Bipartisan legislation to extend landslide protections has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and will now head to the Senate for consideration.
The bipartisan National Landslide Preparedness Act — which was cosponsored by Washington Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Suzan DelBene and Kim Schrier — would reauthorize the program through 2028.
“Landslides are dangerous, damage our infrastructure, and can cut off access for emergency services,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “Southwest Washington has recently experienced several landslides, impacting Interstate 5, Amtrak operations, and access to Mount St. Helens. Small landslides occur frequently in the Columbia River Gorge where I live, and I know from my discussions that these can be crippling for small businesses, impact entire communities, and take all hands on deck to overcome. I’m glad the House overwhelmingly passed this bipartisan legislation to help our communities stay prepared and identify landslide-prone areas before it’s too late.”
Passed in 2021, the legislation established an advisory committee on landslides, authorized new funding for landslide research and assessment, expanded early warning systems, established a National Landslides Hazard Reduction program through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and directed the USGS to use a 3D elevation program to increase data collection and landslide threat identification.
In August, Gluesenkamp Perez visited the site of the state Route 504 debris slide, which damaged the 85-foot Spirit Lake outlet bridge at milepost 49. According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, the landslide, dubbed the “South Coldwater Slide,” occurred when an early May heatwave melted the mountain’s snow in record time, oversaturating the ashy, young soil near Coldwater Lake.
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) hired an engineering firm to install a temporary, one-lane bypass road over culverts, which failed after four months “due to geotechnical and hydraulic challenges and the dynamic site conditions of this volcanic location.”
WSDOT has estimated that permanent access will not be fully restored “at least until the latter part of 2026.”
