U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines helped introduce two pieces of legislation to combat the threat of catastrophic wildfires in Montana and support resiliency efforts. The “Wildfire Emergency Act” would promote forest restoration, firefighter training and energy resilience retrofits. The “Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act” would streamline the process for removing vegetation near power lines.
“Montanans are tired of breathing in smoke, and this bipartisan legislation is a commonsense step forward in mitigating the effects of wildfires and stopping the problem at the root. I’ll always look for measures to strengthen fire resilience both in Montana and across the country,” said Daines.
Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act:
The “Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act” would allow the U.S. Forest Service to approve the removal of trees and other vegetation near power lines on federal forest lands without requiring a timber sale. Specifically, it would:
- Allow the Forest Service to provide standing permission for electrical utilities to cut and remove hazardous trees near power lines within existing rights-of-way without requiring a timber sale.
- Require any utility that sells marketable forest products from hazardous trees removed near power lines to return any proceeds to the Forest Service.
Read the bill text HERE.
Wildfire Emergency Act:
The “Wildfire Emergency Act” would ensure that the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of the Interior better mitigate the impact and risk of wildfires. Specifically, the legislation would:
- Provide the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with a pilot authority to leverage private financing to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration projects. The USFS would be able to expand up to 20 existing collaborative forest restoration projects using this pilot authority.
- Authorize funding for programs to expand the forest conservation and wildland firefighting workforce.
- Establish an energy resilience program at DOE to ensure that critical facilities remain active during wildfire disruptions, authorizing up to $100 million for necessary retrofits.
- Expand an existing DOE weatherization grant program to provide up to $13,000 to low-income households to make wildfire-hardening retrofits, such as ember-resistant roofs or gutters.
- Expedite the placement of wildfire detection equipment on the ground, such as sensors or cameras, as well as the use of space-based observation.
- Establish a prescribed fire-training center in the West and authorize grants to support training the next generation of foresters and firefighters.
- Authorize up to $50 million to support community grants of up to $50,000 for locally focused land stewardship and conservation.
Read the bill text HERE.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Rachel Dumke