Westerman discusses issues at local Chamber breakfast
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark, was a messenger who answered questions and discussed Congress with the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce during a breakfast Thursday.
Westerman mentioned pending legislation and his viewpoints during the session in the Arkansas Convention Center.
He discussed a variety of subjects from the forests, airports, health care and jobs to tax reforms.
Westerman represents Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District, which includes Southwest Arkansas and Texarkana, Ark.
He also is a registered professional engineer and forester.
Westerman told the audience he was passionate about protecting and improving the forests.
“The forests will be in worse shape than when we found the forests,” he said.
Westerman recently introduced the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017. The bill, originally introduced in 2015, has a goal to protect the national forests by implementing proactive management standards intended to lessen the threat of wildfires, according to a statement Westerman made in a news release.
“For far too long, our nation’s forests have been fighting a battle for survival. The conflict is not with logging but with
the effects of reactive versus proactive management which has resulted in costly confrontations with wildfire, disease, and insects. In 2015, a record 10.1 million acres burned due to wildfires,” Westerman said. “This bill would utilize tools already available to the U.S. Forest Service and provide protection to America’s forests by reducing the risks of wildfires through proper management techniques.
“As highlighted by the fires across the southeast United States in 2016 and the west coast in 2015, our forests have been neglected for too long. I stated in a Natural Resources Committee hearing June 22 that federal forests have become overgrown, disease and bug infested, fireprone thickets partially due to no active forestry management, and unfortunately this year looks to be another challenging wildfire season,” he said in the news release.
“It is reported that 58 million acres of national forest land are at high or very high risk of severe wildfire. These are the kind of severe wildfires which cost our states, counties, and municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from, the kind of wildfires that threaten endangered species habitat, and the types of wildfires that can be better mitigated through sound forest science. In an October 2015 editorial I co-wrote with Democratic Congressman Kurt Schrader of Oregon, we noted the costs for homeowners who face staggering losses that will likely soar into the billions. With fires continuing to grow, more homes and lives are at risk,” Westerman said in the news release.
He told the chamber audience the Ouachita and Ozark national forests in Arkansas are better managed.
The proper management improves the air quality.
“I said in an editorial for Talk Business & Politics in July 2015 that we have a problem of not salvaging timber destroyed in catastrophic events, which makes the forests more dangerous for the next generation. This increases future wildfire problems and makes reforestation challenging. That has not changed during the last two catastrophic wildfire seasons across the United States. Just as it did in 2015, the latest version of the Resilient Federal Forests Act sets up requirements for salvage and reforestation plans in response to catastrophic events. It requires environmental assessments for salvage projects to be completed within 90 days so that timber can be removed while it is still commercially valuable,” Westerman said.
The economy has improved, but employers are having difficulty finding people who want to work.
“The unemployment rate is down to 4.0 per cent in 2016.
“But there are fewer people asking for jobs,” Westerman said.
“I’ve talked to businesses who said business is great and they would like to put on another shift and add to the facility, but they can’t find people to hire. A number of people have difficulty passing drug tests. These are jobs paying $14, $15, $16 to $25 to $30 dollars per hour,” he said.
“I visited an oil rig in Columbia County and they had workers making $25 to $30 per hour and they can get as much overtime as they want. They had training in tech schools and trade schools. They were willing to work and work hard,” Westerman said.
He also suggested reforming the tax code to where an individual’s tax return would be the size of a postcard.