A Santa Barbara congressman has reintroduced a bipartisan bill intended to make it easier to reduce the wildfire threat on federal land.
The legislation would remove the red tape utility companies have to jump through to clear trees and branches away from power lines on federally owned property. Currently, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have to go through a timber sale procedure to clear the way for such work.
The change would allow the agencies to approve the tree removal without going through the current complicated process.
Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara co-authored the bill with a fellow Democrat and two Republican lawmakers.
