• Gov. Jerry Brown (D) visited Ventura County to survey the damage wrought by the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9, where he thanked firefighters from near and far and others for their efforts in battling the blaze. Brown characterized the historic year of wildfires as the “new normal,” thanks to climate change. “We’re facing a new reality in this state where wildfires threaten people’s lives, their property, their neighborhoods … ” Brown said at a press conference. “So, we have to have the resources to combat the fires and we have to also invest in managing vegetation and forests and all the ways we dwell in this very wonderful place, but a place that’s getting hotter.” The day prior, on Dec. 8, President Donald Trump signed an emergency declaration for California, which made available aid from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Kamala Harris (D-California) sent Trump a letter that morning urging him to sign the emergency declaration for the wildfires burning in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties. “We are horrified as wildfires once again sweep through California and threaten hundreds of thousands of Americans,” the letter said. “This year, California has experience the worst wildfires in state history.” State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) was at the briefing with Gov. Brown and a community meeting in Carpinteria on the fire. “The safety of our community should be our first priority, and those in proximity to the fire should be prepared,” Jackson said in a statement released Dec. 5. “I urge everyone to follow evacuation orders, and to keep close tabs on the development of the fire.”
• On Dec. 4, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) sent a letter signed by Senate Democrats to the Government Accountability Office requesting a report on how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accounts for climate change in regards to natural disasters and how they could affect Superfund and other toxic hazardous sites. Harris is a ranking member on the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight, and spoke to building climate change resilience into toxic Superfund sites at a hearing on Dec. 6. “Climate change, as I think you would agree, acts as a force multiplier in extreme weather conditions, and I think it’s important that this committee understand how toxic Superfund sites are impacted by these disasters as we’ve been discussing,” Harris told California Secretary for Environmental Protection Matt Rodriquez. “According to the EPA, remediation efforts at contaminated sites may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels and increased inland flooding due to increased heavy precipitation events,” the Dec. 4 letter stated, and continued to ask the EPA to examine the number of sites that could be affected by natural disasters, what is known about health risks from those sites, and how the EPA is managing or reducing those risks.
• After President Donald Trump chastised Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) on Twitter for her call for Trump’s resignation over alleged sexual misconduct by the president, posting that Gillibrand “would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them),” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) shared Gillibrand’s reply while posting: “Another disgusting tweet from Thin-Skinned Donald Trump. This man has a problem, plain and simple. He lashes out at women and doesn’t seem to be able to control his impulses. For the good of the nation, he should delete his account.”
• State Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton) offered congratulations to 29 of Allan Hancock College’s Fire Academy cadets who recently graduated the program in a Dec. 11 post to his Facebook page. “With the Thomas Fire in our region, and other fires throughout the state, we’re reminded of how lucky we are to have brave men and women like you in our community,” he said in the post.
