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Committee Approves Rahall Bill to Create FLAME Fund |
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Dedicated fund will prevent agencies from ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul'
April 17, 2008
CONTACT: Allyson Groff or Blake Androff, 202-226-9019
Washington, D.C. - Acting to prevent catastrophic, emergency wildland fires from crippling federal land management budgets, the House Natural Resources Committee today approved legislation authored by Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) that would create an emergency federal fund dedicated solely to fighting these devastating fires.
"When FEMA responds to an emergency it does not take housing funds away to pay for it. The same applies to our federal highway program, where we have an emergency account. Responding to emergencies is something American citizens expect their government to do. The FLAME Act's dedicated fund will provide for more predictability and will allow the Forest Service and other land management agencies to continue to do what they do best - manage our nation's unique and vast public lands," said Rahall.
The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act (FLAME Act) (H.R. 5541) was introduced by Chairman Rahall, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA). The FLAME fund would be separate from budgeted and appropriated agency wildland fire suppression funding for the Forest Service and the Interior Department, and is to be used only for the suppression of catastrophic, emergency wildland fires. The annual agency budgets will continue to fund anticipated and predicted wildland fire suppressions activities. Monies for the fund will be appropriated based on the average costs incurred by these agencies to suppress catastrophic, emergency wildland fires over the preceding five fiscal years.
Federal fire suppression spending has increased substantially over the past 10 years, with nearly half of the Forest Service budget accounting for these activities today. Much to the detriment of other programs under the auspices of federal land management agencies, the Forest Service and the Interior Department have been forced to borrow funds from other agency accounts to cover these escalating costs. In the case of the Forest Service, two percent of fires today account for 80 percent of the costs the agency incurs.
"Agencies of the Interior Department and the Forest Service have been forced to ‘Rob Peter to Pay Paul' by borrowing funds from other agency accounts to cover the escalating costs of fire suppression," said Rahall. "This unnecessary and unfair diversion of funds has severely undermined the overall missions of the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and other agencies - including everything from trail maintenance to necessary construction actions."
The Committee voted to adopt an amendment offered by Rahall that incorporated provisions from the Emergency Wildland Fire Response Act (H.R. 5648), legislation introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) that would also establish a federal fund for emergency wildland fire suppression. Rahall's amendment would require annual reports on the FLAME Fund be made available to the public and it calls on the Secretaries of the Interior Department and the Agriculture Department to conduct a review of wildland fire incidents that result in expenses greater than $10 million. It also requires the Secretaries to notify Congress whenever funding drops below a level estimated to cover two months worth of expenditures, and includes a provision to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildland fires to communities.
H.R. 5541 has received bipartisan support from nearly 50 Members of Congress, and the endorsement of five former Forest Service chiefs. The legislation is also backed by 37 organizations, including the National Association of Counties, National Association of State Foresters, National Association of Forest Service Retirees, National Federation of Federal Employees, and a number of environmental and community forestry groups.
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