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Sen. Wyden urges release of grid-resilience funds for wildfire-prone Northwest; witness pledges project list
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Summary
Sen. Wyden told a Senate Committee on Finance witness that funds intended to reduce wildfire risk and improve grid resilience have been held and urged their release; Mr. Wright said projects have been evaluated and committed to deliver a list of Northwest-specific projects within two weeks.
Sen. Wyden pressed an administration witness about funds intended for grid resilience in wildfire-prone areas, saying the money has remained locked in a government account instead of reaching communities working to reduce wildfire risk.
Wyden said his home state is facing one of the toughest wildfire seasons in modern history and argued outdated power infrastructure contributes to that risk. He pointed to the "disaster safe power grid law in 2021," which he said passed as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and said funding for projects authorized under that law has been held up.
"You kept it locked in a government bank account instead of distributing it to communities that are working hard to deal with this record... fire season," Wyden said, and asked whether the administration would release the projects and allow communities to proceed.
Mr. Wright replied that the administration had evaluated grid-resilience, grid-improvement and grid-expansion projects, moved forward with many and modified others, and pledged to deliver all projects specific to the Northwest to Sen. Wyden's office "in the very near term," answering "2 next 2 weeks?" with "Yeah. Absolutely."
Wyden pressed for a written list and a two-week delivery timetable; Mr. Wright agreed to provide the Northwest-specific project list to the senator's office. The exchange ended with the committee moving to the next senator.
