Chairman Norm Dicks introduced, has received broad, bipartisan support including from our Ranking Member, Don Young.

The bill is supported by five Former Chiefs of the Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, the National Association of Counties, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Western Governor's Association, and nearly 40 other organizations.

Today, we are joined by several of those organizations and will be receiving their testimony. I would like to especially welcome Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Former Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas.

Last year, our country saw the devastating effects of catastrophic, emergency wildland fires in Southern California.  For the past several years, we have witnessed tragic fire seasons that have put American lives and our treasured public lands in harms way.  Fire seasons are getting longer and more intense due to climate change, drought and other factors.

As a result, federal fire suppression spending has increased substantially over the past 10 years and projections indicate that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

The dramatic rise in these costs is eroding other non-fire programs and impacting the core mission of Federal land management agencies.  In the case of the Forest Service, fire fighting now accounts for approximately 48 percent of its budget. Our Forest Service is turning into the Fire Service, to the detriment of the rest of its mission.

This is because both the Forest Service has had to "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" by borrowing funds from other agency accounts to cover the escalating costs of fire suppression.  Last year, the Forest Service spent $741 million more, and the Interior Department spent $249 million more, than was budgeted for fire fighting.

Simply put, the FLAME Act would establish a dedicated Federal fund for catastrophic, emergency wildland fire suppression activities, separate from appropriated agency fire fighting funding.

I look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses today, and to moving forward in a bipartisan manner to find solutions to one of the most critical problems facing our federal land management agencies.