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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2016
State lawmakers scrap
proposal allowing local
biotech restrictions
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A proposal to
give local governments in Ore-
gon the power to regulate bio-
tech crops has been scrapped in
favor of a labeling requirement
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Lawmakers recently con-
sidered overturning the state’s
prohibition against local
restrictions on genetically
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passed in 2013.
Biotech critics claim that
local ordinances are neces-
sary to prevent cross-pollina-
tion between transgenic, con-
ventional and organic crops
because the state and federal
governments have failed to act
on the issue.
Opponents of the proposal,
House Bill 4122, argued that
it would complicate farming
across county lines, reduce crop
options and put a strain on local
governments that would have
to enforce such ordinances.
The House Committee on
Consumer Protection and Gov-
ernment Effectiveness heard
extensive testimony from both
sides during a Tuesday hearing
but ultimately decided to “gut
and stuff” the bill with lan-
guage that requires labeling for
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at retail.
On Thursday, the amended
bill was approved 5-3 and is
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a “do pass” recommendation.
Prior to the amendment’s
approval, state Rep. Mike
Nearman, R-Dallas, said it
would be unfortunate if the cur-
rent system of voluntary coop-
eration among farmers were
replaced with a “bureaucratic
solution” for cross-pollination
concerns.
“They try to solve their
problems by talking with each
other and working with each
other,” Nearman said.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep.
Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said
he also wishes such problems
could be worked out amicably,
but farmers who fear cross-pol-
lination from biotech crops
don’t currently have a system
to prevent economic losses.
After the Legislature pre-
empted local regulation of
seeds — including biotech
crops — in 2013, their concern
hasn’t been addressed, he said.
“I think they have a legit-
imate issue that needs to be
solved,” Holvey said. “I hope
the Department of Agriculture
solves it or the Legislature does
in the future.”
‘There
is some
urgency to
this issue.’
Rep. Shemia Fagan
D-Clackamas
Committee Chairwoman
Shemia Fagan, D-Clackamas,
said she hopes the recent dis-
cussions in the Legislature will
pressure the state Department
of Agriculture to come up with
a solution.
Fagan noted that heir-
loom crop varieties cannot
be replaced once they’re lost,
so she hopes to give farmers
some method to protect such
cultivars.
“There is some urgency to
this issue,” she said.
A similar bill that would
have more broadly reversed
Oregon’s seed pre-emption
law, House Bill 4041, recently
failed to clear the committee.
As for labeling of geneti-
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said the proposal will likely be
subject to further revisions in
the Senate if it’s approved in
the House.
Transgenic salmon received
regulatory approval from the
Food and Drug Administration
last year but its sale is on hold
until the agency devises possi-
ble labeling rules.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
Bill doubling renewable mandate,
eliminating coal reaches House
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A bill that
would double Oregon’s
renewable energy mandate
and eliminate coal from the
state’s power mix is headed
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vote.
“We are going in a really
good direction with this,” state
Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson,
D-Portland, said of the bill.
Vega Pederson is chairwoman
of the House Committee on
Energy and Environment,
which voted 6-3 Thursday to
pass the bill out of committee.
Nonetheless, several law-
makers on the committee said
they had concerns about it and
two Democrats who voted
for the bill — Rep. Debo-
rah Boone, D-Cannon Beach,
and Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eu-
gene — said they voted “yes”
as a courtesy to move the bill
out of committee. Those law-
makers might vote against the
bill when it comes up for a full
vote in the House.
“I was always worried
about not hearing enough
from the Public Utility Com-
mission on this process,” said
Holvey, who added he hopes
a Senate committee will thor-
oughly scrutinize the bill and
perhaps make changes.
Boone also said she hoped
more of the parties impacted
by the bill would have a
chance to shape it, as the leg-
islation moves through the
Legislature.
‘It will be as green as
we can be at the end
of the day. We simply
can’t impose further cost
drivers, be it cap and
trade or a carbon tax.’
Rep. Mark Johnson
R-Hood River
2040, up from the current state
mandate of 25 percent renew-
able energy by 2025.
The bill would also require
the investor-owned utilities to
stop using coal to serve Ore-
gon customers, but there are
questions about whether the
bill would actually do much to
impact the phase-out of coal
power in Oregon. Portland
General Electric has already
committed to close Oregon’s
only coal plant, in Board-
man, by 2020, and earlier this
month the utility and an envi-
ronmental group said the bill
would have a greater impact
on the types of power utilities
use to replace coal.
our electric grid,” Johnson
said. “It will be as green as we
can be at the end of the day.
We simply can’t impose fur-
ther cost drivers, be it cap and
trade or a carbon tax.”
Competing climate bill
Earlier this week, a com-
peting climate bill passed out
of the Senate Environment
and Natural Resources Com-
mittee and advanced to the
budget writing Joint Commit-
tee on Ways and Means. Sen-
ate Bill 1574, drafted by state
Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eu-
gene, and Sen. Lee Beyer,
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the existing renewable energy
goals with a new cap on car-
Avoid ballot measures bon emissions and a system to
The utilities negotiated buy and sell carbon pollution
the legislation in an effort to credits.
The most forceful oppo-
avoid ballot measures planned
by the politically active non- nent of House Bill 4036 on
SUR¿W 5HQHZ 2UHJRQ ZKLFK Thursday was Rep. Cliff
represents a coalition of envi- Bentz, R-Ontario, who said
ronmental groups, renew- the legislation would funda-
able energy companies and mentally undercut the abil-
other businesses. The envi- ity of the Public Utility Com-
ronmental groups agreed to mission to thoroughly vet rate
Double existing
drop their efforts to get voters increase requests from Pacif-
mandate
House Bill 4036, which was to pass several new renewable iCorp and Portland General
written by the state’s two larg- energy mandates in Novem- Electric, which are state-regu-
est utilities and environmen- ber, including an initiative that lated monopolies.
Bentz often speaks about
tal groups along with the Cit- would eliminate coal power, if
izens’ Utility Board of Oregon, lawmakers and the governor the need to combat climate
change and voted last week
would double Oregon’s exist- approve House Bill 4036.
The “no” votes on Thurs- for a bill to subsidize solar
ing mandate to increase renew-
able energy. It would require day were all cast by Repub- projects. However, he said a
Portland General Electric and licans, although Rep. Mark major problem with the coal
3DFL¿&RUS WR XVH UHQHZDEOH Johnson, R-Hood River, and renewables bill was that
power sources such as wind voted to move the bill out of it would allow utilities to seek
rate increases based solely
and solar to serve at least 50 committee.
“This is as far as we can on the cost of new renewable
percent of their customers’
energy demand in Oregon by go, putting requirements on energy projects. Bentz’s con-
cerns echoed those raised by
the Public Utility Commis-
sion in a public meeting last
month.
When investor owned util-
ities make the case for the
Public Utility Commission
to approve a rate increase,
Bentz said “they are generally
required to bring in a complete
picture of their business, not
just a single issue.”
“The only way the PUC
can make heads or tails of
what’s told to them is to see
the complete picture,” Bentz
said.
Bentz, who works for a
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Idaho Power, said when he
asked “utility specialists” for
their opinion of the bill, the
“single issue ratemaking ele-
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“This is a commitment
by our ratepayers to a lot of
money over a lot of years,”
Bentz said.
Allows for rate
increases
Bob Jenks, executive
director of the residential rate-
payer advocacy group Citi-
zens Utility Board, said the
bill does allow utilities to ask
the Public Utility Commission
for rate increases to cover the
cost of new facilities to meet
the higher renewable energy
mandate. However, Jenks said
the utilities already have the
ability to make these requests
under the state’s existing,
lower renewable energy
requirements.
Jenks, whose group is
tasked with representing rate-
payers under state law, said
the Public Utility Commis-
sion can still revisit the rate
increases for renewables as
part of the bigger picture when
utilities return with requests
for broader rate increases.
“It’s a bridge to get them to
the next general rate case and
that scrutiny,” Jenks said. “It’s
not a substitute for that.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Grant will fund career-technical training equipment
coordinator, $15,000 to upgrade
schools’ infrastructure when
needed and $32,000 in train-
Local educators and busi- ing for school staff over the
nesses are preparing to put summer.
more than $200,000 worth of
After the initial expense,
career-technical training equip- Linder said, the program should
ment to work in schools next become relatively self-sus-
taining, besides repairs to the
fall.
The consortium, which equipment.
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Adding more hands-on,
tricts in Clatsop County, Clat- career-technical opportunities
sop Community College and has been a hot topic at many a
numerous local businesses, local school board meeting.
According to the National
recently secured a $305,469
grant funded by the state Legis- Association of State Directors
of Career Technical Education
lature last session.
Melissa Linder, curric- Consortium, a career-techni-
ulum director for the Asto- cal support group, 90 percent
ria School District, is over- of students in a career-technical
seeing the grant. She said the program graduate high school.
equipment will likely take the
“We
will
coordinate
form of several work stations between superintendents where
inside a mobile lab moving the equipment will go,” Astoria
LQ EHWZHHQ WKH FRXQW\¶V ¿YH Superintendent Craig Hoppes
school districts. The lab would said, adding the placement will
include stations for students to depend on schools’ schedules.
learn about pneumatics, circuit “It becomes the county’s equip-
boards, saws, drill presses and ment, not just our equipment.”
The consortium behind the
other equipment used by local
grant has 18 partners, including
companies.
letters of support from major
county manufacturers, trades-
Money for equipment
Of the $305,000, $224,000 people and business groups.
will be used to buy equipment Hoppes said many employers
in the spring, $22,000 to hire a have told him how kids often
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
lack the technical skills for
available positions. Many of the
local employers who supported
the grant will come in and talk
to students about how the skills
they learn on the equipment can
be utilized on the job.
Borrowed from
Tillamook
Many of the county con-
sortium’s ideas are borrowed
from Tillamook School Dis-
trict, which already received a
grant to create a career-techni-
cal center.
Hoppes met last spring
with state Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose, and repre-
sentatives from the governor’s
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about the program in Tilla-
mook, where a grant-funded
career-technical center trains
students in robotics, electrical
and other trades.
Bruce Rhodes, a grant
writer in Tillamook, said the
district set up electives using
the technology from the grant.
This year, all sophomores at
Tillamook High School take
at least one technology course
at the center, and the district
is developing more advanced
Submitted Photo
A state grant received by a Clatsop County consortium will pay for training equipment
for students to learn job skills.
courses for students in the sec- possible,” Linder said, noting
the challenge of trying to share a
ond year.
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a model that would allow as
many students as possible to
be exposed to as many skills as
SEATTLE — The U.S.
Coast Guard says crews res-
cued six people in three dif-
ferent search-and-rescue calls
Saturday along the Washing-
ton and Oregon Coast.
The Coast Guard reported
rescuing three people on Sat-
urday morning near Coos
Bay, Oregon, after their boat
overturned.
On Saturday evening, two
kayakers, a male and female,
capsized on the northeast side
of Whidbey Island. The two
swam to uninhabited Hope
Island where a helicopter
crew retrieved them.
Also Saturday evening, the
Coast Guard says a 58-year-
old man fell from a dock at the
Port of Ilwaco, Washington.
A crew in a boat located
the unconscious man wedged
between a dock and a life
raft. The crew pulled him
from the water and success-
fully revived him within a few
minutes. He was taken to a
hospital.
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Coast Guard crews
rescue six along Oregon,
Washington coast
Associated Press
PRELOHODEEHWZHHQ¿YHVFKRRO
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