Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his comments. This past summer, nearly 7.7 million acres have burned across America. Wildfires consumed thousands of acres in Glacier National Park. The Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park consumed over 14,000 acres. I was there. I saw the devastation. It destroyed homes on the shores of Lake McDonald. These are historic national buildings, lost to fire. Last year in Glacier National Park as well we lost Sperry Chalet, which also had historic value and had created memories for thousands of tourists who had visited that facility. Our courageous firefighting efforts did save the main Wheeler cabin, with great effort. It even threatened the Going-to-the-Sun Road. I met with the incident commanders there and the brave firefighters at the Howe Ridge Fire. Last summer, we saw similar behavior. Nearly 8.5 million acres burned in our country last year. In Montana alone, last summer, Mr. Speaker, we lost 1.25 million acres. Just to put that in perspective, 1.2 million acres is the equivalent of the entire State of Delaware, burned in Montana last summer. And I saw the destruction firsthand. I was on five of these fires, visiting with the incident commanders, and seeing devastation. In one county alone, we burned 270,000 acres, and we had over 60,000 cattle with no grass. Fortunately, we were able to work with the Department of the Interior to get retired grazing allotments in the C.M.…”