NRECA is working collaboratively with electric industry trade groups to urge the federal government to take immediate steps to help the sector reduce the risk of devastating wildfires, such as those now burning in 10 Western states.

On Sept. 4, NRECA made several recommendations to the Department of Energy that would immediately improve and expedite the electric sector’s efforts to reduce wildfire risk, noting “numerous federal hurdles and delays when undertaking wildfire mitigation, grid hardening, and wildfire recovery actions” on public lands. The Edison Electric Institute and the American Public Power Association joined NRECA in its recommendations.

While NRECA is constantly working directly with the land management agencies to reduce federal red tape to effective and timely wildfire mitigation activities, it also leverages opportunities to utilize the DOE in its capacity as the electricity sector’s designated risk management agency in cross-agency wildfire discussions. NRECA provided the recommendations to DOE for a Sept. 10 government-only meeting, facilitated by the White House, regarding wildfires.

“Federal permitting regimes and processes must be streamlined to better enable electric utilities to respond to the increased risk of wildfire events and to safeguard electric reliability for vulnerable communities across the nation,” NRECA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Ashley Slater said. “We value the strong relationship with the other industry trade associations and are committed to working collaboratively on this critical issue to our sector.”

NRECA listed actions that land management agencies can take now without additional authority from Congress, including:

• Expediting vegetation management, grid hardening and right-of-way access road approvals.
• Expanding use of the U.S. Forest Service master special use permit and the Bureau of Land Management’s master operations and maintenance consolidation, which can ease approval processes for maintenance and operations work across several land management jurisdictions or rights of way.
• Urging land management agencies to lower strict liability caps on utilities for wildfire incidents. The groups also encouraged the Forest Service to extend its $500,000 cap on strict liability for utilities with an approved forest operating agreement beyond its 2028 expiration and urged the BLM to adopt similar policies.
• Allowing removal of felled timber and slash from rights of way without timber sales agreement or disposal restrictions.
• Increasing staff at land management agencies, particularly in areas of high wildfire risk, to speed approval of mitigation work.

NRECA’s recommendations are part of broader efforts to ensure that policymakers prioritize wildfire risk management. The association continues to advocate for expedited permitting processes, further liability limitations, insurance backstops and other solutions to help co-ops manage the complex challenge of wildfires, which have increased in frequency and severity.

NRECA encourages co-ops to keep doing their part to minimize wildfire risk by making and following a wildfire mitigation plan. Co-ops can also proactively work with local and federal officials, community stakeholders and consumer-members on wildfire education, preparedness, and response plans.