"Trump Team Blames Wildfires on Environmentalists, Sparking a Backlash"

"Scientists say California’s record wildfires have been fed by an abnormally hot and dry fire season made worse by climate change, but the Trump administration insists there’s another culprit: environmentalists and their policies.

“Radical environmentalists” should shoulder some of the blame for pushing back against “active forest management,” policies that include mechanical thinning and timber harvest to reduce the risks of wildfires, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote in an op-ed in USA Today Wednesday.

Zinke acknowledged the fires were burning hotter and more intensely due to hot and dry weather, without explicitly attributing it to climate change."

Ari Natter and Eric Roston report for Bloomberg August 8, 2018.

SEE ALSO:

"High Stakes For Water Supplies In Wildfire Debate" (Greenwire)

"Federal Agencies Directed To Use Any Water Needed To Fight California Fires" (Reuters)

"To California, The Wildfires Are Tragic. To The Trump Administration, They’re Convenient." (Huffington Post)

"As California Burns, Many Fear The Future Of Extreme Fire Has Arrived" (Guardian)

"Trump Administration Overrides Endangered Species Protections To Access Water California's Firefighters Say They Don't Need" (ABC News)

Source: Bloomberg, 08/09/2018