Governors request river flow increase
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0/ f/te Emerald
PORTLAND—The governors of Oregon, Washington
and Idaho decided Tuesday to ask the Army Corps of
Engineers to augment Columbia River flow for three
weeks this spring, a move that could result in a three per
cent loss in available regional energy later this year
The meeting of the Pacific Northwest Regional Com
mission, which is comprised of governors Bob Straub,
Dixy Lee Ray and John Evans, was called in a wet and
stormy Portland to discuss regional methods of dealing
with what all agreed was a continuing drought
The three state executives were told the augmentation
will be necessary in order to save the Columbia River s ia!!
and summer Chinook salmon
During the meeting the governors also decided to es
tablish a drought coordinating committee, set up an inter
state energy conservation competition and create a reg
ional cloud seeding study project
Terry Holubetz of Idaho's Department of Fish and
Game advised the governors to ask for the Columbia flow
increase so that newly hatched salmon fmgerlings would
have a quick enough water flow to make it to the ocean.
He warned if the fish would die if they could not make the
journey The loss of these two salmon species, he said,
would permanently deplete total fish population in the
river by 20 per cent
This move was described as the first of several "trade
offs the region may be forced to make between compet
ing uses of the diminishing water supply if the drought
continues
To augment the river, the Corps would release 3 6
million acre feet more water than normal during this
period through the Bonneville Power Administration s
(BPA) system of hydroelectric dams, thus, "over
generating 500 mega watts of electricity Holubetz de
scribed this as enough to supply the electricity needs of
the city ol beattle tor a six momn perioa.
In order to reduce potential loss of this over-generated
energy, the governors will ask BPA to sell the power to
California to be bought back later. But Hdubetz noted the
region would still suffer a 25 per cent "line loss" when the
energy is transfered
Ivan Gold, Oregon s deputy public utilities commis
sioner, said the drought still poses a 50 per cent threat of
mandatory energy use curtailment later in the year.
This and the possible energy loss prompted Straub to
propose a tri-state competition to see which state could
conserve the most energy through voluntary cutbacks.
Both Evans and Ray promptly agreed to the proposal
and warned Straub they had been involved in voluntary
energy conservation programs for more than a month.
Evans said he was surprised Oregon hadn't already
begun a voluntary conservation program. "When I flew
into Portland," he said, "I saw more lights on there than in
the whole state of Idaho "
Straub proposed that the BPA and the Northwest
power pool monitor the three state's energy consumption
and report which state conserves more.
Merril Schultz of the power pool told the governors a 10
per cent cut in energy use now would eliminate the risk of
mandatory rationing later this summer.
Evans ended speculation he would oppose Oregon
and Washington cloud seeding programs by voting with
Straub and Ray to establish a program aimed at a reg
ional seeding approach
Several weeks ago, Evans had asked his attorney gen
eral to study the possibility of suing to stop seeding pro
jects in the two states.
Tuesday Evans said he was pleased with the decision
to proceed with seeding on a regional level. "Cloudseed
ing is becoming more important," in dealing with the
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valuable tool.”
Washington began a $125,000 cloudseeding program
and a $175,000 program is presently working its ways
through Oregon’s Legislature.
The commission also voted to allocate $100,000 to a
newly-formed regional drought oversight comittee com
posed of representatives from the three states' water,
agriculture, fishery and power departments.
The governors said the committee was needed to
coordinate information should further trade-off decisions
be necessary, and warned that some may.
One of those, voiced by both Straub and Ray, con
cerned what Straub termed ‘a very direct and serious
conflict between the pulp and paper industry operation
and the water quality level of the Willamette River.”
Ray said this would be the next trade-off if the drought
worsens: eiti ler the water quality will have to be lowered to
allow full industrial operation for the summer or the indus
tries may be asked to partially shut down.
Straub then said he was in favor of lowering the quality
standards to retain full industry operation.
Though the meetings was characterized by a coopera
tive atmosphere throughout, Ray said after the meeting
that Straub's Domestic and Rural Power Authority
(DRPA) proposal "stinks.”
"The Northwest power pooling proposal being jointly
developed on the regional level is far superior," she said.
Straub's DRPA proposal would have the effect of raising
Washington’s electricity rates approximately 30 per cent
while substantially lowering Oregon’s, which are pres
ently twice as high as Washington’s.
Ray said she "strenuously ” opposes the plan and feels
it would "totally disrupt the regional energy scene.”
The regional commission is scheduled to formally meet
again in three months.
Legislative
Issues
3 ‘sunset’ bills would subject
agencies to review process
By MARY BETH BOWEN
Of the Emerald
SALEM — Three bills that would require state
regulatory agencies to justify their existence every
six years or go out of business received a hearing
before the House State Government Operations
Committee Tuesday
The concept behind the "sunset laws' was
strongly endorsed by Bill Fritz, president of Oregon
Common Cause. He said the concept provides a
"kick in the pants" incentive for the legislature to
eliminate unnecessary regulations and agencies.
"The Legislature already has the power to exer
cise this review process,” said Fritz "But they're so
busy looking at the problems of the future, that they
don t have time to look at things in retrospect.
The sunset approach toward government was
also lauded by Rep Gary Wilhelms, R-Klamath
Falls, who said that rather than taking a "meat-ax
approach to state agencies, it will allow agencies to
become more responsive to public needs.
The committee is considering three variations
on the sunset theme HB-2323, sponsored by
Wilhelms, would give review powers to a joint legisla
tive committee. HB-2090 creates an Occupational
Regulatory Board," and HB-2762, sponsored by
Rep Glen Whallon, D-Milwaukie, creates a
10-member legislative review committee All three
bills would apply to occupational regulatory agen
cies. such as the State Department of Agriculture,
and the Board of Chiropractor Examiners
However Common Cause, which supports
HB-2762, presented amendments Tuesday that
would expand the review process to include the rules
and regulations of occupational regulatory boards
Fritz said in an interview that wiping out certain
state regulations would sometimes result !n wiping
out the agency, but not in all cases.
"You can have a case where a department’s soil
regulations are useless, but their air and water pollu
tion regulations are very important," said Fritz.
“There are a lot of regulations that should have been
wiped out years ago. One of my favorite useless
agencies is the Scenic Access Board, which regu
lates billboards along Oregon's highways. They're
still in existence, even though the legislature banned
billboards along highways in 1973."
Surprisingly, very few state agency representa
tives showed up to offer opposition to the bill Tues
day.
Oregon State Bar representative Herb Hardy
told the committee his organization doesn't want to
be subject to the sunset review, which prompted
committee chairer Whalon to ask what the bar was so
worried about.
"I keep hearing this from all the state agencies,"
said Whallon. "If you re all doing such a good job,
what the hell is everybody so worried about?"
The committee will have another hearing on the
sunset bills sometime this month.
Representatives urge creation
of growth, development policy
By MARY BETH BOWEN
Of the Emerald
SALEM — Oregon's lack of a
growth policy has resulted in a
"back ass approach, Rep Vera
Katz, D-Portland, told the House
Energy and Environment Commit
tee Tuesday.
"The lack of a rational growth
policy means that (housing) de
velopment is sometimes forced on
communities that don't want it or
can't handle it,” said Katz. "We
need to define where we re going
to grow and who is going to pay for
it."
Katz testified at a public hearing
on two bills that call for the de
velopment and enforcement of an
Oregon growth policy. HB-2359,
sponsored by Katz, would give the
responsibility to the Land Conser
vation and Development Com
mission (LCDC). HB-2752, spon
sored by Rep Pat Whiting,
D-Tigard, would create a Popula
tion and Growth Advisory Com
mission.
Katz said providing services for
new residential or commercial de
velopment — such as water ser
vice, roads, sewers, and police
and fire protection — often costs
more than resident taxpayers are
willing to pay.
She added that currently no
state agency coordinates growth
policy in Oregon and that many
state agencies who deal with
growth matters produce programs
and decisions that contradict one
another.
Katz said her bill would au
thorize the LCDC to:
•Analyze the impact of popula
tion growth on Oregon's environ
mental quality, i.e. air and water
pollution, depletion of open space
and natural resources and the ris
ing demand for electrical power
and other energy sources.
• Assess the effect of popula
tion growth on social and
economic problems, such as
transportation, housing, educa
tion, health, food production and
taxation.
• Once a growth policy was de
fined, the LCDC would evaluate
the programs and decisions of
other state agencies to ensure
that they complied with the state
policy.
Whiting also testified in support
of the two growth policy bills, say
ing that the growth problem in
Oregon must be looked at before it
becomes a statewide crisis.”
But both bills came under fire
from Fred Van Natta, a represen
tative of the Oregon State Home
Builders Association.
Van Natta told the committee
that Oregon's growth policy is al
ready being developed by cities
and counties, which submit
growth plans to the LCDC. He said
the coordination is provided by the
LCDC, which sees that the plans
comply with its statewide planning
goals.
‘ But these bills move the deci
sion making from the local level to
the state level,'' said Van Natta,
"and take away local control from
the communities. I think implicit in
this issue is the fact that many
people arc- dissatisfied with the job
LCDC is doing."
Van Natta added that current
law allows the LCDC to make
other state agencies comply with
its statewide growth policies, but
that it hasn't exercised that power.
He said in an interview after the
hearing that the Home Builders
Association generally opposes
restrictions on growth because it
hurts them financially and could
cause a housing shortage among
lower income people which would
force the government into the
home building business.
"If you can only build a limited
number of houses, the demand
goes up and low-income persons
can’t afford them," said Van Natta.
"So the government will come in
and build them and subsidize
either the rent or the sate cost."
Supporting the growth policy
bills were representatives from
the Portland Planned Parenthood
Association, the Oregon En
vironmental Council and the
Oregon Division of the Issak Wal
ton League.
o