The New York Times: “Economic Toll of Los Angeles Fires Goes Far Beyond Destroyed Homes”
RFF Senior Fellow Margaret Walls shares her perspective on the lack of public funding needed to recover from the Los Angeles wildfires.
Nonetheless, public funding will be needed to repair and reconstruct sewer systems, power lines and roads. Water infrastructure requires particular attention, since ash and contaminants can pollute drinking water far outside the burned areas.
“I’m not sure there’s enough money to go around,” said Margaret Walls, director of the Climate Risks and Resilience Program at Resources for the Future, an environmental think tank. “Communities haven’t figured out how to pay for this.”
...According to Dr. Walls, [improved home resilience] is the price people will need to pay for living in beautiful places next to wild landscapes. Thus far, homeowners have not been forced to shoulder the full cost of prevention.
“Do you really want to live there? Then you better invest in way more hazard mitigation than you’re doing,” she said. “They aren’t really pricing the risks appropriately in California.”
