As Wildfires Rage, Gov. Newsom Sues Feds For Clearing Out Forests

[Elderberry]

Climate Change Dispatch by Valerie Richardson on Sep 23, 2020

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has pointed out that the state’s wildfires are located primarily on federal land — and he’s right — but now he and other Democratic governors are trying to block the Trump administration’s effort to speed up the clearing of overgrown, tinder-dry forests.

Twenty-three states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, sued last month to stop the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) modernization, which would thin the regulatory thicket and red tape blamed for slowing down federal projects, including forest management on the government’s extensive Western lands.

The NEPA lawsuit came as no surprise, given that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has sued the Trump administration 100 times, but critics accused California Democrats of putting their loyalty to the environmental movement and focus on climate change ahead of proven strategies for forest health.

“It’s not just saying, on one hand, you want to manage your forest, and then suing the government to stop the management of forests by changing the NEPA requirements, which is what Newsom has done,” H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow on environmental policy at the Heartland Institute, said on a press call.

“He goes publicly and says, ‘We want to manage the forest. Let’s cut a deal.’ And then when they take steps to help [manage] the forests, he sues to block it.”

Nobody denies that the dry, overgrown Western federal forests are in bad shape, fueling the wildfires that have now consumed 3.3 million acres in California and nearly 1 million acres in Oregon, with at least another month left in the fire season.

More: https://climatechangedispatch.com/as-wildfires-rage-gov-newsom-sues-feds-for-clearing-out-forests/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Gavin can overcome this by making an offer to buy up the federal lands.

Nothing is stopping him from doing so.

Then he can decide how much deadwood he needs to clear out to get his state back to recovery.

The biggest bang for the buck is he begin with state officials in Sacramento, though.

[Smokin Joe]

Gavin can overcome this by making an offer to buy up the federal lands.

Nothing is stopping him from doing so.

Then he can decide how much deadwood he needs to clear out to get his state back to recovery.

The biggest bang for the buck is he begin with state officials in Sacramento, though.

The dead wood that needs to be cleared out to get California back to recovery is by no means limited to forests or canyonland, but should start being cleared in the Governor's residence and legislature, and down to city commissions at a minimum.