Colorado has been impacted severely by wildfires in recent years. And, as climate change continues to intensify, the threat is growing.
, a Democrat, a sweeping new bill to expand, and speed up, wildfire prevention efforts across the country. It鈥檚 called the .
It calls for more funding for research to prevent wildfires, the creation of a central wildfire response center for the whole country, and the removal of more dead and diseased trees on federal land.
It also calls for the time allowed to review or push back on these forest management projects to be much shorter. 鈥淭he difference is it won't take five years or eight years... People will be able to do it fast enough so that they can really respond to this tinderbox situation we find ourselves in, in of the American West,鈥� Hickenlooper said.
Some critics have taken issue with the bill. They say it would undermine environmental protections and could lead to more logging.
Host Erin O鈥橳oole asked Hickenlooper to talk about the bill, address some of that criticism, and talk about why this proposal makes sense now.
