WASHINGTON, Jan 10 — US President Donald Trump lashed out once more at California yesterday for a series of devastating wildfires he blames on poor forest management, threatening to withhold federal disaster aid in a Twitter blast that drew rebukes from lawmakers in his own party.
Trump’s tweet, the latest of several in recent months accusing California of bringing wildfires on itself, came two days after newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, used the occasion of his swearing-in to critique “corruption and incompetence” of the Republican president.
Beyond Newsom, who has vowed to position California as a counterweight to Trump, the deeply blue state is home to some of the president’s most outspoken political foes, including US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The San Francisco Democrat is leading the fight on Capitol Hill against Trump’s demands for US$5.7 billion (RM23.3 billion) in funding to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, pitting congressional Democrats against Trump in a standoff leading to a prolonged partial closure of the federal government.
Pivoting from weeks of headlines dominated by the shutdown, Trump returned to his commentary that California’s supposed mishandling of its forests and water resources were chiefly to blame for a fire season that ranks as the most destructive on record.
“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen,” Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after Western governors asked for greater federal investment in wildfire prevention.
“Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!” the president said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The tweet drew a sharp reaction from two Republican state lawmakers who represent the area around the northern California town of Paradise, which was mostly incinerated in a wildfire that killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in November.
Trump toured the Camp Fire zone in November, promising “to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.”
‘Wholly unacceptable’
State Senator Jim Nielsen and Assemblyman James Gallagher said in a joint statement Trump’s threat to withhold FEMA funds from California “is wholly unacceptable.”
“He made a commitment to the people who have lost everything in these fires, and we expect the federal government to follow through with his promise.”
FEMA, which provides grants for home repairs or rental assistance after disasters, said it could not respond to queries about Trump’s order due to the partial government shutdown, and it was not clear whether there would be any immediate impact.
Gallagher said FEMA centers around Paradise remained open yesterday.
US Representative Doug LaMalfa, a Republican whose congressional district encompasses Paradise, also chided Trump, saying “threats to FEMA funding are not helpful and will not solve the longer-term forest management regulatory problems.”
Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires in California and elsewhere across the West are largely attributable to prolonged drought, symptomatic of climate change. The Trump administration has rejected or downplayed the role of climate change in the worsening wildfire picture.
Experts agree that much of California’s forests have become enormous tinder boxes filled with drought-desiccated timber — a situation worsened by overgrowth from decades of suppressing natural fire cycles necessary to maintain a healthy woodland balance.
To that end, the state enacted a sweeping plan last year to double the amount of land open to the thinning of fire-prone brush and dead and dying trees, while streamlining permits needed for landowners to clear such vegetation.
More than half of the 33 million acres of forest lands in California are managed by federal agencies, according to the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. State and local agencies control only 3 per cent, and the rest is privately owned.
On Tuesday, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington asked federal agencies to “double” their investment in forest management in a letter to the White House.
California plans to spend US$1 billion on forest management over the next five years, the letter said, and has spent US$111.3 million since 2017. — Reuters
