Labor and Environmental Groups Push FEMA to Use Disaster Fund for Heat and Smoke Events
Dozens of environmental, labor and health care groups rallied Monday file a petition to push the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare extreme heat and wildfire smoke a “major disaster,” like floods and tornadoes.
The petition is a major effort calling on the federal government to help states and local communities bearing the growing costs of climate change.
If accepted, the petition could raise FEMA funds to help localities prepare for heat waves and wildfire smoke by building cooling centers or installing air filtration systems. gas in schools. The agency can also help in emergencies by paying for water distribution, health screenings for vulnerable people and increasing electricity use.
“Major disaster declarations really open up resources,” said Jean Su, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, and lead author of the petition. the largest assistance FEMA has available.” “State and local governments are ill-equipped and underfunded to respond to emergency measures.”
The support of major labor groups like the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union is part of a broader strategy by unions to create protections for tens of millions of people who work outside the home. or no air conditioning during heat waves. Unions want the Occupational Safety and Health Administration rRequire employers to protect workers from extreme temperatures. The White House has pushed officials with the Department of Labor, which oversees OSHA, to release draft heat regulations this summer. But major business and industry groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, oppose any new requirements.
Labor groups and workers’ rights organizations hope that, if the petition to FEMA is accepted, there will be more pressure on employers to address heat conditions at work. Workplace.
“If extreme heat and wildfire smoke are considered major disasters, then all Everyone must join hands.” She said the major disaster classification would force OSHA to prioritize protecting workers in the heat industry.
The move underscores growing concerns about the impacts of extreme heat among lawmakers, activists and labor groups. Last June, Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a Democrat, Law is introduced declared the extreme heat a major disaster according to FEMA’s classification. The bill has not progressed and is co-sponsored by 11 Democrats but only one Republican.
According to the National Weather Service, heat kills more people in the US each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined. However, the tools to address the consequences of extreme temperatures are being built from the ground up.
“There is no other organization, tool, data set, etc. in the world that is suitable,” said Kathy Baughman McLeod, executive director of Climate Resilience for All, a nonprofit focused on problem-solving. suitable for the purpose of responding to the scale of extreme heat for the community.” Extremely high temperatures globally.
Over the years, FEMA has denied several similar requests to declare several major disasters due to the recent heat wave, including one from California Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2022, after forming a record-breaking triple-digit heat dome across the state. At the time, the agency argued that “precedent is to assess individual events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions.”
The 1988 Stafford Act, which authorizes the federal government to declare disasters or emergencies, does not explicitly include extreme heat among its 16 causes. But the petition by labor and environmental groups argues that the agency has declared the coronavirus pandemic a major disaster, even though it is also absent from the list, setting a precedent that the groups hope hope to exploit. The petitioners plan to litigate the matter if FEMA again denies the request.
Declaring extreme heat events as major disasters could pose a challenge for FEMA. Generally, the agency declares disasters based on the extent of damage to uninsured public infrastructure and the number of deaths. But during heat waves, property damage is not the main risk, and counting heat-related deaths is difficult, in part because death certificates do not always reflect the role of heat. degree to a person’s death.
Brock Long, who served as FEMA administrator in the Trump administration, said during disasters, communities that are unprepared for extreme events can sometimes receive more money than those that be prepared.
Mr. Long said he worried that adding new items to FEMA’s list of major disasters would be like “tying new parts onto a rusty old bicycle frame.”
“It is time for Congress to sit down with major infrastructure owners and community leaders about how we redesign a meaningful system,” Long said. “We will never be able to solve the changing climate or the threats to the future under the current system.”
If FEMA accepts the petition, the agency will launch a process to amend its rules to consider extreme heat and wildfire smoke as possible major disasters and accept public comments. they.
