Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at speeding up the rebuilding of houses and businesses destroyed by wildfires in California last January, the White House said on Tuesday, drawing a rebuke from the Democratic governor, who said the state needs money rather than permits.
In the order, the Republican president accused the state and local governments of delaying reconstruction of structures “by approving only a fraction of the permits needed to rebuild.”
The order directs Trump administration officials to issue regulations that would “preempt state or local permitting processes” if they are found to have impeded the “timely use of Federal emergency-relief funds,” the White House said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom responded that his state needed federal disaster aid that he said Trump was withholding.
“The Feds need to release funding not take over local permit approval speed — the main obstacle is COMMUNITIES NOT HAVING THE MONEY TO REBUILD,” Newsom said in a statement on social media.
Newsom and Trump have long been critical of each other, clashing on major issues including climate change, pipelines and the Republican president’s deployment of National Guard troops to the state last summer.
The Palisades Fire, one of the most devastating wildfires in Los Angeles’ history, ripped through the affluent coastal foothill community of Pacific Palisades last January, before coinciding with another massive wind-driven blaze known as the Eaton Fire. The blazes killed more than 30 people and incinerated tens of thousands of homes.
The order, which Trump signed on Friday, also directed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the administrator of the Small Business Administration to come up with legislative proposals within 90 days if states or local governments are found lacking in enabling timely recovery after disasters.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
