ICYMI: "Denham: Put Human Life Above Environmental Concerns in Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness"

Press Release

In his hearing today, "Improving the Nation's Response to Catastrophic Disasters: How to Minimize Costs and Streamline our Emergency Management Program," Chairman Denham found the USDA Forest Service's answers about eliminating environmental challenges hindering emergency response operations "unacceptable." When questioned by Chairman Denham, Mr. Hubbard, Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service, failed to give a solid answer on how to streamline emergency response procedures. He only stated that environmental challenges in the process are "still at play."

Mr. Hubbard, Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service, had no answers …. "We often run into environmental challenges and those are still at play."

NOTE: These "environmental challenges" are exactly the regulations that we need to get rid of in order to streamline emergency response operations…

Chairman Denham found this answer "unacceptable." Chairman Denham continued, "I understand that we all want to be good stewards of the environment but at a certain point human lives are at risk, if we've already had one natural disaster and know that the risk has seriously increased and we could see a second natural disaster, why wouldn't we expedite the process and reduce our risk of seeing a second natural disaster."

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