A7
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2021
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BRIEFING
OSU to host first
national hemp
symposium
CORVALLIS — Oregon
State University will host
the first National Hemp
Symposium during a
two-day virtual event
Feb. 9-10, as growers look
ahead to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s final
rule regulating produc-
tion of the versatile crop.
Speakers at the sym-
posium will include
members of OSU’s Global
Hemp Innovation Center,
established in 2019 as the
largest comprehensive
hemp research program
in the U.S., as well as busi-
ness leaders and govern-
ment officials providing
a future outlook for the
budding industry.
Jay Noller, director of
the center, said now is
a critical time for hemp
farms looking to research
to help accelerate stable
production and depend-
able markets.
For more informa-
tion or to register for the
symposium, visit www.
nationalhempsympo-
sium.org.
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Construction
of homes jumps
WASHINGTON —
U.S. home construction
jumped 5.8% in Decem-
ber to 1.67 million units, a
14-year high that topped
the strongest annual
showing from the coun-
try’s builders in 15 years.
The better-than-ex-
pected December gain
followed an increase of
9.8% in November when
housing starts climbed
to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 1.58 million
units, the Commerce De-
partment reported Thurs-
day. The December pace
was the strongest since
the building rate reached
1.72 million units in Sep-
tember 2006.
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ENERGY POLICY | DRILLING
Biden halts oil and gas leases, permits
BY MATTHEW BROWN
The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. — The
Biden administration an-
nounced Thursday the suspen-
sion of new oil and gas leasing
and drilling permits for U.S.
lands and waters for 60 days,
as officials moved to reverse
Trump administration policies
on energy and the environment.
The suspension, part of a
broad review of programs
at the Department of Inte-
rior, went into effect imme-
diately under an order signed
Wednesday by Acting Interior
Secretary Scott de la Vega. It
follows Democratic President
Joe Biden’s campaign pledge
to halt new drilling on federal
lands and end the leasing of
publicly owned energy reserves
to help address climate change.
Under former President
Donald Trump, federal agen-
cies prioritized energy develop-
ment and eased environmental
rules to speed up drilling per-
mits as part of the Republican’s
goal to end reliance on foreign
energy supplies and boost do-
mestic production. Trump con-
sistently downplayed the dan-
gers of climate change, which
Biden has made a top priority.
The order did not limit ex-
isting oil and gas operations
under valid leases, meaning
activity won’t come to a sud-
den halt on the millions of
acres of lands in the West and
offshore in the Gulf of Mexico
where much drilling is concen-
trated. Its effect could be fur-
ther blunted by companies that
stockpiled enough drilling per-
mits in Trump’s final months
to allow them to keep pumping
oil and gas for years.
Jae C. Hong/AP file
See Leases / A8
Pump jacks operate at the Kern River Oil Field in Bakersfield, California.
UNEMPLOYMENT TAXES
SALEM
A place to grow
Company tests new greenhouse design, seeks tenant
US jobless claims
decline to 900,000
The number of Amer-
icans seeking unemploy-
ment benefits fell slightly
last week to 900,000, still
a historically high level
that points to ongoing
job cuts in a raging pan-
demic.
The Labor Depart-
ment’s report Thursday
underscored that Pres-
ident Joe Biden has in-
herited an economy that
faltered this winter as
virus cases spiked, cold
weather restricted dining
and federal rescue aid
expired. The government
said 5.1 million Americans
are continuing to receive
state jobless benefits,
down from 5.2 million in
the previous week. That
suggests that while some
of the unemployed are
finding jobs, others are
likely using up their state
benefits and transition-
ing to separate extend-
ed-benefit programs.
p
Oregon
explores
giving
businesses
a break
MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
George Plaven/Capital Press
Michelle Moore, CEO of Adapt8, inside a new test greenhouse outside company headquarters in Salem.
BY GEORGE PLAVEN • Capital Press
SALEM —
T
he spacious test greenhouse outside Adapt8 headquarters in Salem sits empty at the
moment, but company CEO Michelle Moore envisions the barn-sized structure as a hub
for testing products and agricultural education.
“We want this to be a place where the commu-
nity can learn how to grow more, sustainably,”
Moore said. “It really is about innovation for us.”
Adapt8, formerly Adaptive Plastics Inc., was
founded by Moore’s parents, Mike and Bev Perry,
and is known for manufacturing high-density poly-
ethylene panels used for greenhouses and green-
house coverings, branded as Solexx.
In 2018, the company received a $50,000 eco-
nomic development grant from Marion County to
build the test greenhouse.
Construction finished in December, and Moore
said they are now searching for a partner — per-
haps a food bank, college or local farmer — to
share the space.
See Greenhouse / A8
“We want this to be a place where the community can learn how
to grow more, sustainably. It really is about innovation for us.”
— Michelle Moore, Adapt8 CEO
— Bulletin wire reports
Oregon employers, facing three
years of sharp increases in unemploy-
ment taxes, could get a break under
proposals laid out at a Senate commit-
tee hearing Thursday.
The Oregon Employment Depart-
ment had resisted curbs on the payroll
taxes that fund jobless benefits. The
department now says it’s open to signif-
icant changes in light of the unique cir-
cumstances created by the pandemic.
“We want to work with business
groups, worker groups, to make sure
we’re striking the right balance here,”
acting Director David Gerstenfeld said
in his Thursday testimony to the Senate
Committee on Labor and Business.
The payroll taxes went up this year
to begin replenishing the state’s unem-
ployment insurance trust fund, which
dropped from $5.1 billion to $3.8 billion
as Oregon paid out an unprecedented
volume of jobless benefits during the
first 10 months of the pandemic.
The state’s tax formula allocates in-
creases to employers who cut the most
jobs, reasoning that businesses who lay
off their workers should pay the costs of
replenishing the trust fund.
It’s a strategy that worked well in
normal times — Oregon entered the
pandemic with one of the largest trust
funds in the nation. Even now, com-
ing off the highest jobless rates in state
history, Oregon has adequate funds
to continue paying benefits at 2020’s
unprecedented levels for at least three
more years.
During the pandemic, the formula
has heaped nearly all the tax increases
on the businesses that can least af-
ford to pay them — restaurants, bars,
gyms and others who laid off work-
ers when the state shut them down to
contain COVID-19.
See Taxes / A8
Portland suffered unprecedented increase in vacant office space last year
JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian file
A view of downtown Portland from Pittock Mansion.
The amount of unoccupied
office space in Portland in-
creased at an unprecedented
rate in 2020 as companies va-
cated their buildings and new
spaces sat empty.
Empty space was especially
pronounced downtown, as the
pandemic, protests and spo-
radic vandalism and violence
reduced the appeal of the city’s
core. Forecasters expect a mod-
est rebound in 2021, provided
vaccines prompt a return to of-
fice work later in the year.
For 2020, Portland’s office
market suffered its worst year
in at least two decades in terms
of net absorption, which mea-
sures the net change in occu-
pied office space over a specific
period of time.
The amount of empty office
space in the city increased by
1.7 million square feet between
the first and fourth quarters of
last year, according to a report
by real estate company Colliers
International. That’s the most
in the nearly two decades for
which Colliers has data.
Office vacancy rates in Port-
land jumped considerably, in-
creasing from 10.7% to 13.6%.
The increase was particularly
stark in Portland’s central busi-
ness district, which includes
downtown, Old Town and the
Pearl District. There, vacancy
jumped from 15.1% in the first
quarter to 18.1% in the fourth
quarter of last year, according
to Colliers.
The data doesn’t take into
consideration the large per-
centage of companies that have
so far retained their offices,
but continue to ask employees
to work from home due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Asking rents in Portland’s
central business district re-
mained fairly stable in 2020,
but landlords became more
likely to offer concessions to
retains tenants, according to
Colliers.
Other cities have seen office
vacancy rates spike during the
pandemic as well with employ-
ers continuing to ask employ-
ees to work remotely and some
businesses rethinking their
long-term office options.
Jacob Pavlik, research man-
ager for Colliers, said in Octo-
ber that few companies have
been willing to commit to long-
term office leases in downtown
Portland during the pandemic.