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Mark Udall’s Sugar Loaf bill passes the House,

Mark Udall’s Sugar Loaf bill passes the House, heads back to Senate

Mark Udall’s bill to facilitate a land swap between the Sugar Loaf Fire District and the Forest Service unanimously passed the House today by 413-0.  It now heads back to the Senate to address some minor changes from the House, after which it will make its way to the President’s desk.  Udall is working with Senate leadership to get this bill passed before the holiday recess at the end of the year.

“The Sugar Loaf Fire District has been instrumental in protecting families and homes near Boulder County from potentially devastating fires, including the Fourmile Canyon fire, all while dealing with this decades-long land dispute,” Udall said. “We’re finally on the homestretch to give the fire district the tools it needs to adequately protect the surrounding community.  I’ll keep pushing with Senator Bennet and Congressman Polis to wrap up this public-safety issue for good this year.”

The Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District Land Exchange Act (S.278), which was co-sponsored by Senator Michael Bennet, would allow the fire district in unincorporated Boulder County to secure the land beneath two of its three fire stations and maintain quality wildfire-fighting training and operations for the surrounding community.  Read more about the Sugar Loaf bill HERE [1].

The bill unanimously passed the Senate on November 2, 2011. Once it is signed into law, it will join another Udall bill, the Ski Areas Recreational Opportunity Act [2], as a big natural resources victory for Colorado to pass this year.