REPRESENTING BUSINESS ISSUES
Bills Introduced to Help Communities Harmed by Wildfire Smoke Washington, D.C | July 21, 2021 | Press Release O regon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today introduced three bills to help the public, businesses, and agricultural operators combat the effects of wildfire smoke, and recover from the damage burning out of control—destroying homes, businesses, and farms, forcing thousands of Oregonians to evacuate, and sending plumes of smoke into the air that are so big they’re visible from outer space. I’m fully committed to doing everything I can to not only
it causes: the Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act , the Smoke Planning and Research Act , and the Wildfire Smoke Relief Act . The introductions are the latest in a years-long effort by Merkley and Wyden to help prevent, fight, and recover from increasingly severe wildfires— and come as the Bootleg fire continues to grow at a startling pace, after already burning more than 530 square miles of forest and grasslands.
secure the resources we need to address the root causes of these fires and to control the blazes as quickly as possible, but also to help Oregonians cope with, and recover from, increasingly extreme hot weather conditions and the dangerous smoke these wildfires produce.” “The infernos burning today are not your grandfather’s wildfires. They are burning bigger and hotter and bringing devastation to communities in their path. Look at the
“The infernos burning today are not your grandfather’s wildfires.” - Senator Ron Wyden
“When last year’s Labor Day fires broke out, I drove over 600 miles across Oregon and never once broke out of the thick layer of smoke that had blanketed the state,” said Merkley. “And now, less than a year later, the Bootleg Fire is
Bootleg Fire. It’s the largest wildfire currently burning nationwide, and it’s so big it’s creating its own weather patterns with its smoke traveling all the way across the
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The Business Review | August 2021
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