Insurance groups urge passage of forest management bill

Several major insurance trade associations wrote to lawmakers Friday urging them to pass the Fix Our Forests Act, which includes various provisions intended to prevent wildfires and was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday.

H.R. 8790, which is opposed by environmental groups, was passed by the House last year but failed to progress in the Senate.

It is cosponsored by Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Democratic Rep. Scott Peters of California.

In a letter of support, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and Reinsurance Association of America said in a joint statement that the measure would increase the United States’ resilience to wildfires, improve land use planning and forest management, and protect wildfire-prone communities.

The legislation proposes, among other things, designating fireshed management areas to prioritize forest management, establishing a “Fireshed Center” to encourage collaboration between federal departments and others, allowing targeted grazing on federal land, and implementing measures to reduce litigation that delays forest management projects.

“We strongly support provisions to reduce the fuel loads in our nation’s forests, to harden utility infrastructure and improve rights-of-way against wildfire by encouraging more active management and removal of hazardous trees, as well as fostering new markets for innovative new products that could facilitate the reduction and utilization of fine fuels,” the insurance groups wrote.

Environmental groups previously criticized the bill, saying it would roll back various environmental protections, open millions of acres of federal land to logging without scientific review, and remove large old trees that naturally confer fire resistance.

The legislation was reintroduced as concerns over wildfire risks have grown due to catastrophic losses in Los Angeles. On Thursday, catastrophe modeling company CoreLogic said the fires could result in insured losses of up to $45 billion.