Today we take pen in hand to write to you about adding heat, drought, and wildfires to the list of eligible disaster declarations under the Stafford Act of 1988. Extreme heat once a rarity is becoming more common and for longer periods in nearly every part of the country owing to the side effects of the climate emergency.
The federal government has a limited ability to provide relief to states that cannot bear the burden of responding to these kinds of emergencies. Some states have fairly good resources to deal locally with the problem, yet what happens elsewhere in the country is often more pronounced because of lack of resources. You only have to read the headlines about the LA fires to understand why this is important.
Extreme heat and these other disasters, like smoke from larger wildfires affect health and productivity of all our citizens. We’ve grown complacent about the number of people in harm’s way, or in some states, callous to the suffering of its workers and citizens from lower-income neighborhoods.
As the long-lasting and terrible heat domes illustrate, we need the ability to declare a disaster and release funds for states and localities to respond in all our communities.
We urge you to work with the appropriate caucuses and add the aforementioned disasters to enable effective disaster declarations.
Sign Petition
