Before leaving Washington, D.C. for the October campaign recess period, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) sent her priorities for forestry reform to the leaders of the energy policy reform conference committee. The bipartisan letter was co-authored by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and listed several requests for the energy conference committee to consider this fall as the conference committee works toward a compromise bill.
Senators Feinstein and Daines listed their top priority as the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, a policy initiative that would move 30 percent of annual suppression costs from the Forest Service’s budget into an emergency suppression fund in order to end the practice of borrowing funds from non-suppression accounts in bad fire years. Other requests included in their priority list were a directive to the U.S. Forest Service to only consider the action and no action alternative for locally collaborated forest management projects, support for additional funds for community fire-risk maps, support of biomass projects, and support for expanded categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Protection Act for fuel-reduction projects. As the conference committee continues to work on the energy reform bill, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), both members of the conference committee, have made positive public statements in support of forestry reform. The energy conference committee could announce a compromise bill after the election during the lame duck session in November and December.