National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

It is no secret that a reliable supply of electricity is important to us on many levels, from human health, and, of course, to commercial productivity.

As a former public service commissioner, I can tell you that one of the main reasons for large outages is trees growing in power lines. And one of the reasons for forest fires, oftentimes, is power lines falling in the forest. Fires get to the power lines; power lines create fires. This bill, I think, helps alleviate some of that.

With consumers and regulators demanding, of course, reliable service, and a utility company's natural incentive to keep the sale of electrons flowing, vegetation management has improved tremendously over the years. However, deep within the lands that are managed by our Federal agencies, the potential for problems persists.

My bill creates a pilot program, as the chairman described, for utility companies to partner with the Forest Service to voluntarily perform vegetation management proactively. Under Forest Service approval, utilities can propose a plan to selectively manage vegetation within 75 feet of the right-of-way with the least amount of disturbances as reasonably possible, and outside of designated wilderness areas is a very important point.

All of that work would be paid for by the utility company, not by the Federal Government. Currently, this offer of right-of-way work is the responsibility of the government, and with a strict liability standard, Mr. Speaker, to any utility company to step in and help. There is not an incentive--in fact, there is a disincentive for them to do so. So under the pilot program, these activities will be subject to a more appropriate standard of liability, a gross negligence standard, along with any specific safety requirements imposed under the programs in agreement with the Forest Service.

It removes the barrier for utility companies to carry out this important work not currently being done by them, to reduce direct impacts to damage utility infrastructure, and the amount of fuel for possible forest fires.

There is a lot of bipartisan support for this. I appreciate my friends in the more mountainous and more forested regions than the prairies of North Dakota on both side of the aisle. I know there is good support in the Senate as well.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2921) to establish a vegetation management pilot program on National Forest System land to better protect utility infrastructure from passing wildfire, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2921, the National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program Act of 2017. This legislation authorizes the U.S. Forest Service to create a pilot program to assist in the management of our Federal forests to reduce wildfire risk and associated costs. These management pilot projects are approved by the Forest Service, but will be conducted and paid for by the private sector.

This collaborative approach will ensure a more stable power grid for Americans in rural areas. Deteriorating forest health is a problem felt across the United States, particularly in the West. This has resulted in increased fire threats to the electric transmission and associated utility infrastructures across the Forest Service land.

The Government Accountability Office has found that fuel reduction treatment projects reduce flammable vegetation, minimize the severity of wildland fires, create landscape resiliency to fire, and provide firefighter access during fire suppression activities.

Utility infrastructure destroyed by a fire or a fallen dead tree is costly to repair or replace, and outages can result in significant economic costs to businesses and homes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to allow utilities to collaborate with the Forest Service to keep the lights on in rural communities, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 2921, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 2921, the National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program Act of 2017.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2921 is a bipartisan bill that would help protect electric transmission lines from forest fires and other potential forest management issues. The bill creates voluntary pilot project authority for the U.S. Forest Service to partner with the private sector to proactively undertake limited and selective vegetation management projects near utility infrastructure.

These pilot projects include, but are not limited to, things like tree thinning and fuel reduction, which would help to alleviate some of the risk of forest fires and enhance electric reliability.

H.R. 2921 requires that all projects comply with existing environmental laws.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.