Inslee, other Western governors to meet with Biden on wildfires Friday
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Gov. Jay Inslee and six othern western governors on Friday to discuss the impacts of and efforts to prevent 2021 wildfires, according to White House officials.
Biden and Harris will hear from Inslee and the governors of California, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Minnesota. The meeting comes after 22 extreme weather and climate-related disasters caused some $95 billion in damages in 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The bipartisan infrastructure deal Biden negotiated with U.S. senators includes new funding to help communities for natural disasters, setting aside $50 billion investment in climate change and cybersecurity. The funding will also go toward drought and flood prevention and infrastructure resiliency against extreme weather conditions.
The Biden administration also plans to establish two new working groups as part of the National Climate Task Force’s efforts to confront wildfire and extreme heat incidents.
The Wildfire Resilience Interagency Working Group, co-chaired by Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, will manage long-term wildfire resilience strategies such as prescribed fires and other land management approaches.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Dr. Richard Spinrad and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will co-chair the Extreme Heat Interagency Working Group. The agency will employ health, scientific and environmental resources to address extreme heat conditions in vulnerable communities. This follows all-time record-breaking heat in Portland, Seattle and Death Valley this summer.
The Drought Interagency Working Group, established in April, also focuses on drought resiliency in hard-hit communities.
The EPA has also recently updated its AirNow mobile app to provide the public with information on air quality and fire updates. The app’s fire and smoke map is also available online.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:17 PM.