Jeff Bingaman: “first, I commend my colleague, Senator Domenici, for this amendment and indicate I am very glad to be a cosponsor of it.…”

“first, I commend my colleague, Senator Domenici, for this amendment and indicate I am very glad to be a cosponsor of it. It is an important amendment which is much needed in my State and throughout much of the country. The problem has been well described by Senator Domenici, Senator Feinstein, Senator Craig, and others. I do not need to elaborate on that to a great extent, except to say there are many communities in our State of New Mexico which genuinely feel threatened because of the fact that they are adjacent to our national forests and the forests have been allowed to build up underbrush in a way which makes them a fire hazard--communities such as Santa Fe and Los Alamos, which have been mentioned, Ruidoso, Cloudcroft, and Weed. I know my colleague was visiting with citizens in the small community of Weed, NM, about this very issue. There is no question the time has come when it needs to be addressed, and this amendment will allow us to do that on an emergency basis. It is, as I said before, much needed.”