Perry Blasts Slow Federal Response as Texas Wildfires Flare Up Again

As dry conditions and gusty winds whip up new wildfires in parched Texas, Gov. Rick Perry Thursday blasted the Obama Administration for failing to issue a disaster declaration for the state, widening the growing rift between the White House and the states rights advocate governor.

  "You see hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas burning and you know that there will soon be emergency declarations, and we did that now a couple of weeks ago, but still no response from this administration,"  "There is a point in time where you say, hey, what's going on here," Perry said.  "You have to ask why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?  I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail."

  Perry requested a federal declaration of emergency for Texas on April 16, as wildfires began to rage across the entire state.  So far, the request has not been answered, although several federal agencies, including the National Park Service, are supplying firefighters to the state's effort.

  "They watch TV, they know what's going on here, they can recognize that there is going to be a request for assistance, a request for help," Perry said.

  Perry has frequently charged that the Obama Administration is 'punishing' Texas for the state's success through implementing policies which run counter to the Administration, and for Perry's aggressive advocacy of so called 'Tenth Amendment' activities.  Perry has been an outspoken opponent of Health Care Reform, and the state is suing the U.S. EPA over a proposal to end Texas' independent air quality permitting program for factories and refineries.

  Obama denied the charges in a contentious interview with Ft. Worth television station WFAA last week.

  Meanwhile, the Texas Forest Service reported today that several new wildfires, including a 56,000 acre fire west of San Antonio, have flared up due to renewed dry and windy conditions.  The Forest Service's Marq Webb says conditions are getting worse.

  "Our friend the dry line has brought back windy conditions and low relative humidity," Webb said.  "Besides, we have had several days of drying out, so we are looking at a very dangerous fire day."

  Webb said the 'Deaton Cole Fire,' in Val Verde and Crockett Counties north of the Rio Grande town of Del Rio, has attracted scores of helicopters, heavy airtankers, and single airtankers.

  Webb says many firefighters have been set back from the fire lines to their home towns, as the risk of fire danger spreads across the state.

  "They need to be able to defend their own municipalities," he said.  "But they may be called back again if this wind event tomorrow is anywhere where we think it might be."

  Webb says 'approaching two million acres' has burned in Texas since January first.  He says it appears now to be the worst year ever for brush fires in Texas.

  "I haven't totaled it up yet, but if we're not there, we're right at it," he said.