Bush Officials Torched for Fire Tanker Decision

WASHINGTON, DC, May 17, 2004 (ENS) - Federal lawmakers have vowed to battle the Bush administration's decision to ground the federal government's privately contracted fleet of 33 fixed-wing firefighting air tankers.

The decision, announced last week by the U.S. Forest Service, came in response to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a report that found the federal government has no mechanism in place to ensure the safety of these aircraft.

The NTSB report centers on its investigation of three tanker accidents that occurred between 1994 and 2002. It recommended that a maintenance and inspection program be established.

Mark Rey, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says neither the Forest Service nor the Interior Department currently has the expertise to set up such a program.

"The tankers present an unacceptable level of risk to aviators, firefighters on the ground and community," Rey told the House Resources Subcommittee on Forests on Thursday. "The threshold test of aerial fire fighting is the planes have to stay in the air."

But lawmakers from both sides of the aisle see the move as ill advised given predictions of another severe fire season in the U.S. West. They contend a safety protocol could have been developed, rather than the decision to scrap the fleet.

"The cancellation of the entire program based on three accidents over a decade seems a bit of a stretch," said Montana Republican Dennis Rehberg.

Arizona Republican J.D. Hayworth called it a "kneejerk reaction" that unfairly penalizes all seven private contractors who supplied the tankers and could cripple the industry.

"One of the problems is that there is a total focus on what is wrong with one company, rather than what is right with the other companies," Hayworth said.

Subcommittee chair Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, said he plans to meet this week with officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to determine if they can set up an inspection and certification program.

Such a program will probably require legislation, Walden said, because the FAA currently lacks authority to oversee government aircraft.

Rey said FAA certification would remove "the unacceptable risk that underlies our decision."

For the coming fire season, Rey said the Forest Service has developed a strategy to replace the tankers with helicopters, small private aircraft and up to eight military tankers.

"We will actually have more gallon capacity through this mix of aircraft," said Lynn Scarlett, Interior Department assistant secretary for policy, management and budget.

Canceling the contracts and replacing the fleets will cost some $26 million to $40 million, Rey said, and the new fleet will be more expensive to operate.

Rey downplayed the loss of the tankers and said they accounted for "about 20 percent of water and retardant delivered during the fire season."

"It is a relatively small component of our capacity," he told the subcommittee.

Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio said he was skeptical of this statement and said the "contingency plans for the helicopter and smaller planes do not provide the volume we need."

The big tankers can drop some 3,000 gallons of fire retardant or water at one time.

"These planes are often the last line of defense ... there is no substitute for that big dump," said DeFazio.