Congressman's Battle With Forest Service Extinguished

Cost of Dousing Fire That Spread From Brown's Farm Is Paid

A long-running battle between the U.S. Forest Service and a Republican congressman who set a runaway fire that damaged federal land has been settled, with a $4,747 hole burned in the lawmaker's pocket.

That's the amount Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-S.C.) paid the agency on April 20 to cover the cost of suppressing the March 5, 2004, blaze that jumped from his property to the adjacent Francis Marion National Forest, charring 20 acres. Brown previously had paid a $250 fine.

The payment extinguished a four-year dispute marked by allegations of political pressure, a failed counterclaim by Brown and threats by the agency to garnish his wages if he did not pay up.

"It's done," Allison Stewart, a Forest Service spokeswoman, said this week. "We charged him, and he paid. We just needed to compensate the taxpayers for the amount of money we spent."

Brown's spokeswoman confirmed that he paid the bill but did not respond to requests for further comment.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group that has tracked the case, said the government spent more than $100,000 in staff time to collect less than $5,000.

At issue was whether Brown, who had permission from the South Carolina Forestry Commission to conduct the burn on his Cordesville, S.C., tree farm, should be held liable for the firefighting costs after wind blew the flames into the adjacent national forest.

Although Brown maintained that he acted responsibly, a Forest Service investigation found him negligent for, among other reasons, having little more than water-filled garbage cans on the back of a pickup truck for fire control. The agency determined that, according to federal law and policy, Brown should be fined and pay the firefighting costs.

The congressman fought back -- hard.

In a March 2004 conference call, Brown, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, told agency officials that Forest Service programs might need more scrutiny if they pursued the matter, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed that September by two Forest Service law enforcement officials.

Brown has denied threatening the Forest Service, saying he merely discussed the need for a change in federal statutes to give authorities more discretion to waive violations when no negligence is involved. He also has acknowledged discussing the enforcement policy that spring in a meeting with then-Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and Mark E. Rey, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the Department of Agriculture.

"I don't believe I broke a law or acted negligently," Brown said in September 2004. "Acting solely as a private citizen, I voiced this to authorities. I never intended to use my position to further my case."