Political Quotes

“today I am introducing, with Senator John McCain, S. 1344, which is a response to Arizona's largest wildfire, called the Wallow Fire. This act is the Wallow Fire Recovery and Monitoring Act. The Wallow Fire in Arizona burned, over about 40 days, 538,000 acres of Arizona land, making it the largest fire in the history of our State. Just to put it into perspective, that is nearly 841 square miles or almost four times the size of the city of Chicago. The fire destroyed 32 homes and 4 rental cabins. Nearly 10,000 people were evacuated at one point, and the fire cost the taxpayers over $100 million before it was finally extinguished. Unfortunately, it will likely cost double that amount for the necessary rehabilitation of the forests that needs to occur now. After a fire such as this, there is only a short opportunity to hasten forest rehabilitation, reduce risks of flooding, insect epidemics, and future fires, and capture at least some of the economic benefit from the dead and dying trees to help offset and pay for those restoration costs. Given the urgent need for action, as I said, I am introducing today the Arizona Wallow Fire Recovery and Monitoring Act, joined by my colleague, John McCain, as an original cosponsor. This legislation would expedite the removal of hazard, dead, and dying trees in community protection management areas within the Wallow Fire area. The removal projects carried out under the act will be completed within 18 months of enactment.…”