California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared a “state of emergency” on Saturday for brush clearance ahead of peak fire season — but months too late to save the devastated communities of Los Angeles from the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Newsom’s press statement did not even try to hide the fact that it came after the destructive fires in L.A.:
Following the devastation of the Los Angeles firestorms and with the risk of wildfire increasing statewide, Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed a state of emergency to fast-track critical projects protecting communities from wildfire, ahead of peak fire season.
Today’s emergency proclamation will cut bureaucratic red tape – including suspending CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] and the Coastal Act – that is slowing down critical forest management projects. Text of the proclamation is available here.
In an effort to defend his record, Newsom’s statement made the following points:
This action builds on years of work to increase forest management and wildfire resilience in the state. It also follows the Governor’s executive order signed last month to further improve community hardening and wildfire mitigation strategies to increase neighborhood resilience statewide.
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Governor Newsom took similar action in March 2019 to expedite forest management projects ahead of particularly challenging fire seasons in 2019 and 2020.
Later in the statement, Newsom pointed to his actions in 2019 as an example of “early action” against wildfires.
Capital Public Radio, a Sacramento-based public radio news network, reported in 2021 that Newsom had vastly overstated the work of his wildfire prevention programs, which had barely had any impact at all on brush clearance.
Newsom’s new policy will relax environmental rules and allow “non-state”, i.e. private, companies to clear brush. It also commits to allowing controlled burns (“beneficial fire”) to remove fuel that can accelerate wildfires.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly argued that Newsom needs to do more to clear brush to prevent wildfires. Newsom and Democrats have pushed back, or mocked Trump, for his suggestion — which they are, belatedly following.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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