NEWS
BY CARL SEGERSTROM
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For economic future,
Eastern Oregon
looks to its past
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10
July 13, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
C
hance Dewitt is sowing grass seed on a farm out-
side his hometown of Lebanon, Oregon. But this
isn’t where he makes a living. After a week at
home, he’ll be flying back to Elko, Nevada, and
working 12-hour shifts for two weeks straight
mining gold amidst the arid sagebrush landscape there.
For Dewitt and his co-workers, most of whom are from
Western states other than Nevada, the gold mines are an ex-
cellent opportunity to make good money in a hurry. Dewitt
says that for him, “it’s not a career, it’s just a job that pays
a lot.” The pay is about $17 an hour, but the long hours,
overtime and per diem all add up to a significant payday.
Jobs like Dewitt’s could soon be coming to eastern Or-
egon, after the passage of Senate Bill 644, which awaits
Gov. Kate Brown’s signature after passing by significant
margins in both houses of the Oregon Legislature last week.
The bill streamlines the permitting process for large-scale
mines and changes land use laws in Baker, Grant, Harney,
Lake, Malheur, Union and Wallowa counties.
However, the new land use regulations set up potential
conflicts between mining and agriculture because the regu-
lations allow mining as a pre-approved land use on zoned
agricultural land. Conservationists also worry that new
mining activities could harm threatened species and pollute
an important migratory corridor for many bird species.
Under current rules, mining permits have to go through
state and local review. The new legislation combines state
and local land use into one process overseen by the Or-
egon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DO-
GAMI). While local input will still be part of the process,
county planners can no longer deny permits for mines sole-
ly because they conflict with agricultural uses.
The legislation stems in part from a 2016 report by DO-
GAMI that found significant mining potential for gold, sil-
ver and other metals in eastern and southern Oregon.