WASHINGTON — As fires in the Los Angeles area continue to rage, California could see more activity aimed at reducing wildfire risks in the future under legislation passed with strong Democratic and Republican support in the House Thursday.

By a 279 to 141 vote, lawmakers approved a bill that could lead to increased activities such as forest thinning. But the measure also raised concern among state environmental groups about potential adverse effects on ecosystems and vulnerable species. The Senate will now consider the bill.

Sixty-four Democrats, including 24 from California, and 215 Republicans voted for the bill. Among those backing the legislation were Democratis Reps. Doris Matsui and Ami Bera of Sacramento, Adam Gray of Merced, Jim Costa of Fresno and Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara.

The act would speed up environmental analyses and the pace and scale of forest restoration projects. It could “bring some relief to constituents scared that their town will be next,” said Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, the bill’s co-sponsor.,

Experts say nearly a century of fire suppression has left the nation’s forests dangerously overgrown, fueling more intense wildfires as a warming climate exacerbates dry and volatile conditions.

Climate activists Thursday contended that the act bypassed environmental protection to prioritize logging over forest conservation.

The bill has “the potential to undermine science-based management,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. And, he said, the measure is “doing nothing to address the key driver, climate change.”

Activists agreed. “Nothing in this bill would’ve made a whit of difference in these horrible fires, which didn’t begin in forests or federally managed lands,” said Ashley Nunes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders of Wildlife, said the act “removes science from land management,” calling on lawmakers to focus on protecting residential communities with high fire risk.

“This is nothing more than a bill of goods that will do little of anything to combat fires and instead plays favorites with the timber industry which is hungry to consume more of our forests,” said Dewey in a statement.

What about disaster aid?

While the bill passed easily, disaster aid, which is usually routinely approved, has become a subject of fierce partisan debate as California confronts disasters scientists say are intensified by climate change. The Los Angeles area wildfires have displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes, and killed at least 28.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested that such aid will come with conditions. Wednesday, he suggested those conditions could include immigration reform.

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked him if “....California, if they continue to aid and abet lawbreaking and harboring illegal immigrants, money from D.C.gets cut off?”

“Yeah,” Johnson said, “We’re talking about conditions to this disaster aid,” Johnson replied. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

Johnson also took a dig at California officials Thursday after the House forest bill passed.

“The House passed the Fix Our Forests Act because good leaders prepare for emergencies,” he said. “The current California leadership failed to prepare for the ongoing wildfires and chose to prioritize far-left climate policies over efficient forest management and wildfire prevention.”

The fires have also been a subject of President Donald Trump’s wrath all week. He said in his inaugural address Monday that the fires were burning”from weeks ago without even a token of defense.” That was not true.

Wednesday, he told Hannity, “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down.” Trump has said Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have not permitted water from other parts of the state to be used to fight the fires, which is also not true.

A tense debate

The debate in the House Thursday was largely between California lawmakers, and most Democrats and Republicans were supportive.

Some Democrats joined Republicans in praising the bill.

“Lives are at stake and that’s why we need to pass the Fix our Forests Act,” Costa told colleagues.

“The choice is between policies that have proven to work and policies that have proven to fail,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove.

He described how forest management has too often been delayed because of excessive bureaucratic requirements, delays that have helped wildfire danger increase.

Give the forest service what it needs quickly, he said. “Excess timber will come out of the forest in two ways,” he said. “Either we will carry it out or nature will burn it out. That’s why we created the forest service.’

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, stood on the House floor next to a big photo of Paradise before the Camp Fire of 2018, which killed 85 people and devastated the town..

Do something, LaMalfa said. “We’re getting tired of it. We’re really tired of it,” he said.

But Huffman warned “This bill goes off on some tangents that have nothing to do with fire safety,” citing what he called “harmful environmental rollbacks.”

Democrats, he said, “agree we need to increase the pace and scale of restoration in our national forest and public and private land.”

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