Good afternoon, everyone. The subcommittee will come to order. T purpose of todays hearing is to receive testimony on 15 bills pending before the pin lands, are forest and mining subcommittee. Because of the large number of bills on todays agenda, i wont go through all of them right now, but the complete agenda will of course be included in the record. I want to note that we have a former member of our committee here, former senator mary landrieu, and we have members who will be joining us shortly who have another Committee Assignment at the moment and others who will be joining us telephonically. I also want to begin by recognizing the staggering loss of life that has occurred embedded within what has shaped up to be a really horrific wildfire season. More than 36 people have perished in infernos raging throughout the western United States this year, dozens more are missing. In oregon, my colleague senator widens home state, thousands have lost their homes and over half a Million People were evacuated last week alone. In my home state of you utah, and elsewhere in the west, we have winddriven fires that continue to spread across our federal, state, tribal and public lands. With all these wildfires raging throughout the west, i was thrilled to see that we would be receiving testimony on legislation to address the management of our federal forests. I strongly believe that the mega fires were watching on tv could have in many, many instances been prevented if only active Management Practices had been implemented. As many of you are probably aware, forests have been shaped and have been influenced by fire for search certainly as long as have been around and even longer. Regrowth is completely natural. They arent a new feature of current climate conditions as some would have us believe. These fires werent unpredictable. They were predictable and in fact they were predicted. We could have prepared for them. But the management of our forests has regrettably become hamstrung partly by regulations promulgated by bureaucrats, often operating many thousands of miles away from the lands that they are in charge of administering. For example regulations under the Clean Air Act perversely and most likely unintentionally work to discourage the practice of letting fires burn especially in those areas that have air pollution levels that exceed permissible standards. In these instances, they may favor reactive short temp Fire Suppression at the expense of heightened long term risks. Temp suppression at the expense of heightened long term risks. When congress imagined activities like prescribed burns or removal of snag trees, congress did not foresee a regulatory byzantine labyrinth that led to litigation at every turn, litigation that in many instances would end up forestalling the taking of precautionary measures and ultimately could lead to fires that could in turn lead to the loss of life and environmental ca catastrophe. Management of our forests has moved away of proactive measures largely out of fear, quite le t legitimate and well founded fear of being sued. This has whether he had to bledd threatening lives and homes. In many cases it has resulted in additional and worse air pollution than would have otherwise been the case had prescribed burns been allowed to occur or forest overgrowth been eliminated. Research tells us that between 4. 4 million and 11. 8 million acres burned each year in prehistoric california between 1982 and 1998, californias agency land managers burned on average about 30,000 acres a year. Between 1999 and 2017, that number dropped to an annual of 13,000 acres. That is a tremendous gap between the natural cycle and what our Forest Management efforts have provided. Now, im grateful that we have skilled Emergency Personnel who help prevent tragedy from forest fire. These brave women and men put their lives on the line during the course of their work. And d do so on a regular basis and quite heroically. They are a necessary part of our Forest Management strategy. But we can do more for ease the burden that they face with targeted controlled burns and with removal of excess fuel that builds up within our forests. With these burns, 2350epeople c plan ahead, get out of town, install a hepa filter in their house, make a rational plan to meet their needs. Furthermore Fire Suppression and military style of firefighting can be more environmentally destwruk differend destructive than controlled burns and in rare instances of the wildfire itself. It includclincludes bulldozing d controlling the fire behavior. And i believe that lanlg portion could be prevented if local agencies and federal partners could side step illogical regulatory barriers and address the obvious problems. I hope today that we can make Real Progress in addressing the needs of communities put at risk by poor Management Practices. Additionally on the hearing agenda today are a number of bills related to the proper management of our public lands including the miracle mountain designation act which ive introduced. It memorializes the events of the Bald Mountain fire of 2018, a fast moving wildfire, not unlike the explosive infernos weve seen in oregon and california of late. And this fire, the Bald Mountain fire of 2018, is one that nearly incinerated the community of elk ridge city. The advancing fire unexpectedly stopped along an unnamed mountain barely two miles from homes and from evacuation routes. The mountain quickly earned the nickname miracle mountain. Elkridge ocity was blessed, but elsewhere year after year families are forced to evacuate their homes due to wildfire. As previously mentioned, better Forest Management can reduce the severity of wildfires and reduce the risk to fireprone communities. We need a range of management tools to cut the red tape and curb frivolous litigation that has stalled fuel reduction projects and efforts to remove dead and tying trie die dying t. It is timely that well learn more about the bill sponsored by senator feinstein be and senator daines that proposes to accelerate wildFire Prevention projects. Senator feinstein will provide us a few brief remarks. And senator udall and senator whi whitehouse will also provide statements. And chairman murkowski will also speak about her alaska native claim settlements, services and resources for alaska tribal members. And i look forward hearing more about each of these bills and the other bills on today and he agenda. And with that, id like to turn to senator widen the Ranking Member on this committee for his remarks. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I appreciate your holding this hearing. I also note the presence of our chair senator murkowski, one of the aspects of service i most enjoyed was when i was chair and she was the Ranking Member and weve continued those kinds of efforts in the years ahead. And i thank her for her courtesy this morning as well. What i can tell you, colleagues, scores of fires have hit my state harder than a wrecking balli ball. Many are still going on. These are not your grandfathers fires. They are bigger, they are hotter, more dangerous, more powerful. I never conceived growing up of fires leaping over rivers. And we had fires in our part of the country who reduced whole neighborhoods to ash. And actually melted cars. There is nothing left there of a car. I mean just picture what it means to get so hot that you are just melting automobiles. And there is a connection between fire and the bill that ive introduced 2828, a Community Empowerment. This is extraordinarily important in rural oregon, it attractions thousands of visitors each year. And actually the poorest in my state. And one of the counties hardest hit by the coronavirus. The bill is about two things. It is about preserving ranching and the way of life as an economic engine, growing the local economic engine, and also protecting the absolutely gorgeous places that are part of this region. Just extraordinary. Now, im going to go into the bill just briefly in a moment. And i just want to come back to the relationship to the fires for just one moment. If the fires teach us anything, and the chair and i went through this this morning because this is going to be a watershed moment with respect to this whole fire debate, if the fires teach us anything, it is that people who need jobs can and should be put to work restoring our public lands, preparing homes for fire resiliency, and shoring up Rural Communities against encroachment of the pandemic. And this includes jobs for the restoration of a million acres of weed infested public lands. And i really have appreciated the comments of my friend from nevada over the years with respect to her public lands. Her public lands are a bit different than our public lands. About you but but in wth both c can do work spare us catastrophes. And the only other point is the senate other point is the senate, in working on these issues, has got to step up its pace. We talked about this, this morning. So the malhere bill. Family ranchers came to d. C. And they asked for a meeting with me and i was a little, kind of, slack jawed because i was just stunned that they were coming to meet with me and asked to work with me on a big project. I was under the impression i would be, probably, the last person they would come and talk to. And i asked them why they were there, in the office. And they didnt really say. And finally, i said, i think youve come because you believe im the only one, senator murkowski, crazy enough to get in the middle of trying to work out an agreement, that has been sought for decades in this part of the world, between the ranchers and environmental folks and the like. And when i said it, they all, pretty much, smiled and said, yep, thats why were here. Were here because we kind of think youre the only one crazy enough to be willing to try to get in the middle of this thing. And try to sort it out. And it is a fabulous area. Senator heinrich, my great friend, knows a lot about it. And when i said, when we started working on this, at that point, impossible undertaking. Senator murkowski, you and i have been there before. Is, look, were going to protect the ag way of life. Were not going to let anybody trample over the farmers and the ranchers and the ag way of life. But i also said were not going to throw the environmental laws in the trash can. Were not going to just eviscerate the environmental laws. And everybody knew those priorities, Going Forward. And there was widespread agreement about juniper and fireprone weeds that were putting the lands at risk. We heard ranchers dealing with visitors whod follow their gps because it was risking their life to dangerous places. So we said were going to have to have some loop roads to facilitate the safe visit to these wonderful sites, without compromising them. And we went round and round. And we listened to scientists and educators, and people who love the land and farmers. And we put pencil to paper. And the bill that were hearing today represents the spirit of compromise. Nobody got everything they wanted. But everybody got Something Better than they have, right now. And i would, also, tell my colleagues, from a historical standpoint, it isnt that far away from the area where we would the wildlife takeovers. So theres been some challenges, in this part of the world. And i cant credit the community enough because they said were going to find some compromise. Nobodys going to get everything they wanted. The bill ensures Land Management can adapt to changing circumstances, like Climate Change and drought, by establishing new citizenled communities. Realtime management of blm lands. Theres certainty for land users by setting a set of agreed upon ranching and range improvement practices that are eligible for streamlined environmental review. The bill sets aside just over a million acres of land as wilderness. Every acre of which was previously managed as wilderness without the flexibility of range land improvements, while protecting environmental laws from a fullblown nipa analysis, if you are talking about moving irrigation trough away, a bit, from a river. And ill just conclude by way of saying, now, there are a lot of ranchers who say this is something i can build my future around. This is an opportunity for my kids, my grand kids, to have a future in the owahi. And a lot of environmental folks have said that they can live with this bill. And neither side would have written it. And the last point i would make, because when i started on this legislation, the chair was very gracious. And i told her that this was really important to me. In a personal way because our staffer, mary, whod been with me for a quarter century, had been working on this for ages and ages. And when i went to visit her, in her hospice bed, her whole wall was full of maps of the owahi. The whole wall was filled with bh maps. She was talking to people and trying. That was what she stood for. And people would talk to her, and shed say, you know, rons just going to stay at this thing, until he gets both sides together. The ranchers and environmentalists. And i said, no. If we get them together, its going to be because of mary and i really want to get this bill passed. Were all going to dedicate it to mary. And chair murkowski, from the day that mary passed, youve been in our corner on a lot of things. I just want to say thanks. Thank you. Thank you, senator wyden. Weve got several members who have joined us to speak about their respective bills. So well start doing that. Were going to start with our chairman, senator murkowski, and then well go to senator manchin beyond that. Thank you. Senator murkowski. Thank you, chairman lee. And i i will be brief with my comments today because we do have a fair number, not only of those of us that are that have bills to speak to today. But we also have friends to the Energy Committee that that are here to speak to their bills, as well. I have one bill, a small bill, that i want to speak to, briefly. But before i do, i want to share my thoughts and and prayers and and really, my sincere hope for rain and for recovery for so many who are facing the horrendous wildfires out west. In oregon. In washington, of course, were looking at it very carefully. And, of course, in california. To you, senator wyden, and to you, senator feinstein, you have my heartfelt condolences for the loss of life. Loss of property. Environmental damage that your states are are enduring, currently. And know that its not just my thoughts that are reflected but so many of us share in in a real sense of of loss. For what you are experiencing right now. Right now, there are thousands of men and women that are working on these fires. Bravely, working on putting out these devastating fires. Theyre putting their lives at risk, morning, noon, and night, in the midst of a pandemic, on top of all of this. And so, our hearts and prayers are with them and with their family members. Alaskans are certainly thinking about them and hoping that theyre safe because we have a good group of alaskans. Some 400, plus. That are in your states, whether its california, oregon, colorado. They are around. We we escaped some significant fires this year. And so, i think youve got some folks that are fresh, that have come to you. Weve also sent assets. But knowing that we are in this fight with you is is important to us, as we as we keep you all in our prayers. I i want to i want to thank mr. French and ms. Castor for being here to provide testimony today. Including, on senator feinsteins bill that she has with senator dane seeking to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect our communities. Senator feinstein, you and i had an opportunity on the floor, for me to thank you for your continued work on this. Its greatly appreciated. And to senator danes, i know hes coming, thank him for his critical work on this very important, important issue. I want to acknowledge the the work of my friend from rhode island on his offshore act. And he and i have had much time to speak about that. And we will do more on that. I also want to recognize, mr. Chairman, that we have a former chair of the of the energy and Natural Resources committee here. Mary landrieu is in the back. Its always good to see mary and know that youre youre v vigilant. Youre staying on top of these issues and we appreciate that. Ms. Castor, since you are here representing the department of the interior, i want to take just a quick moment to recognize and congratulate the department on its recently completed review from the office of government ethics. Oge took a look at the structural improvements the department has made to its ethics program, including additional training, new staff, and a consolidated, consistent approach across all of its bureaus and agencies. Oge found that all 14 of the recommendations from its last comprehensive review, back in 2016, have been fully resolved. The agency offered no new findings or recommendations for improvements. Thats something that i understand has never happened, before, at the department. In fact, its rare across the whole of government. So i want to pass my appreciation on to secretary bu burnhart, and to all in the department who have rebuilt its ethi ethics program. I think oges report is a testament to this significant, multiyear effort. And youre to be commended on this effort. Briefly, mr. Chairman, here are a few words about s 2533. I have introduced this measure. Its very simple. It prevents alaska native elders from becoming ineligible for federal, needsbased programs because of benefits that they received from the settlement trust. This is authorized under the alaska native claims settlement act. These settlement trusts are an important source of support for many elders who live in very remote, highcost, rural areas. But they do not displace the need for any federal support that combats the poverty and Health Care Challenges these communities face. So i have stack of of letters of support for this bill that i would ask unanimous consent be included as part of the record. Without objection. And, mr. Chairman, i want to, again, thank you for holding this hearing. Lots of good bills on the agenda, today. We also have more that we would like to hear before the end of the year. Senator manchin and i