Bipartisan senators seek study on wildfire insurance
Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) first shared with The Hill a draft of the Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act.
Their bill would require the U.S. Comptroller General to study the extent of growing U.S. wildfire risks and whether private companies have refused to issue new policies to homeowners because of those risks.
Climate change is worsening droughts and leads to more severe wildfires.
While this science has been politicized, dealing with wildfire damage can be an area of consensus. Still, it's not entirely clear if the bill will advance.
'I'm hearing from more and more New Mexicans who've seen their insurance premiums skyrocket, lost coverage entirely, or been priced out of protecting their homes. That is completely unacceptable,' Heinrich said in a written statement. 'We need a clearer picture of how worsening wildfires and climate risks are impacting insurance companies' decisions to raise insurance premiums.'
'One-third of America lives in wildfire-prone areas, and we must get our arms around this crisis, because if you can't get or afford homeowners' insurance, you can't finance your home, which means hardworking families can't achieve homeownership,' Sheehy said in a written statement.
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"The SHIPS Act would also permit the reflagging of foreign-built ships for inclusion in the new Strategic Commercial Fleet Program (SCFP) for a seven-year period, which can be extended twice," said Rasmussen As U.S.-built and flagged ships become available, they will replace foreign-built ships in the 250-ship SCFP fleet. However, foreign-built LNG tankers in the SCFP fleet would seemingly not satisfy USTR LNG export and would require a waiver to be able to export LNG, he said. According to shipping consultant Clarkson's, 2025 will see a record delivery of LNG vessels. In addition to South Korea's lead position in ship orders, Swiss marine engine company WinGD has the most popular engine, and French engineering company Gaztransport & Technigaz, which specializes in membrane containment systems for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other cryogenic gases, is the dominant containment system being used in the new vessels. The U.S. may have to fall back on a waiver provision in the USTR mandate, according to energy experts. The waiver provision, if used, would increase the cost of vessel components by 25%, but may be the best option relative to an unreasonable delay in ship availability, said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Lipow said if there are not enough LNG vessels, a situation which could impact LNG production and crude production, use of waivers would need to be considered. "Oil wells also produce some associated natural gas with it so this can also impact U.S. oil production," said Lipow. "The administration will not want to put the country in a situation where they would have to shut in production. If the markets are fearful the U.S. does not have the ability to export LNG, prices could go down, and that would most likely lead to a waiver," he added. Lipow noted that use of waivers has been seen before in Jones Act vessels, so a foreign-flag vessel could transport U.S. gasoline between two U.S. ports. "There is precedent for waivers on foreign-flag vessels to mitigate supply disruptions," he said.
