California governor Gavin Newsom will suspend various landmark environmental laws to allow for rebuilding across areas that have been destroyed by the wildfires that have ravaged the southern part of the state and which firefighters continue to try to bring under control.
In an announcement on Sunday, Mr Newsom said that as part of his executive order, he will waive the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act. “When the fires are extinguished, victims who have lost their homes and businesses must be able to rebuild quickly and without roadblocks,” said Mr Newsom. “The executive order I signed today will help cut permitting delays, an important first step in allowing our communities to recover faster and stronger. I’ve also ordered our state agencies to identify additional ways to streamline the rebuilding and recovery process.”
With the two biggest wildfires in Los Angeles still less than 30 per cent contained, officials in California warned on Sunday that strengthening winds in the coming days threatened to expand the swath of destruction through the city that has already seen at least 16 people killed and many neighbourhoods erased.
Three wildfires were still burning on Sunday morning in Los Angeles county, where more than 150,000 people remained under an evacuation warning. Firefighters said shifting Santa Ana winds could blow the Palisades fire, which has razed almost 24,000 acres, back on itself towards the coast.
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Mr Newsom said on Sunday the fires would be the worst natural disaster in US history, “in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope”.
More than 12,300 homes and businesses have been destroyed, and more than 200,000 people displaced.
Meanwhile president-elect Donald Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20th, continued to point fingers, taking to his Truth Social platform to level new criticism at Mr Newsom and other California officials for alleged mismanagement before and during the outbreaks.
On Friday, Mr Newsom ordered an inquiry into LA county’s water management after reports emerged that a critical reservoir was offline when the fires started, leaving some emergency hydrants with low water pressure before running dry.
The LA fire chief, Kristin Crowley, has been vocal about how water supply issues – and budget cuts – “failed” her firefighters.
Trump and other Republican politicians have singled out the beleaguered Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, for signing a budget that stripped $17 million (€16.6 million) from the Los Angeles fire department.
“The fires are still raging in LA. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. What’s wrong with them?” Trump wrote. He has made a succession of false claims aimed at Mr Newsom and other Democrats.
In an interview on Saturday with the podcast Pod Save America, Mr Newsom said Trump was “delusional”, and attacked his threats to withhold disaster relief funds.
“He’s done it in the past, not just here in California. The rhetoric is very familiar, it’s increasingly acute, and obviously we all have reason to be concerned about it,” the governor said.
In the NBC interview on Sunday, he called Trump’s false claims “inexcusable”. - Guardian