Congressman Thomas Tiffany | wikipedia.org
Congressman Thomas Tiffany | wikipedia.org
WASHINGTON, DC – In April 28, Congressman Tom Tiffany’s (WI-07) bill, H.R. 1567, the Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions (ACRES) Act, passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee with bipartisan support. The legislation would ensure federal land management agencies are accurately reporting hazardous fuel reduction to reduce the risk of wildfires.
Specifically, the ACRES Act would require the Secretaries of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) to carry out a yearly hazardous fuel reduction report based on the actual number of acres that the respective agencies treated over the past year. This legislation follows investigative reporting that agencies, like the U.S. Forest Service, have been overstating their fuel reduction work for decades, inflating their actual work done by over 20 percent.
“Our federal forests have become overgrown and overstocked – creating tinderbox conditions,” said Congressman Tom Tiffany. “This commonsense legislation will hold federal land managers accountable by requiring accurate reporting on the effectiveness of their work in fuel reduction to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.”
More information on Rep. Tiffany’s ACRES Act can be found here.
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Issues: Congress
Original source can be found here.
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