NEWS
Sorenson says that whenever large highway projects
such as the West Eugene Parkway have been proposed,
LRAPA has said they would not adversely affect air qual-
ity. However, car and diesel emissions have been cited as
major concerns when it comes to Oregon’s air. Sorenson
wonders if the state Department of Environmental Quality
has been more stringent on the effects the highway expan-
The question of whether a local air agency like Lane
sions have on air quality.
Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) is better for
Other cities, such as Portland, rely upon the DEQ for air
Lane County’s air quality than moving to a state agency
pollution issues, but according to The Oregonian, the agen-
was the topic Commissioner Pete Sorenson wanted to see
cy said back in May that “it
addressed at the County
has exhausted its budget for
Commissioners’
LRAPA
the air toxics program and it
work session Nov. 27. So-
has very little money for air
renson says the agenda set
pollution monitoring.”
for the meeting, which was
Sorenson says the work
called at the behest of Com-
session was a good check-
missioner Jay Bozievich,
in and opportunity to re-
was all about the agency and
view LRAPA, but he feels
not about the air.
COMMISSIONER PETE SORENSON
that health and air quality
LRAPA is a local air
advocates should have been
agency which, according to
invited to participate along with city offi cials.
its executive director, Merlyn Hough, who spoke at the
Sorenson read a letter from the county’s Public Health
work session, is responsible for everything from granting
Advisory Committee that advocated for LRAPA, and vari-
permits to industries that release air toxics to enforcing fed-
ous city offi cials and commissioners said they did not want
eral, state and local air pollution regulations and conduct-
to make a change.
ing public education and outreach regarding air quality.
“If air quality can be improved by moving it to state
LRAPA is funded through a combination of permit
level of regulation then I’m open to the idea of getting rid
fees, federal and state grants and local government fund-
of LRAPA,” Sorenson says. “But if the purpose is to get rid
ing. LRAPA says that it also receives “Airmetrics enter-
of regulation and minimize air quality then I will do what I
prise revenues” from the local manufacture of portable air
can to stop it.” — Camilla Mortensen
monitoring devices sold throughout the world.
According to Hough’s report, the portion of its funding
that LRAPA gets from Lane County is part of $121,670 per
year, split between the county and cities of Eugene, Spring-
fi eld, Oakridge and Cottage Grove. In exchange, the report
says, “LRAPA currently provides about $680,710 per year
of local ordinance-related services.”
Is a small, speedy potato-shaped seabird the new spotted
The agency has both been praised for its work to im-
owl? If it wasn’t already clear before: Clearcutting on hun-
prove air quality in cities such as Oakridge that have been
dreds of acres of coastal old-growth forests that are habitat
plagued with toxic air, mainly due to wood stove heating in
for the threatened marbled murrelet is defi nitely at a stand-
the winter, and it has also been criticized as too favorable
still, this time thanks to a Nov. 19 ruling by federal Judge
to industry in its permits to pollute.
Ann Aiken in Eugene.
LRAPA’S FUTURE ON
THE ROPES?
‘But if the purpose is to get
rid of regulation and
minimize air quality then I
will do what I can to stop it’
SMALL SEABIRD
STOPS LOGGING, AGAIN
lighten up
Conservation group Cascadia Wildlands had previously
announced the voluntary cessation of logging in marbled
murrelet habitat in the Elliott State Forest by the Oregon
Department of Forestry (ODF) in response to the lawsuit
Cascadia Wildlands and others had fi led. One timber sale
in the Tillamook State Forest had also been suspended, ac-
cording to Kevin Weeks of ODF.
Weeks says ODF pulled a number of timber sales in
June due to the lawsuit. In September, a memo in regard
to the Coos operations plan, which determines the sales in
the Elliott, later pulled 15 more projects planned for 2013
because, according to Weeks, they “have the same issues
present as those identifi ed in the lawsuit.”
ODF argued that issuing an injunction on the logging
was moot because the agency had already voluntarily sus-
pended logging on the timber sales in the lawsuit, but Aiken
ruled that because ODF had “retained the right to simply
resume logging operations after giving notice, a possibility
of the recurrence of the allegedly illegal logging activity
exists.”
Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands points out that Ai-
ken’s preliminary injunction not only prevents logging on
the 11 timber sales named in the suit, it also broadens the
suspension to “any further logging activities in known oc-
cupied marbled murrelet sites in the Tillamook, Clatsop and
Elliott state forests.”
The ruling is critical for marbled murrelets and makes
the clearcutting suspension offi cial, Laughlin says. He says
that now the ball is in Gov. John Kitzhaber’s court in regard
to suspending what Laughlin calls “aggressive clearcutting
plans on our public forests.” Kitzhaber along with Secretary
of State Kate Brown and Treasurer Ted Wheeler make up
the State Land Board that governs Oregon’s publicly owned
state forests.
ODF has announced a 46-day public comment period
began Nov. 26 on six additional timber sales in the Elliott
State Forest that are not impacted by issues raised in the
lawsuit, these sales “are anticipated to provide 9.8 million
board-feet of timber for the current fi scal year, and an esti-
mated $2.48 million in net revenue for schools and county
services in Oregon,” according to the ODF announcement.
To comment go to: wkly.ws/1e7 — Camilla Mortensen
You don’t want to add bicycles to the mix of cars and trucks using south Willamette
Street for the same reasons you would not add pedestrians. Bicyclists are nothing
more than pedestrians on skinny wheels who don’t see stop signs.
BY RAFAEL ALD AVE
Nepalese
Wool
A great gift
all season long
Handmade through the
non-profit Association
for Crafts Producers
Imagine getting to work easier, cheaper and faster than you do
today. West Eugene EmX will connect over 51,000 residents
to more than 81,000 jobs along the expanded EmX system.
Someday, EmX will connect the whole community.
Learn the facts and imagine better at www.ltd.org.
+20(*$5'(1
*,)7
WK 2OLYH6WUHHW
WK :LOODPHWWH6WUHHW
0RQ6DW
6XQ
8
November 29, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
541-682-6100 (voice)
7-1-1 (TTY-Oregon Relay)