NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Bovine manure tax credit encounters opposition
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A proposal
to extend Oregon’s tax credit
for collecting cow manure
for energy has come under
fi re from critics who say it’s
mostly beneficial to large
dairies.
The tax credit of $3.50
per wet ton of bovine manure
collected is intended to
promote the construction
of methane digesters that
produce renewable energy.
It’s slated to end in 2022.
Senate Bill 151, which
would change the sunset date
to 2028, is supported by the
Oregon Farm Bureau and
Oregon Dairy Farmers Asso-
ciation.
“Manure digesters provide
very clear environmen-
tal, renewable energy, and
economic benefi ts to the dairy
industry and the public,” the
groups said in written testi-
mony.
Oregon currently has three
methane digesters in opera-
tion, one of which annually
sequesters 136,000 metric
tons of carbon dioxide —
the amount emitted by about
29,000 cars, the groups said.
Extending the tax credit
helps ensure these digesters
will remain online and may
encourage others to invest in
the technology, the letter said.
EO Media Group, File
A methane digester collects gas from decomposing cow manure at a dairy and uses it as fuel to generate electricity. Oregon
lawmakers are considering a bill to extend a tax credit for collecting cow manure until 2028 rather than have it lapse next year.
However, critics of the
tax credit claim it amounts
to a subsidy for the largest
“confined animal feeding
operations,” or CAFOs, in
the state.
The biggest benefactor of
the tax credit is a dairy with
70,000 cows, and digesters are
only economically feasible for
facilities with well over 500
cows, said Amy Van Saun,
an attorney with the Stand Up
to Factory Farms Coalition,
which opposes major CAFOs.
The bill creates a “perverse
incentive” to continue siting
major CAFOs in Oregon at
the expense of rural commu-
nities, she said.
At best, such digesters
only capture the added meth-
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New
ane generated by the develop-
ment of factory farm systems,
Van Saun said.
CAFOs should be required
to trap their emissions if they
choose to raise animals in this
manner, rather than be paid
for it by the public, said Amy
Wong, policy director of the
Friends of Family Farmers
nonprofi t.
Oregon Legislature wants its
day in court for redistricting
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SA LEM — De mo -
crats and Republicans in
the Oregon Legislature are
uniting to reset the clock on
delays that would cut them
out of drawing political maps
for the 2022 election.
Citing the overwhelm-
ing challenge of counting
heads during the COVID-19
pandemic, the U.S. Census
Bureau says the data due
April 1 won’t arrive until
Sept. 30 — six months late.
“We are going to blow
by all the deadlines at this
point,” said Rep. Andrea
Salinas, D-Lake Oswego,
chair of the House Redis-
tricting Committee, at a
press call on Monday, Feb.
22.
Legislators want the
courts to reset the clock,
saying the extraordinary
U.S. Census delay shouldn’t
take away their rightful
job of drawing lines for 60
House, 30 Senate and up to
six congressional seats.
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Plan to move Oregon-Idaho
border leaps ahead with
Malheur County ballot measure
VALE — Malheur County voters will face
a ballot measure in May linked to the move-
ment to shift a number of rural Oregon coun-
ties into Idaho.
The measure would require the Malheur
County Court to meet three times a year to
consider a plan to move the Oregon-Idaho
border.
Proponents of Measure 23-64 acquired
enough signatures by Feb. 17 to put it on the
May 18 special election ballot, said Gail Trot-
ter, Malheur County clerk.
The measure needed 539 signatures, and
Trotter said her offi ce was able to validate
563. The signatures were submitted in two
batches, on Jan. 26 and Feb. 11, said Trotter.
Voter approval would require the county
court to meet and discuss “how to promote
the interests of Malheur County in any
negotiations, regarding the relocation of the
Oregon-Idaho border.”
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Census gets the numbers to
Oregon.
The mess now looks
headed to the Oregon
Supreme Court. Lawmakers
in both parties have approved
using the legislative counsel
to explore legal options.
Salinas said a best case
scenario would be for the
court to rule the Legislature
has 60 days from when it
received the census data to
draw the maps and get them
to the governor.
House Speaker Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, said the
option was possible even
though the Legislature must
adjourn its regular session on
July 1.
“We’d have a special
session,” she said.
Salinas said the worst
case scenario is the courts
deciding political boundar-
ies.
Democrats have super-
majorities in both cham-
bers of the Legislature. Gov.
Kate Brown and Secretary of
State Shemia Fagan are both
Democrats.
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
-0s
In an extremely abnormal
year, the normal course of
events prescribed in the state
constitution and law can’t
happen. Oregon is not alone
in this mess. The National
Conference of State Legis-
latures reports the Sept. 30
data delivery could upend the
process in at least 26 states.
In Oregon, the timeline is
supposed to begin with the
U.S. Census every 10 years.
The block-by-block data is
sent to states by April 1 the
following year. The Legis-
lature draws the maps and
sends them to the governor
for approval by the time they
adjourn on July 1. If politi-
cal stalemate gets in the way,
the secretary of state redraws
the legislative maps by Aug.
15. A special five-judge
panel draws the congres-
sional maps. The new lines
are then used in legislative
and congressional races
the following year. For this
cycle, they would first be
used in May 2022 primaries.
All the deadline dates will
be long gone by the time the
First
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
Natural gas from factory
farms is not “truly clean
energy” and the state govern-
ment should instead encour-
age pasture-based farming
and technologies, such as
wind and solar electricity,
Wong said.
“Oregon should not use
public dollars to support
large, private corporations
at a time Oregon is facing a
budget shortfall,” she said.
The Oregon Center for
Public Policy, which advo-
cates for “inclusive economic
policies” for workers, also
opposes SB 151 because
the tax credit costs the state
$5.5 million per biennium
that could be invested in
more valuable projects and
services.
The bovine manure tax
credit was originally included
in a broader tax credit for
biomass energy created in
2007, but it was renewed as a
standalone tax credit in 2017,
said Kyle Easton, an econ-
omist with the Legislative
Revenue Offi ce.
In recent years, most of
the fi nancial benefi t from the
tax credit has gone to four
companies, he said. “There is
a concentration in a few of the
entities that are receiving this
credit.”
Knowing that such a tax
credit will continue to exist
can help digester investments
“pencil out” fi nancially for
companies that may not other-
wise be able to afford them,
he said.
Economic studies have
indicated size is an import-
ant consideration in invest-
ing in digester technology,
Easton said. “The larger the
herd, the more fi nancial sense
it makes for the farm to have
an on-farm digester.”
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The measure is backed by the group
Greater Idaho, a nonprofi t that consists of
residents from across Eastern, Central and
Southern Oregon. The goal of the group is
to slice off 18 counties and incorporate them
into Idaho.
If voters approve the measure in the coun-
ties, the issue would then go to the Oregon
Legislature for further review. If the Legis-
lature agreed to the plan, the border bound-
ary change would require approval from
Congress.
Similar measures will be on the May
ballot in Lake, Sherman, Baker and Grant
counties.
In November, voters in Jefferson and
Union counties approved measures push-
ing their leaders to meet about the boundary
change.
Mike McCarter, a La Pine resident and
president of Greater Idaho, said his organi-
zation also is working to put measures before
voters this coming November in Harney,
Morrow, Umatilla, Josephine, Jackson,
Klamath and Curry counties.
— Malheur Enterprise
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