Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, it was insinuated earlier that my good friend, Mr. Peters, did not work with The Nature Conservancy. It begins by saying that: ``TNC, which has decades of experience in wildfire mitigation and resilience work, was at the table with Representatives Peters and Westerman to improve this bill from its initial draft form.'' They go on to say that they are not endorsing the bill because of some issues they have, but they also list several things that they approve of in the bill. Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the Nature Conservancy statement. TNC New Statement TNC's position: TNC, which has decades of experience in wildfire mitigation and resilience work, was at the table with Reps. Peters and Westerman to improve this bill from its initial draft form, and while it has certainly improved since that point due in part to our advocacy, we are not endorsing the bill due to a remaining problematic provision in the litigation reform section that TNC believes could damagingly limit community engagement. However, we also believe there are beneficial provisions in the bill, such as the Good Neighbor Authority provisions, the inclusion of Tribal priorities in the fireshed management section, the Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program, and the Seeds of Success cross agency coordination.”