Dozens of environmental, labor and health care groups joined together Monday to file a petition pressure the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare extreme heat and smoke from wildfires “major disasters,” like floods and tornadoes.
The petition is an important push to get the federal government to help states and local communities that are under pressure from the rising costs of climate change.
If accepted, the petition could unlock FEMA funds to help localities prepare for heat waves and wildfire smoke by building cooling centers or installing air filtration systems in schools. The agency could also help during emergencies by paying for water distribution, medical screenings for vulnerable people and increased electricity use.
“Major disaster declarations really open up the deepest pockets of funding that FEMA has available,” said Jean Su, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, and lead author of the petition. “State and local governments are severely ill-equipped and underfunded to even address emergency measures.”
The support from major labor groups like the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union is part of a broader strategy by unions to create protections for the tens of millions of people working outdoors or without air conditioning during the heat waves. Unions want the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require employers to protect workers from extreme temperatures. The White House has pressured officials at the Labor Department, which oversees OSHA, to release a draft heat regulation this summer. But major business and industry groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, oppose any new requirements.
Labor groups and workers’ rights organizations hope that if the FEMA petition is accepted, there will be more pressure for employers to address heat in the workplace.
“If extreme heat and smoke from wildfires are considered major disasters, then we need to get to work,” said Christine Bolaños, communications director for the Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit organization focused on labor rights. A major disaster classification, she said, would force OSHA to make protecting workers from the heat a priority.
The move underscores growing concerns about the impact of extreme heat among lawmakers, activists and labor groups. Last June, Representative Rubén Gallego of Arizona, a Democrat, legislation introduced declare extreme heat a major disaster as classified by FEMA. The bill, which has not progressed, was co-sponsored by 11 Democrats but only one Republican.
Heat already kills more people in the United States each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined, according to the National Weather Service. Still, the tools to address the consequences of extreme temperatures are being built from the ground up.
“None of the world’s institutions, tools, data sets, etc. are adequate to respond to the magnitude of extreme heat in communities,” said Kathy Baughman McLeod, executive director of Climate Resilience for All, a nonprofit organization. focused on addressing extreme heat globally.
Over the years, FEMA has rejected several similar requests to declare some past heat waves major disasters, including one from California Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2022, after a record triple-digit heat dome formed over the state. At the time, the agency argued that “the precedent is to evaluate discrete events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions.”
The Stafford Act of 1988, which authorizes the federal government to declare a disaster or emergency, does not explicitly include extreme heat in its list of 16 causes. But the petition from labor and environmental groups argues that the agency declared the coronavirus pandemic a major disaster, even though it was also not on the list, opening a precedent that the groups hope to exploit. The petitioners plan to litigate the matter if FEMA again denies the request.
Declaring extreme heat events as major disasters could pose challenges for FEMA. The agency generally declares disasters based on how much unsecured public infrastructure was damaged and how many people died. But during heat waves, property damage is not the main risk, and counting heat-related deaths is difficult, in part because death certificates do not always reflect the role heat played in a person’s death. person.
During disasters, communities that don’t prepare for extreme events can sometimes receive more funding than communities that do, said Brock Long, who was FEMA administrator during the Trump administration.
Long said he worries that adding new items to FEMA’s list of major disasters is like “tying new parts to the frame of a rusty old bicycle.”
“It’s time for Congress to sit down with big infrastructure owners and community leaders about how to redesign a system that makes sense,” Long said. “We will never be able to address climate change or threats to the future under the current system.”
If FEMA accepts the petition, it would launch a process to amend its rules to include extreme heat and smoke from wildfires as potential major disasters and accept public comments.