Photo By Mark Reis, The Gazette

After having two attempts to obtain roughly $20 million for Colorado wildfire recovery thwarted, Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall introduced a bill today to fund Emergency Watershed Protection Needs across the nation.

“Colorado cannot wait any longer for these resources — they are critical as our communities try to safeguard their drinking water and rebuild in the wake of last year’s terrible wildfire season,” Bennet said in a media release.

The federal fund for watershed protection has been mostly tapped and has a $60 million backlog in projects, including Colorado’s needs.

Bennet and Udall first attempted to get the funds in a relief bill for Hurricane Sandy, but that measure died in the House after inaction in January. The Sandy bill was passed by both the House and Senate last month, but without funding for Colorado or other states with disasters.

Read more about the issue in The Gazette’s special package on the threat of flood and landslide following the Waldo Canyon Fire.

- Megan Schrader

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.