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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2016)
A8 State Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, September 21, 2016 Report shows Malheur County rich with gold mine potential ODFW funding task force to recommend bottle, income tax By Claire Withycombe By Amanda Peacher Capital Bureau Oregon Public Broadcasting A task force convened to suggest new sustainable funding sources for the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife has settled on two recommended options that each take the form of tax surcharges — one on income and one on beverage con- tainers. The department is operating on a bi- ennium budget of about $370 million. A third of that comes from hunting and ishing licenses, a third from the federal government, and the rest for various state funds. The agency has faced a growing cash low problem, according to a 2015 audit by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Of- ice. The task force identiied an addi- tional funding need of $79.9 million per budget biennium, much of which would go to conservation efforts, according to a draft of the task force’s report to the Leg- islature, released this past week. Task force chair Mark Labhart will present the surcharge ideas to two com- mittees during the Legislature’s interim session next week. In a vote at its meeting Friday, the group was split in terms of prioritizing either of the suggested surcharges. The suggested bottle tax would be 2.02 percent applied to the cost of a drink at wholesale on those containers subject to the state’s bottle bill on Jan. 1. “This is intended to be applied to the cost of a beverage, rather than as an ad- dition to the beverage container redemp- tion deposit for those containers subject to the bottle Bill,” the draft report states. It’s estimated that the bottle tax could generate $61.5 million in revenue in A new report from Oregon’s Department of Geology and Miner- al Industries shows that an area that conserva- tionists want to protect has a rich vein of mining potential. Malheur County has a lot of gold, silver and uranium, says DOGAMI spokeswoman Ali Ryan Hansen. “There’s enough of it that it might be economi- cally feasible to develop a mining operation there,” said Hansen. But Malheur County is also the home to the Owyhee Canyonlands, which conservation- ists want to see protect- ed, in part, from new mining. The minerals report from the state comes two months after Democratic senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden introduced a bill in Congress that would block new mines in the Owyhee. The Southeastern Ore- gon Mineral Withdrawal and Economic Preserva- tion and Development Act would also block oil and gas drilling. The bill hasn’t moved further than Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist releases a sterile tiger trout into diamond lake to prey on invasive fish. A task force has recommended two possible sources of additional funding for the department. 2017-19, as the tax would not take ef- fect until Jan. 1, 2018, and $82 million in 2019-21, according to estimates prepared for the task force. The other suggestion the task force is making would be a 0.7 percent sur- charge on individual tax returns, with an exemption for people who earn less than $20,000 per year. The task force decided to leave open for discussion how to retain a “base” of Oregonians who pay fees to hunt and ish; suggestions have so far included tax credits or exemptions for people who have hunting or ishing licenses. The income tax surcharge could gen- erate $60 million in the 2017-19 bien- nium and $92.9 million in the 2019-21 biennium, according to estimates that were prepared for the task force. Those estimates take into account the possible exemptions for people earning less than $20,000 and people with ish and wildlife licenses. Jim Martin, a task force member and former ODFW employee, who now di- rects the Berkeley Conservation Institute at Pure Fishing, said Friday that the taxes would be “politically dificult,” but the task force had to communicate the idea that failing to ix the agency’s “broken” funding model could undermine “Ore- gon’s livability and future economy.” In order for either suggestion to take hold, lawmakers would have to pass leg- islation or refer the matter to voters in the form of a ballot measure. introduction in the Senate. Hansen pointed out that high levels of miner- al deposits doesn’t mean that new mines are easily approved. “Even though we have determined that there’s high potential for gold, silver (and) other kinds of resources out there, there are so many other things that determine whether a mine can make a go of it,” Hansen said. According to DOG- AMI, seven significant mines are permitted in Malheur County. Most are industrial or gold mines. Conservationists have lobbied President Obama to create an Owyhee Na- tional Monument in Mal- heur County. Many local residents oppose that des- ignation. The President has given no indication that he plans to designate a monument in Oregon before the end of his term. Grant County also showed high potential for precious metals — gold and silver — and base metals — copper, lead and zinc — and chromite. The Blue Mountain Eagle contributed to this report. G RANT PREMIUM FLOORING FOR A MORE ELEGANT AND BEAUTIFUL HOME Beats Home Depot’s prices on cabinets! 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