Governor Jerry Brown agrees with Donald Trump about the California fires ( Archived) (9)

I don't see where Brown told Trump he was right. He just said that the way forests are managed was "an Element" of a lot of factors. This is a transcript of Brown on "face the Nation." right after the Trump visit.



GOV. BROWN: Well you're asking how they got out of control- how they started is now a subject of investigation. But obviously some fire source got it going and then it- the conflagration occurs because the brush, the vegetation is so dry and the humidity is so low. And when you have that- that and then the heat and the use of drought that gets it going. And in Paradise there were a lot of buildings that also caught fire and then it just went from one to the other. So it's a mixture of many things. And the president's talked about how our forests are managed, that's an element but there's also the way the houses are built, the materials, what kind of vegetation is around. And there there's also the changing climate and the increasing drought and the lower humidity and water vapor. All of that is combining to create the tragic situation that we saw today in both Northern California and here in Southern California.

MARGARET BRENNAN: As you- as you, say the president did acknowledge that he said climate change might be a factor, "a little bit" but he primarily blamed forest management as the cause here. Is California to blame here for its own problems?

GOV. BROWN: Well where Paradise is, of course, is surrounded by federally managed land. These are national forests. They are not state parks and they're not private property by Californians so it is the federal government. And the fact is that managing the forest is part of it. They are a lot denser than they were 200 years ago. But on top of that, we have this five year drought. We have reduced rainfall. We have the dryness that turns vegetation and bushes and houses and trees into- literally into timber. So it was ready to explode. So there- there is an atmospheric element which is part of the natural cycle and then there is an increasing effect of climate change. In fact, I have read, specifically peer reviewed scientific articles that say that the amount of- of land burnt in California over the last 15 years has doubled because of climate change, so--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Did you make that case to President Trump?

GOV. BROWN: I certainly raised it but I didn't feel that that was where we needed to go. We need the money. We need federal help and we need a collaborative and cooperative spirit and we're getting that. But I did say that we're going to look at all the elements that are causing these fires over time and we're going to work in a way to let science be our guide and the president in no way negated that. So I decided to go for an opening and I think over the next months and years you'll see the science becoming crystal clear and even the folks in Washington that are now more in the denialist camp are going to come around.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll see on that one. You did say there the federal funds were coming. Did President Trump assure you that he's not going to cut funding as he had threatened to do?

GOV. BROWN: Yes. So that's a big, big win. The president not only has signed a presidential declaration giving California substantial funding, but he said and pledged very specifically to- to continue to help us. That he's got our back. And I thought that was a very positive thing. There have been some back and forth between California leaders and the president. But in this- in the face of tragedy people tend to rise above some of their lesser propensities. So I think we're on a good path, but it's still going to be difficult because the only way to ensure the long term forest health is not just, you know, cutting trees it's going to require reducing carbon...