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Page 6 Section A
Lobbyist charges
seed grower’s bill
won’t limit burning
By MARY BETH BOWEN
Of the Emerald
SALEM — The Oregon Seed Council’s field burning bill calls for a
smoke management program that wouldn’t limit the amount of smoke in
the air, a City of Eugene lobbyist charged Thursday.
Chris Thomas told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the
smoke management program defined in SB 535 provides a “minimum”
of smoke intrusion into cities, and for a "minimum number of (burning)
days without prolonged impairment of air quality.”
He added that, as he interprets the bill, seed growers could burn as
many acres as they register for, because the Department of Environ
mental Quality would have no power to refuse burning permits.
But committee chairer Sen. John Powell, D-Halsey, said he was
sure the bill is intended to allow the DEQ to continue controlling field
burning on a “stop-go” basis, depending on weather and wind condi
tions.
Powell added that he thought the bill’s intent is to allow the DEQ to
decide how much smoke could be put into the air without jeopardizing
air quality.
The interchange between Powell and Thomas highlighted one of
the central questions in the field burning controversy — should the air
pollution problem caused by field burning smoke be solved by smoke
management or reduction of the pollution source?
Powell had earlier asked witness Sen. George Wingard,
R-Eugene, whether he would support a smoke management program
that allows burning when weather conditions are favorable, rather than
sticking to a quota of allowable acres.
“No,” said Wingard. "You'd just be controlling the smoke rather
than solving the problem.”
Wingard said after the hearing that an adequate air quality level
guarantee is impossible in the Willamette Valley because weather anew v
wind changes are unpredictable. ^y
In direct opposition to Wingard was Bob Davis, a lobbyist for the
Oregon Seed Trade Council, who told the Emerald that a smoke
management program can guarantee an adequate air quality level.
“We’ve got to get off of the fetish of having quotas, of having
X-number of acres to burn," said Davis. "What we've got to do is monitor
the meteorological conditions more closely, get better communications
equipment (for the DEQ and seed growers) so we’ll control where the
smoke goes.”
Thomas charged that the growers' bill gives the Oregon Seed
Council "absolute control” over the Oregon Agricultural Research
Commission because of a provision that four of the seven members be
seed growers.
“That commission will make official reports to the state," said
Thomas. “Why have a totally industry dominated commission report on
something that affects that industry?"
The field burning battle was in full gear Wednesday and Thursday,
as witnesses testified on two diametrically opposed bills, one spon
sored by the growers, the other by the City of Eugene.
The growers burn their grass seed fields after harvest to rid them
of stubble and disease and claim that compliance with this year’a^
acreage restrictions will force them out of business.
Eugene residents, on the other hand, claim that the smoke from
field burning — which sometimes drifts down the valley — is a health
hazard.
An unknown factor in the field burning battle is what action the
Environmental Protection Agency will take if Oregon lifts all acreage
restrictions on field burning.
The EPA approved Oregon’s plan to comply with the federal Clean
Air Act in 1972, but that approval included the complete ban on field
burning passed by the 1971 Legislature.
Last January the EPA okayed the field burning phase-down pas
sed by the 1975 Legislature, but urged the Legislature to “maintain or
tighten” field burning restrictions.
House defeats move
to slash tax relief
Salem — The House rejected a minority report Thursday that
would have limited the homeowner and renter property tax relief prog
ram, affectionately called HARP by the legislators.
The minority report, presented in part by Rep. Tony Van Vliet,
R-Corvallis, was suggested as an alternative to SB-2040. It would have
limited the amount of general fund money available to taxpayers for the
next biennium and restricted property tax relief to persons with an
annual gross income of $15,000 or less. Van Vliet said the limits would
save the state some $28 million over the biennium.
But Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, who sits on the Revenue
and School Finance Committee with Van Vliet, said the “number one”
priority for the legislative session is property tax relief, and called the bill
the session’s “first tax relief program.”
The bill comes to a vote before the House Tuesday and calls for an
increase in homeowner and renter tax refunds and increases eligibility
so persons earning up to $20,000 annually can receive refunds.
Blumenauer said middle income families will receive some relief
through the bill, and added that most of the committee members
realize the burden of the middle income families.”
Lawmakers should put our votes where the needs of our con
stituents are, and that is in property tax relief,” Blumenauer said.