December 14, 2023

Manchin, Bipartisan Colleagues Call on Biden Administration to Protect Communities from Wildfire Smoke, Strengthen Forest Management

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) joined his bipartisan colleagues in urging Biden Administration officials to use prescribed fires to protect communities from the negative impacts of wildfire smoke and increase active forest management. Prescribed fire is a proven method to reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire and the associated smoke.

On November 8, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enhance collaboration between the agencies to protect communities from the negative impacts of wildfire smoke. Proposed regulations from the EPA would limit the use of prescribed fires, which produce far less smoke than wildfires and can be planned when wind is blowing away from communities.

“Given the significant harms that wildfire smoke alone causes, the MOU gives your agencies the opportunity to allow for prescribed fire, which is a vital tool to mitigating wildfire risk, while protecting public health. Prescribed fires cause a small amount of smoke at a predictable time and in a more controlled manner, which is far preferable to the large and unpredictable smoke of catastrophic wildfires,” the Senators said in part. “We urge you to treat the wildfire threat to our communities as the crisis that it is and change policies at the EPA to make it easier for land managers to use prescribed fire.”

In addition to Senator Manchin, the letter is also signed by Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Barrasso (R-WY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Jim Risch (R-ID), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), John Thune (R-SD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Jon Tester (D-MT).

The full letter can be found below or here.

Dear Administrator Regan, Secretary Haaland, Secretary Vilsack, and Director Cohen,

We write regarding the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to enhance collaboration between your agencies to protect communities from the negative impacts of wildfire smoke and increase active management to mitigate the risk of catastrophic fire. While we welcome this as a positive step forward, we urge you to ensure any efforts incorporate robust input from affected stakeholders and provide a workable pathway for communities to continue use of prescribed fire.

For decades, western states have faced smoke filled summers that harm vulnerable populations, degrade the enjoyment of the outdoors, and weaken the economic vitality of communities that support outdoor recreation industries. Prescribed fire is a proven method to reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire and the associated smoke from the mega-fires confronting our communities today. Given the significant harms that wildfire smoke alone causes, the MOU gives your agencies the opportunity to allow for prescribed fire, which is a vital tool to mitigating wildfire risk, while protecting public health. Prescribed fires cause a small amount of smoke at a predictable time and in a more controlled manner, which is far preferable to the large and unpredictable smoke of catastrophic wildfires.

You stated that by this MOU, the agencies “commit to urgent action to reduce the risk of severe wildfires and dangerous smoke” and much of the document focuses on the benefits of prescribed fire. We ask that the EPA work to provide a clear path to allow states to use prescribed fires without a corresponding hit to the state’s ambient PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) compliance. While the Exceptional Events Rule in theory provides a mechanism for this, it has not realistically provided states a pathway to engage in prescribed burns. In fact, according to a March 2023 Government Accountability Office report on wildfire smoke, “land management agency officials and one stakeholder said that state and local agencies may not use the provision because exceptional event demonstrations are technically complicated and resource intensive.” We believe the agencies need to set a pathway in order for states to continue these activities to protect communities from catastrophic wildfire.

 If the Administration is serious about protecting communities from wildfire smoke, it is imperative you incorporate input from state, Tribal, and local air quality regulators that is not technically complicated or resource intensive and that does not penalize states, tribes, and local agencies for the use of prescribed fire. We urge you to treat the wildfire threat to our communities as the crisis that it is and change policies at the EPA to make it easier for land managers to use prescribed fire. Thank you for your attention to this important issue.