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[Page H4435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 0930
RECOGNIZING TOM SEAVER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the
greatest baseball players to ever play the game, ``Tom Terrific''
Seaver, a member of the Miracle Memorable Mets championship season in
1969 that won the World Series. He passed away peacefully earlier this
month.
A native of my hometown, Fresno, California, that has had a lot of
terrific baseball players, no one ever played the game any better than
Tom Terrific. He was a graduate of Fresno High and Fresno City College.
During that time, he became a first-round draft pick in 1966. But in
between that time, he served in the United States Marine Corps.
Of the many seasons that he played in baseball, he had 12 All-Star
appearances, won multiple Cy Young Awards, and was voted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame when he first became available on a near-
unanimous decision--a gifted and once-in-a-lifetime player.
As I said, he served honorably in the Marine Corps.
Last year, he retired from public life after being diagnosed with
dementia. His passing has been a terrible loss for the community of
Fresno and all baseball fans across the country.
Please join me in celebrating the life and career of one good person,
Tom Seaver.
Devastating California Wildfires
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to draw attention to the
devastating wildfires burning in the West, throughout Washington,
Oregon, and California, and other Western States, and, more precisely,
this fire, the Creek fire, that is burning near my district in the
central Sierra Nevada.
Let me first salute the incredible men and women, the firefighters,
the first responders, all of those volunteers who are doing their best,
over 14,000 of them throughout California, and many more throughout
Western States. They are putting their lives on the line trying to
protect us and trying to protect our forests.
Last Friday, I toured the devastation firsthand and spent 6 hours in
the southern perimeter of the Creek fire in the Shaver and Huntington
Lake areas. I witnessed the devastating damage that has been done, not
only in this picture that is illustrated here, but the many homes that
have been lost, as you see here, 1400-degree tornado firestorms that
literally melted homes, such as this one here, and many, many other
structures.
This summer alone, clearly, has indicated that the numbers of fires
that we see, not only in California, but throughout the West, are
growing both in quantity and the scope of the devastation. This summer
alone, with record heat and extreme conditions made worse by climate
change, California has experienced 6 of the largest 20 wildfires in its
history--and, sadly, most of those wildfires are still burning.
In the foothills in the high Sierra Nevada outside my home in Fresno,
California, the Creek fire continues to grow, and we only have, as of
today, about 15 percent containment. But that is similar not only in
California but Oregon and Washington and other States, and it is making
the air quality something that you have to see to understand and
believe. When I left Monday, the air index was 304.
So, what must we do?
We must learn the lessons from these devastating fires, these
wildfires. And I think, first of all, it requires much better forest
management. We have tried to make changes within the U.S. Forest
Service, but much more needs to be done in terms of resources to
better manage our forest.
We also must do better land management planning. We have hundreds and
thousands of people in the last 30 years living where they didn't live
before, and it requires better land use planning.
And, finally, we must address the issues of climate change. When we
have extended draught periods and dry conditions, the beetle bark and
other factors play into a situation which, in California, from Lassen
down to Lake Isabella, we have over 100 million dead trees, and that
creates the fuel that adds to the problem.
These are among the lessons that we must learn to better manage our
forests for future generations to come.
____________________
