More than 150 community-owned electric utilities across the Western United States are urging Congress to swiftly advance and enact the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act.
Community-owned electric utilities across the Western United States (including Flathead Electric Cooperative) are urging Congress to swiftly advance and enact the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act, citing escalating wildfire risks and mounting threats to public safety and electric grid reliability.
“Wildfire is a top operational threat to our system,” said Flathead Electric’s Integrated Services Manager Amanda Opp. “The Fix Our Forests Act gives us new and important tools that allow us to lower the risk of wildfire in our rights of way, enhancing public safety and increasing grid resilience and reliability.”
In a joint letter dated January 20, utility leaders and trade associations from 11 Western states applauded members of Congress for advancing the legislation—S. 1462 and H.R. 471—out of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The signatories emphasized that the bill arrives at a critical moment as wildfire seasons grow longer, more intense, and more destructive.
“Time is not on our side,” the letter states, warning that every delay in addressing wildfire risk increases danger to communities and essential infrastructure.
The letter was addressed to Senators John Curtis (R-UT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), and Alex Padilla (D-CA), along with Representatives Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Scott Peters (R-CA), all of whom have played key roles in advancing the legislation.
Utilities on the Front Lines
The signatories represent not-for-profit electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, tribal utilities, public utility districts, and joint operating agencies serving more than 10 million residents across Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
According to the letter, community-owned utilities are on the front lines of wildfire mitigation, particularly through vegetation management near electric transmission and distribution lines. However, utilities say outdated federal permitting and environmental review processes have severely limited their ability to proactively remove hazard trees and reduce fire risk on federal lands.
“Without adequate flexibility to remove hazard trees and other high-risk vegetation, utility wildfire mitigation efforts are compromised,” the letter notes.
Key Provisions of the Legislation
Utility leaders expressed strong support for provisions in the Fix Our Forests Act that would expand electric utility authority to remove hazard trees within 150 feet of power lines—up from the current 10-foot limit—and establish expedited timelines for federal agency review of vegetation management plans.
The legislation also incorporates elements of the Fire Safe Electrical Corridor Act, streamlining timber removal and fuel reduction near electric infrastructure to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic fires caused by tree-to-line contact.
Utilities estimate that permitting delays on federal lands can take five years or longer and cost between $5 million and $7 million per project, significantly hindering proactive wildfire prevention efforts.
Streamlining Permits and Emergency Response
Beyond routine vegetation management, the letter calls for broader use of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) categorical exclusions for emergency work, post-fire recovery, prescribed burns, and associated infrastructure such as access roads, helicopter landing zones, and staging areas.
The signatories also urged Congress to authorize emergency removal of hazard trees located outside utility rights-of-way when those trees pose an immediate threat due to their height or proximity to power lines.
“These targeted reforms would enable utilities to act more quickly while maintaining strong environmental protections,” the letter states.
Protecting Small Utilities from Disproportionate Liability
The letter also highlights concerns about the looming 2028 expiration of a liability protection provision under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Section 512(g)(2) caps strict liability damages at $500,000 per incident for qualifying small utilities with approved vegetation management plans.
Utility leaders urged Congress to remove the sunset clause and make the liability cap permanent, noting that the provision has not been consistently implemented by federal land management agencies despite recent Bureau of Land Management regulations.
Without these protections, small utilities warn they could face financially devastating liability exposure for wildfire incidents beyond their control.
Bipartisan Momentum
The letter concludes by praising the bipartisan consensus achieved in both chambers of Congress during the 119th Congress and urging lawmakers to capitalize on that momentum.
“The Fix Our Forests Act represents a critical opportunity to strengthen federal–utility collaboration on wildfire mitigation, protect public safety, and safeguard essential electric infrastructure,” the signatories wrote.
The coalition said it looks forward to continuing to work with Congress to see the legislation enacted into law—before the next wildfire season raises the stakes even higher.
