BY REBECCA KLAR - 09/13/20 THE HILL
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) said Sunday the wildfires raging across the west coast are a “wake up call” for officials to take action on climate change.
Brown said the cause of the fires is being investigated, but said the region saw the “perfect fire storm.”
“We saw incredible winds, we saw very cold hot temperatures, and of course we have a landscape that has seen 30 years of drought,” Brown said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “This is truly the bellwether for climate change on the west coast and this is a wakeup call for all of us that we have to do everything in our power to tackle climate change.”
Brown said that about 500,000 acres of land has burned in Oregon over the last ten years. By contrast, she said over 1 million acres has burned in the state this week alone.
Asked about claims that the fires are due to mismanagement of forests rather than climate change, Brown said “it's both.”
“It’s both, it's decades of mismanagement of our forests in this country and it is the failure to tackle climate change. We need to do both,” the governor said.
President Trump is scheduled to visit California on Monday. Trump last month claimed the fires are due to years of poor forest management, dismissing concerns over climate change.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) said Sunday on CNN that “anybody who lives in California is insulted” by Trump’s claims, and criticized the president's response to the fires.
Oregon senator says Trump's blame on 'forest management' for wildfires is 'just a big and devastating lie'
BY JUSTINE COLEMAN - 09/13/20
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Sunday that President Trump blaming “forest management” for wildfires is “just a bid and devastating lie.”
Merkley told ABC’s “This Week” that he disagreed with the president’s comments Saturday night attributing the fires to being primarily “about forest management.”
“The president has said it's all about raking the forest,” the senator said. “It's just a -- a big and devastating lie.”
“The Cascade snowpacks have gotten smaller,” he added. “Our forests have gotten drier. Our ocean has gotten warmer and more acidic. And this has been happening steadily over the last several decades.”
The Oregon Democrat called for a president who would “follow the science on global warming.”
“America not only has to get its own act in order,” he said. “It has to help lead the world to take this on. This is a planetary-scale tragedy of the commons that we need leadership to end.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley tells @GStephanopoulos that Trump blaming the wildfires on “forest management” is “just a big and devastating lie.”
“These are consequences of a warming planet … just like on COVID, we need to have a president follow the science.” https://t.co/mH26J2IKhr pic.twitter.com/Id5UFUekNT— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2020
Merkley said the wildfires in his state are “apocalyptic,” adding he couldn’t escape the smoke when driving “600 miles up and down the state.” Thousands of people have lost their homes, and small towns have been “incinerated,” he said.
The western coast states of California, Oregon and Washington are dealing with spreading wildfires that are sparking quick evacuations.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) told ABC’s “This Week” that the states in the West “have a blowtorch” over them “which is climate change.” He called it “maddening” that Trump denies climate change contributed to the fires.
“We know that climate change is making fires start easier, spread faster and intensify,” the governor said. “And it is maddening right now that, when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires.”
Inslee called viewers to “vote on climate,” saying “if this is not a signal to the United States, I don't know what it will take.”
BY JUSTINE COLEMAN - 09/13/20
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Sunday that President Trump blaming “forest management” for wildfires is “just a bid and devastating lie.”
Merkley told ABC’s “This Week” that he disagreed with the president’s comments Saturday night attributing the fires to being primarily “about forest management.”
“The president has said it's all about raking the forest,” the senator said. “It's just a -- a big and devastating lie.”
“The Cascade snowpacks have gotten smaller,” he added. “Our forests have gotten drier. Our ocean has gotten warmer and more acidic. And this has been happening steadily over the last several decades.”
The Oregon Democrat called for a president who would “follow the science on global warming.”
“America not only has to get its own act in order,” he said. “It has to help lead the world to take this on. This is a planetary-scale tragedy of the commons that we need leadership to end.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley tells @GStephanopoulos that Trump blaming the wildfires on “forest management” is “just a big and devastating lie.”
“These are consequences of a warming planet … just like on COVID, we need to have a president follow the science.” https://t.co/mH26J2IKhr pic.twitter.com/Id5UFUekNT— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2020
Merkley said the wildfires in his state are “apocalyptic,” adding he couldn’t escape the smoke when driving “600 miles up and down the state.” Thousands of people have lost their homes, and small towns have been “incinerated,” he said.
The western coast states of California, Oregon and Washington are dealing with spreading wildfires that are sparking quick evacuations.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) told ABC’s “This Week” that the states in the West “have a blowtorch” over them “which is climate change.” He called it “maddening” that Trump denies climate change contributed to the fires.
“We know that climate change is making fires start easier, spread faster and intensify,” the governor said. “And it is maddening right now that, when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires.”
Inslee called viewers to “vote on climate,” saying “if this is not a signal to the United States, I don't know what it will take.”
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