Capital Press
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Friday, February 25, 2022
Volume 95, Number 8
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Harold Worth, an instructor and assistant manager at Western Pacifi c Truck School, guides Jason Nord during a driving exercise.
Driver shortage frustrates trucking
industry, agricultural producers
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
P
ORTLAND — Jason Nord poked
his head out the window of a hulk-
ing Freightliner 18-wheeler as he
practiced backing the rig between
rows of orange cones at the Western
Pacifi c Truck School in Portland.
The exercise required the rookie driver to
use skillful maneuvers to coax the truck and
its trailer into a slot that simulated a warehouse
loading dock. One by one, students took their
turn behind the wheel while instructors on the
ground off ered guidance.
After previously working in construction,
Nord, 41, said he can make more money as
a trucker. He enrolled in the school to get the
hands-on experience and training necessary to
apply for his commercial driver’s license.
“Everybody knows we’re short truck driv-
ers,” Nord said of the industry.
For years, the trucking industry has suff ered
a debilitating shortage of drivers. With the
arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, that short-
age has mushroomed into a crisis. The Ameri-
can Trucking Association estimates the driver
shortage peaked this year at 81,000 — up from
51,000 pre-pandemic.
With fewer trucks on the road and port bot-
tlenecks plaguing the supply chain, agricultural
producers and exporters face spiraling trans-
portation costs.
Sara Arsenault, director of federal policy
at the California Farm Bureau, said exports
that once cost $2,500 to $5,000 per container
to ship overseas are now $12,000 to $30,000
per container. Increasingly, agricultural exports
are being left behind as ocean carriers send
empty containers back to Asia, where they are
See Drivers, Page 11
Sara
Arsenault
Oregon petroleum phase-out scrapped
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon lawmakers
have scrapped a proposal to phase
out petroleum diesel and have
instead moved ahead with a bill to
study the alternative fuel supply
and pricing.
The original version of HB
4141 would have prohibited the
sale of petroleum diesel for motor
vehicles, beginning with the Port-
land metropolitan area in 2025 and
2026 and then Western Oregon in
2027 and 2028.
WITHOUT ADEQUATE DIESEL SUPPLIES, OREGON’S 22,000
LOGGING OPERATORS WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO POWER
THEIR EQUIPMENT OR TRANSPORT TIMBER TO MARKET.
The fuel would have been
banned for motor vehicles state-
wide in 2029, though enforcement
could be suspended due to price
hikes and supply shortages.
On Feb. 22, the Joint Transpor-
tation Committee instead unan-
imously passed an amended bill
that would create a task force to
analyze the diff erence in avail-
ability and price of petroleum die-
sel compared to renewable diesel,
as well as potential incentives to
boost the alternative fuel.
“I guess it’s time to sit around
the campfi re and sing, ‘Kum-
baya,’” said Rep. Lynn Find-
ley, R-Vale, who requested the
amendment.
The amended bill will help
determine the truth about renew-
able diesel availability and poten-
tially allow lawmakers to take
action in the future, said Rep. Paul
Evans, D-Monmouth, chief spon-
sor of the original bill.
“There’s no promise of that,”
Evans said.
The original legislation’s goal
was to promote the use of renew-
able diesel, which is manufactured
from non-petroleum sources, but
critics claimed it would severely
disrupt the supply chain.
“By all accounts, production
and storage capacity is not even
close to making exclusive renew-
able diesel a viable option for motor
vehicles,” said Amanda Astor, for-
est policy manager for the Associ-
ation of Oregon Loggers.
Without adequate diesel sup-
plies, Oregon’s 22,000 logging
operators wouldn’t be able to
power their equipment or transport
timber to market, she said during a
recent legislative hearing.
See Diesel, Page 11
Oregon cannabis bills gain traction
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
Oregon bills aimed at restricting
legal hemp and marijuana licens-
es are making headway, as is a bill
that would increase scrutiny of wa-
ter deliveries to detect illegal can-
nabis production.
SALEM — Bills aimed at
fighting illegal marijuana are
gaining traction in Oregon,
where they would increase scru-
tiny of legal cannabis licenses
and water deliveries.
New record-keeping require-
ments would be imposed on
water sellers and haulers under
House Bill 4061, which unan-
imously passed the House on
Feb. 21 and will now be con-
sidered by the Senate Rules
Committee.
The illegal production of
marijuana has reached “epi-
demic proportions” and HB
4061 is intended to be a tool
for law enforcement offi-
cers to detect water usage by
such operations, said Rep. Ken
Helm, D-Beaverton, chair of
the House Agriculture, Land
Use and Water Committee.
“It’s really hard to make laws
that apply to outlaws,” Helm
said before the floor vote on the
bill.
The bill will require water
sales and delivery records to
be available upon request, giv-
ing law enforcement officers a
“hook” to take a closer look at
suspicious transactions, he said.
Typically, water isn’t hauled
to farms and nurseries for irri-
gation, though it is hauled to
livestock operations, Helm said.
“We do not need to burden legit-
imate agriculture when we’re
trying to go after outlaws.”
The Senate has also approved
legislation to deal with the prob-
lem, Senate Bill 1564, which
would allow counties to sus-
pend new hemp licenses.
The bill aims to “hit the pause
button” on the hemp industry to
ensure the crop isn’t disguising
illegal marijuana production,
said Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ash-
land, chair of the Senate Nat-
ural Resources and Wildfire
Recovery Committee.
The
original
legislation
would have imposed a two-
year moratorium on new hemp
licenses statewide and allowed
the Oregon Department of Agri-
culture to restrict licenses based
on supply and demand for the
crop.
However, the problem of
hemp farms camouflaging mar-
See Marijuana, Page 11