Forest. The Eugene-based group has been
proposing the state look into the benefits
the trees provide, rather than what the
group’s campaign director, Josh Laughlin,
calls “clearcuts for kids,” because the forest
is part of Common School Fund lands. The
Elliott State Forest borders on the popular
proposed Devil’s Staircase Wilderness area
and is home to threatened and endangered
species such as marbled murrelets and
northern spotted owls.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Although
newly
elected
Gov.
Kitzhaber’s office had made clear that its
first priorities are jobs and the economy,
green groups and the governor do agree on
one priority that affects jobs, the economy
and the environment: energy efficiency.
Four bills have been introduced, OLCV
says, that cut energy costs in Oregon’s
public schools, require utilities to prioritize
conservation over generation, create an
efficiency rating system for buildings and
make it easier to create high-performance
buildings.
“We’re going to be working hard to
support the governor’s plan for energy
efficient schools and his plan to catalyze
the energy efficient upgrades on public and
private buildings,” Isaacs says.
The goal is funding the upgrading of
public schools so that they are completely
energy independent and retrofitted to be
energy efficient, Isaacs says, adding that
this saves taxpayer money. Studies show
that students do better when the air is
cleaner, classrooms are better lit and the
temperature is consistent. Despite budget
issues currently troubling schools, the plan
is that the energy savings would pay in the
end for the costs of the changes.
One part of Kitzhaber’s plan that may
raise hackles in Eugene — where the
Seneca biomass-burning cogeneration
plant construction has led to concerns
about local air quality — is to convert
coal-burning heating systems in schools
to biomass boilers. Kitzhaber’s office has
been advocating for federal rules favoring
the burning of woody biomass for energy
production. Opponents have concerns not
only over public health issues regarding
burning biomass, but also over whether the
demand for woody biomass could result
in using whole trees for fuel rather than
logging slash and other organic debris.
PREDATORY BILLS
For every pro-environment bill
introduced, there’s at least one causing
conservationists some pain and angst.
Malusksi of the Sierra Club says, “Declaring
biomass to be carbon neutral or exempting
it from greenhouse gas reporting rules,”
could be potentially one such bad bill.
“I think one top priority on the
environment this year will be to hold the
line and prevent rollbacks to existing
environmental rules,” he says. Maluski
points out that with a 30-30 split in the
House, “and that body operating under
the ‘rule of 31’ that allows any group of
31 legislators to bring bills to the floor for
a vote, we will inevitably see some bad
environmental bills pass the House.”
Predators, including wolves and
cougars, could be in the crosshairs of this
legislative session, according to several
groups contacted by EW. Laughlin of
Cascadia Wildlands says, “We are hearing
that special interests will be introducing
bills to make it easier to kill federally and
state-listed wolves in Oregon, which are
just beginning to recover after a systematic
eradication program over 60 years ago.” He
adds, “Wolves are the icon of freedom, and
we are all into freedom, right?”
Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild says that
the Oregon Cattleman’s Association has
vowed to bring as many as four bills before
the Legislature that would change the way
wolves are managed in Oregon. “As far as
I know they haven’t been released yet,”
Stevens says, but he adds that OCA wants
to change the language in Oregon’s plan
“to remove professional wildlife managers
from the equation and allow private citizens
to shoot wolves almost free of restrictions.”
According to Stevens there are currently
only 22 wolves in Oregon.
Sally Mackler, carnivore representative
for Eugene-based Predator Defense, says
two bills have been introduced to repeal
Measure 18, the citizen’s initiative that
banned hound and bait hunting of bear
and cougar. HB 2337 would create a pilot
program allowing counties to implement
the hound hunting of cougars if they
request it. SB 474 would apply to hunting
zones where cougar quotas haven’t been
met, and it would give hunters the right to
use dogs to chase cougars during the last
three months of the season.
Mackler says that the most up-to-date
science shows increasing cougar hunting
and killing leads to increased conflict with
people. The bills ignore science in favor of
politics, she says.
With clean water and water rights so
recently an issue in Eugene — the City
Council voted unanimously on Jan. 24
to approve a resolution allowing EWEB
to sell up to 3 million gallons of water a
day to Veneta — it’s not surprising that
that conservationists are watching some
bills that revolve around water issues.
Kimberley Priestley of WaterWatch of
Oregon says it will be of critical importance
to protect existing river protections and
adequately fund the Water Resources
Department. The WRD manages Oregon’s
existing 85,000 water rights and continues
to grant more. Priestley says the agency is
already understaffed.
Among the bills WaterWatch is
monitoring is SB 190, which seeks to
reserve 30 million-acre feet of Columbia
River water for “consumptive use”
for things like irrigation and power
development. Kitzhaber’s office has
indicated support for the bill, but Priestley
says it could undermine or eliminate
protections for Columbia and Snake River
fish. She also says the bill skirts existing
water allocation statutes and resource
protection rules.
With well over 1,000 bills already
introduced — and more to come on topics
from border collies to establishing an
official state “wild west show” to a proposal
to designate hatchery fish as “native” if
they were born in Oregon to an Oregon
species — conservationists, politicians and
pundits are laying out agendas and seeing
what rises to the top.
ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 27, 2011 13