McSally Moves to Prevent Catastrophic Wildfires with New Bill

Statement

U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) this week introduced a bill to restore Arizona's forests by incentivizing the removal of dangerous overgrowth.

The Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act would advance forest restoration by incentivizing biomass energy development as a method to reduce hazardous fuel build-up in fire-prone forests.

During a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining yesterday, McSally discussed her new bill and the catastrophic wildfires raging across the West.

"One of the biggest challenges we've had in forest restoration in Arizona is the crushing expense of removing low-value biomass like branches, slash, and undergrowth from the forest," McSally said. "That's why this week I'm introducing my bill, the Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act. My bill will accelerate forest restoration by reducing the cost and regulatory barriers to clearing out dangerous overgrowth and utilizing that material for carbon neutral biomass electricity. My bill complements the forest management policies included in the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act, which I've cosponsored with Senator Daines and we're considering in the hearing today. Together, our bills offer practical, cost-effective solutions to target the real root causes of these catastrophic wildfires while also supporting low carbon energy."

During the hearing, McSally called out the U.S. Forest Service for delaying Arizona's single most important forest fire prevention project--the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI).

"While I am glad to see the Forest Service adopted many of the proposals in my [2019] bill, more work needs to be done to make 4FRI a success and reduce wildfire risk. Unfortunately, 4FRI has encountered delay after delay. And even though this is the single most important project underway to reduce the risk of wildfire in Arizona, the Forest Service recently pushed back Phase 2 even further. This is unacceptable."

Two of McSally's natural resources bills were discussed at the subcommittee hearing yesterday including her MAPLand Act to enhance access to public recreation areas through map digitization, and the La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act she introduced with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to support renewable energy development in La Paz County.

Background:

On September 16, 2020, McSally introduced the Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020, which would:
advance forest restoration and fire resilience by incentivizing biomass energy development as a method to reduce hazardous fuel build-up in fire-prone forests.
direct the Administration to assess the biomass energy fuel potential in U.S. forests with a focus on identifying the most viable sources for energy use such as ladder fuels and by-products of forest restoration including branches, slash and other low-value biomass.
establish a fund using a percentage of timber sale revenues to assist timber operators and biomass energy producers with the collection, harvesting and transportation of biomass material out of high hazard areas.
On July 9, 2020, McSally pressed the U.S. Forest Service on its wildfire prevention efforts given increased traffic to public lands during the pandemic.
On June 18, 2019, McSally asked Department of Interior and U.S. Forest Service officials about the backlog of multiple maintenance projects on federal land in Arizona.
On June 13, 2019, McSally introduced the Accelerating Forest Restoration Act to expedite Arizona's Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) and help the Forest Service remove the low or no-value forest byproducts that can cause forest fires.
On April 9, 2019, McSally pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the timeline of Arizona's Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI).
On March 22, 2019, McSally visited Coconino County during her 15-county tour and heard from community leaders about the state of the forests.
On February 12, 2019, McSally helped pass the Bipartisan Natural Resources Management Act, which included important provisions to modernize wildfire technology.

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