Recognizing that the job cannot be done with the resources available, Governor Reagan, called for a Presidential disaster declaration, under section 221 of the Disaster Relief Act, to make available the formidable resources of the Federal Establishment to help prevent the disaster from occurring. Without the disaster declaration, it appears, the Departments of Government which have the personnel, equipment, and expertise to help out, have no authority to do so. On April 6, I sent a telegram to the President requesting that he invoke section 221 of the disaster law and release Federal aid. On April 27 the Office of Emergency Preparedness announced that its Acting Director had made a negative recommendation to the President on the need for Federal aid to avert a disaster. There would be no help from the Federal Government. In the days which followed, a delegation of East Bay officials came to Washington to protest the administration's decision. Members of my staff accompanied them to a meeting with officials of the Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Office of Emergency Preparedness. At that meeting there was general agreement that if a fire did occur in the area dense with frozen eucalyptus trees, a major disaster would indeed result. The death toll among the hundreds of thousands of residents living along narrow, winding roads in the hill areas, would be incalculable. Property damage could be $150 million. The Office of Emergency Preparedness' decision against a disaster declaration, evidently, was due to their belief that the "imminence" of disaster could not be proven. The OEP representative at the meeting agreed that if the request for Federal disaster aid were to come in July, or August, or September, when the Santana winds were blowing, the humidity low and the temperature high, the fire threat would be more imminent, and a request for a disaster declaration under section 221 might get a different response. The recklessness and absurdity of this conclusion astounded me. It is inconceivable that such a decision can be made in such apparent ignorance of the facts. All experts on the problem agree that it will take months of hard work to lessen the fire hazard sufficiently to get through the most critical months ahead. If a Federal disaster declaration were to be made after the critical period arrived, it would be months too late to avert catastrophe. -We cannot risk lives and property because of a capricious and arbitrary definition by the Office of Emergency Preparedness of the work "imminent." Senator Jennings Randolph, chairman of the Public Works Committee which molded the Disaster Relief Act of 1970 into the form in which it became law, and Senator Quentin Burdick, chairman of the Disaster Relief Subcommittee of Public Works, and I, sent a letter last week to the Acting Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness. Our letter, the text of which will be entered into the record of this hearing, protested the agency's definition of "imminent," as the word is used in the Disaster Relief Act. The letter urged the administration to reconsider its decision based on the facts of the situation and the intent of Congress to provide Federal aid to avert or lessen the effects of a disaster. We have not yet received a response to our letter. I remain firmly convinced that Congress, in providing for Federal aid to be made available if a major disaster is believed to be imminent, intended to broaden the scope of our national disaster program, along the lines proposed by President Nixon in April 1970. Congress formalized the President's view that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In the case we are about to examine, about $11 million of preventive aid would quite probably avert the loss of up to $150 million in property and an incalculable loss of lives. The bill which I have introduced, S. 1697, directs the President to take this preventive action. It provides for grants to units of local government and State and local public agencies, including the University of California, Berkeley, which owns about 300 acres of the total land affected. The grants are made available to fully reimburse the agencies for sums which have been expended for purposes of fire suppression and prevention, tree removal, and reforestation, in connection with the eucalyptus freeze. The grants are intended to cover expenses both prior to enactment of the law and for as long after enactment as disaster prevention work needs to be carried out. There is authorized to be appropriated up to $11 million for this work. The bill also provides for reimbursement to property owners of actual or reasonable costs in removing trees from their property which create a hazard as a result of the freeze. This provision applies only to expenses incurred prior to enactment of the law. After enactment, property owners will request and receive assistance from local agencies and the Federal Government for tree removal. The final provision of my bill directs the President to work with local governments and State and local public agencies to perform fire suppression and prevention activities, removing dead and dying trees, and provide for reforestation of the area. Senator CRANSTON. I Would like to insert into the record at this point the following messages from Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior, and former U.S. Senator William Knowland, of California. Also copies of the bill, S. 1679 and the amendments made later. [The information follows:] STATEMENT FROM STEWART UDALL, FORMER SECRETARY OF INTERIOR DEAR SENATOR CRANSTON: I know of your efforts to obtain federal pre-disaster assistance for the Oakland and Berkeley hills of the East San Francisco Bay area. I am fully aware of the extreme fire danger that exists near thousands of homes because of more than a million dead and freeze-damaged eucalyptus trees. I am currently engaged in preparing a 20-year land use plan for the East Bay Regional Park District. A major portion of the eucalyptus damaged, and subsequent fire hazard is on park district lands. My recent work has given me a thorough knowledge of the resources, activities and capabilities of the agencies which must maintain the vast park lands and wilderness areas of the East San Francisco Bay. The monumental job these agencies now face-of clearing dead trees and hundreds of thousands of pounds of highly flammable debris from 2,500 acres of land-is unquestionably far beyond their resources. In my years as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, I learned what the federal government can do and what it can't do; what it should do and what it should not. There is no apparent way to reduce the fire hazard to acceptable levels this year without immediate and massive federal assistance. I believe that the U.S. Forest Service is capable of this effort and should be pressed into service. I add my voice to yours and others in urging that this be done without delay. I regret that prior commitments in California prohibit me from appearing before your committee in person today. I wish you well in your efforts to secure a legislative solution to the problem. [Telegram] OAKLAND TRIBUNE, May 8, 1973. Senator ALAN CRANSTON, Strongly and respectfully urge favorable committee and floor action in support of your Senate bill 1697 which is scheduled for hearing Wednesday, May 9th. The entire community is deeply concerned and taking all local steps possible with support of city councils, mayor and boards of supervisors of both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Both Governor Reagan and United States legislative delegation without regard to partisanship have united to do everything possible to stave off what could be a major holocaust growing out of large scale eucalyptus fire potential that could burn out large sections of the two county area. It is my firm belief that averting a major disaster cannot be averted by local and State agencies alone. Federal assistance is essential to get the job done. Help after the potential tragedy would not be as effective as taking effective preventive steps now. As a former majority and minority leader of your distinguished body I believe we should all understand, to borrow words from President Grover Cleveland, that quote a condition and not a theory confront us unquote. WILLIAM F. Knowland, Publisher. 93D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION.. S. 1697 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 3, 1973 Mr. CRANSTON (for himself and Mr. TUNNEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs A BILL To require the President to furnish predisaster assistance in order to avert or lessen the effects of a major disaster in the coun 1 ties of Alameda and Contra Costa in California. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 FINDINGS SECTION 1. The Congress finds and declares that a freeze 5 in December of 1972 killed tens of thousands of eucalyptus 6 trees in the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa in Cal7 ifornia, that such trees are highly combustible and threaten 8 to cause a major disaster, that State and local resources are 9 strained to the point where all available funds are being ex II 2 1 pended, and that immediate Federal assistance is necessary 2 to avert or lessen the effects of such a disaster. 3 4 10 5 6 7 8 9 GRANTS SEC. 2. The President is authorized and directed (1) to make grants to units of local government and State and local public agencies in order to assist such units and agencies; and (2) to reimburse them for assistance furnished prior to the date of enactment of this Act, 10 for the purpose of carrying out fire suppression, tree removal, 11 and reforestation activities on public and private lands located 12 in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in California in con13 nection with the threatened major disaster referred to in sec14 tion 1. The amount of any grant under this section may not 15 exceed the cost actually incurred by the grantee in carrying 16 out. such activities. There are authorized to be appropriated 17 not to exceed $11,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this 18 section. Any sums so appropriated shall remain available 19 until expended. 20 223 FEDERAL RESOURCES 21 SEC. 3. The President shall exercise the authority con22 ferred on him by section 221 of the Disaster Relief Act of 23 1970 to assist units of local government and State and local 24 public agencies in carrying out fire suppression, tree removal, |