Kenneth Schrupp outlines why California should invest in forest management in The Orange County Register.
- California’s newly-introduced emissions reductions plan will likely fail if it does not address its faulty forest management policies, which have exasperated wildfires in the state.
- Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) it can take more than 4 years on average for a mechanical thinning or prescribed burn project to receive a permit and be completed.
- While it is up to the federal government to address NEPA-related delays, California lawmakers should look to modernize state regulations, empower property owners, and update aging infrastructure to reduce wildfire risk.
“If California is serious about improving the environment, the state’s top priority ought to be preventing mass wildfires that make breathing worse than smoking cigarettes and cause asthma in children — not magic trains that won’t be completed before the state goes bankrupt. As California faces a $25 billion budget deficit and a $1.5 trillion pension deficit, our state simply can’t afford to waste billions on greenwashed, thinly-veiled embezzlement schemes. Instead, California must return to caring for and growing the forests that tie down its dirt, lock up CO2, and keep in the moisture that once made it Eden on Earth.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
