EMBER Act

This bill aims to improve wildfire mitigation, management, and recovery through various measures. It authorizes federal agencies to reduce or waive matching fund requirements for state, local, and tribal governments for wildfire projects; requires inventories of wood processing facilities; establishes a land-for-wood processing program; supports small businesses using biomass; and amends the Renewable Fuel Standard to include forest biomass. It also addresses grazing, workforce needs, incident recovery, water entity funding, tribal participation, and other provisions.

Sec. 2, Wildfire mitigation, management, and recovery: This section has many parts. (a) Allows the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and the FEMA Administrator to reduce or waive matching requirements for state, local, and tribal governments for wildfire mitigation, pre-fire needs assessments, and post-fire recovery projects, up to the amount spent by the applicant. (b) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to inventory wood processing facilities, conduct economic and feasibility studies, identify high-risk regions lacking such facilities, and report to Congress. (c) Establishes a program to authorize federal land for wood processing facilities in identified high-risk regions. (d) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to enter cost-share agreements and provide technical assistance to support small businesses using biomass from wildfire risk reduction. (e) Directs the EPA Administrator to incorporate forest biomass into the Renewable Fuel Standard and provide renewable identification numbers for biofuels from wildfire risk reduction activities. (f) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate the Rural Development and Forest Service to support sawmill and biomass investments in high-need areas. (g) Requires cooperation between the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy to support biomass utilization research and pilot projects. (h) Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to manage fine fuels through expanded targeted grazing, using nonrenewable permits and temporary permits, and deploying technologies like virtual fencing. (i) Requires a joint report to Congress on federal workforce needs for wildfire management, including positions to partner with state, tribal, and local entities. (j) Requires development of policies for post-fire incident recovery, including updates to FEMA's Public Assistance Program Guide and review of cost-effectiveness criteria for wildfire mitigation projects. (k) Amends the Emergency Watershed Protection Program to allow cross-boundary measures. (l) Requires covered agencies to expedite grants for drinking water delivery within 90 days after a wildfire, including for restoration and repair. (m) Amends the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Program to consider drought and wildfire resilience. (n) Establishes a Wildfire Subcommittee within the National Science and Technology Council to prioritize research on pre-fire mitigation and post-fire recovery. (o) Requires the U.S. Fire Administrator to develop and deliver expanded wildfire response and prescribed fire training to local fire entities. (p) Requires a joint quantitative and qualitative review of the wildfire environment every five years, with a report to Congress. (q) Allows the Secretary of the Interior to transfer Bureau of Land Management land to Indian Tribes for wildfire mitigation and restoration workforce housing. (r) Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to enter contracts and provide grants to Indian Tribes for wildfire response, mitigation, and management. (s) Establishes a panel to study opportunities for tribal inclusion in federal wildfire response and co-stewardship. (t) Requires the FEMA Administrator to hold the incident period open for one year after fire containment for emergency assistance from cascading impacts, and allows extensions up to five years based on risk-based monitoring plans. (u) Requires the Department of Homeland Security to include post-fire revegetation and waterway protection in categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act. (v) Requires agencies to use existing interagency resource ordering systems for prescribed fire assignments. (w) Requires increased use of programmatic environmental analyses and phased planning for large landscapes. (x) Requires revision of performance metrics for land management agencies to include protected assets, long-term risk reduction, watershed conditions, and social metrics. (y) Requires development of uniform wildfire hazard datasets.