A12
State news
wallowa.com
March 22, 2017
Group calls for $312 million
to upgrade roads, bridges
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A subgroup
of the legislative committee
crafting a statewide transpor-
tation package has recom-
mended an increase of $255.6
million to $312.4 million in
annual spending to upgrade
roads and bridges.
That would require raising
revenues equivalent to a 9- to
11-cent increase in the state’s
30-cent gas tax. The mon-
ey would likely come from
a combination of sources,
which could include a hike in
the gas tax, registration fees,
tolling or other options.
“Even the equivalent of
11 cents is yet to be deter-
mined,” said Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose. “This is all
highly fluid.”
The state now spends
about $1.3 billion a year on
transportation maintenance
and upgrades. The Oregon
Transportation Commission
has recommended spending
an additional $574 million
a year to upgrade roads and
bridges to ease congestion,
particularly in the Portland
metro area.
But the legislative sub-
group could not reach a con-
sensus on an amount, said
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario,
who led the group.
“We didn’t reach consen-
sus on much of anything, but
I think we all agreed we need
to do something,” Bentz said.
The
recommendation
comes from the first of five
subgroups from the legislative
Committee on Transportation
Preservation and Moderniza-
tion, each working on differ-
ent aspects of the package.
The other groups are coming
EO Media Group
A subgroup of the legislative committee hammering out a transportation package has called
for up to $312 million in new spending to upgrade roads and bridges. That would require a
revenue hike equal to an 11-cent increase in the gas tax, though the money could come from
a variety of sources.
up with suggestions for easing
congestion, improving pedes-
trian and cycling commutes,
coming up with accountabil-
ity measures and addressing
air and rail needs.
The four other groups will
report their recommendations
tentatively by April 3.
“We have never done
a process like this where
we have negotiated a giant
package functionally in pub-
lic, and pieces are going to
come and go,” Johnson said.
“We’ve got a long, long way
to go.”
After hearing the five re-
ports, the full committee of
14 members will have to rec-
oncile the recommendations
into a transportation package,
expected to send hundreds of
millions of dollars for proj-
ects to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation.
“That just exacerbates the
conundrum that all of us are
faced with of putting together
a package,” Johnson said.
About 33 percent of the
road pavement in Oregon is
in fair or worse condition and
will need replacement soon,
according to ODOT.
More than 700 bridges in
the state need to be seismical-
ly retrofitted — at a cost of $5
billion in the next 20 years —
to avoid collapse in the event
of a major earthquake, the
agency estimates. Current-
ly, the agency upgrades only
three bridges were year, said
Paul Mather, ODOT’s High-
way Division administrator.
The biggest driver for up-
grading the bridges is “the
long-term economic effects
we are going to have on our
economy,” Mather said.
“We have seen disasters
like Katrina and others, and
this is going to be on a big-
ger scale than that,” Mather
said of a major earthquake.
“You’re going to have in-
dustry … to leave state … if
we don’t have ways for their
workers to get to work, their
goods and services to get out
to the marketplace.”
The subcommittee fo-
cused on economic lifelines
in the Portland metro area
and looked for ways to con-
tinue mobility throughout the
state through north, south and
east connections.
“There are tough choices
to make, and we zeroed in
on where the biggest impact
we were going to have on
the economy with the invest-
ment,” Mather said.
Bill would authorize GMO trespass
lawsuits against patent holders
Genetic technology
companies would
be liable for GMO
damages
By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Bureau
SALEM — New lawsuits over tres-
pass by genetically engineered crops
would be authorized in Oregon under
proposed legislation that would hold
biotech patent holders liable for damag-
es.
Supporters of House Bill 2739 say
it’s a common sense strategy to remedy
problems caused by genetically modified
organisms, or GMOs, similar to consum-
er lawsuits over defective products.
“This is not a wild legal grab. We will
not be compensated for our angst. We
will only be compensated for provable
legal damages,” said Sandra Bishop of
the Our Family Farms Coalition, which
supports HB 2739.
Jerry Erstrom, a Malheur County
farmer, said he supports the bill even
though he’s planted genetically engi-
neered corn on his property.
“If you do something that messes
up my livelihood, you should be held
accountable for it,” Erstrom said at a
March 16 hearing of the House Judiciary
Committee.
Creeping bentgrass that’s genetically
engineered to tolerate glyphosate her-
bicides escaped control in Eastern Ore-
gon, and the crop’s patent holder should
be responsible for control costs as it
spreads, he said.
“It’s coming to the Willamette Val-
ley. Say what you want, it’s going to be
here,” Erstrom said.
Proponents of HB 2739 say there’s
nothing new about holding companies li-
able for their products hurting people or
property, but organic and conventional
farmers must currently bear the financial
burden from GMO crop contamination
alone.
“We’re not coming to you from a
level playing field. Harm is only com-
ing one way,” said Amy van Saun, legal
fellow with the Center for Food Safety,
which supports the bill.
Supporters say the legal mechanism
of HB 2739 is simple and fair because
the liability rests with companies that
profit from GMO patents.
Complicated searches for a culprit
won’t be necessary, since biotech traits
can be determined with genetic tests,
said Elise Higley, director of the Our
EO Media Group
Malheur County farmer Jerry Erstrom points out a genetically engineered creeping
bentgrass plant June 2016, on an irrigation ditch bank near Ontario. Erstrom
testified March 16 in favor of proposed legislation in Oregon that would allow
farmers whose crops are damaged by GMOs to sue patent holders for damages.
Family Farms Coalition.
“It’s super easy to track it back to
who is responsible,” Higley said.
Opponents of the bill argue that polli-
nation among related crops isn’t limited
to GMOs, but neighboring farmers have
long found practical ways to avoid un-
wanted crosses.
“It’s one of the greatest risks I face,
but it’s a manageable risk,” said Kevin
Richards, who grows seeds and other
crops near Madras,.
Under a provision in HB 2739, plain-
tiffs are entitled to triple the amount of
economic damages caused by the un-
wanted presence of GMOs, which is
clearly meant to be punitive, according
to the bill’s detractors.
“It would single out and stigmatize
biotech patents,” said Barry Bushue,
president of the Oregon Farm Bureau.
Critics also questioned the logic of
making patent holders liable for unau-
thorized GMOs, since the problem may
be caused by irresponsible practices of
neighboring landowners or factors be-
yond human control, like birds.
“They sell the seed but they have no
control once that happens,” said Roger
Beyer, a lobbyist for the Oregon Seed
Council and other crop groups.
Apart from the immediate impacts of
the bill, imposing new liability on pat-
ent holders may discourage seed compa-
nies from offering innovative products
in Oregon, said Scott Dahlman, policy
director of the Oregonians for Food and
Shelter agribusiness group.
If companies face the threat of ad-
ditional lawsuits, “they will reconsider
whether they sell things here,” Dahlman
said.
Pete Postlewait, a farmer near Can-
by, Ore., said he’s disturbed by the
precedent of punishing patent holders
for the actions of end users, since that
logic could be extended to non-GMO
cross-pollination.
“By weakening plant patent laws in
this way, it will surely stifle innovation
in plant breeding,” he said.
The bill’s language also encompass-
es new methods, such as gene editing,
that are used by university breeders who
often hold their own patents, said Steve
Strauss, a professor who studies biotech-
nology at Oregon State University.
“Wheat breeders and others would
love to use this gene editing technolo-
gy,” he said.
Wallowa County Chieftain