California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaims state of emergency to speed up wildfire prevention projects
SACRAMENTO – California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he has proclaimed a state of emergency to speed up wildfire prevention projects ahead of the peak wildfire season.
Saturday's announcement comes nearly two months after the Los Angeles area was devastated by wildfires that killed 29 people and destroyed thousands of structures.
Newsom's office says the emergency proclamation will suspend the California Environmental Quality Act and California Coastal Act, which he says has been slowing down forest management projects.
This could allow for more projects like vegetation and tree removal, adding fuel breaks and prescribed burns.
The proclamation will also allow nonstate entities to conduct approved fuel reduction work with expedited and streamlined approval.
State agencies will be able to recommend how to increase the pace and scale of controlled burns.
Lastly, the proclamation calls for increasing the efficiency and utilization of the California Vegetation Treatment Program to promote a rapid environmental review of large wildfire risk reduction treatments.
"These are the forest management projects we need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire, and we're going to get them done," Newsom said.
In a letter to Congress just over a week ago, Newsom requested nearly $40 billion to help Los Angeles recover from the fires.
Newsom took similar actions in March 2019, just months after the Camp Fire almost completely destroyed the Town of Paradise and killed 85 people.
Newsom also says California is investing $2.5 billion to ramp up his wildfire and forest resilience action plan. He says that builds on the $200 million the state invests in fire prevention programs annually.
