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Legislative Report - Week of 2/3

Natural Resources Team

 

Coordinator: Peggy Lynch  

  • Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra Bishop

  • Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch

  • Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor

  • Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone, Lily Yao

  • Forestry: Josie Koehne

  • Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch

  • Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian

  • Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop

  • Water: Peggy Lynch

  • Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers

  • Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch

Jump to a topic:



Air Quality 


Bills we are watching: SB 726 Requires the owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill to conduct surface emissions monitoring and report data as specified in the Act. LWVOR to support.


HB 3244:  Replaces the requirement that an owner or operator of a municipal solid waste incinerator conduct continuous monitoring or sampling of specified air contaminants with a requirement that the monitoring or sampling be conducted annually. LWVOR would oppose. The bill relates to the Reworld facility out of Keiser and League members have testified of their concerns in past years.   


Agriculture


By Sandra Bishop  


Chair Jeff Golden announced four specific Senate bills that will be considered by the committee: SB 78 – Replacement dwelling bill; SB 77 – home occupation reform bill; SB 73 – Spot zoning reform; and SB 79 – prohibits certain dwellings on resource lands. LWVOR will watch and may support with our strong positions on the protection of Oregon’s valuable agricultural lands.


Budgets/Revenue 


By Peggy Lynch


Following are the budget bills we are watching in Natural Resources:



Limits for the six-year period beginning July 1, 2025, payment of expenses from fees, moneys or other revenues, including Miscellaneous Receipts, but excluding lottery funds and federal funds, collected or received by various state agencies for capital construction.

The next Revenue Forecast will be Feb. 26th.  The legislature will use that forecast to do a final rebalance of the 2023-25 budget.  Then the May 14th forecast will be the basis for the legislature to determine the 2025-27 state budget.


Climate


By Claudia Keith and Team  


See the Climate Emergency section of this Legislative Report.  There are overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections.


Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) 


By Peggy Lynch 


The League supports SB 830, a bill that modifies provisions of the on-site septic system loan program to allow for grants. It also allows for the program to consider mobile home parks in need of septic upgrades.


Here is the Onsite Wastewater Management Program 2025 Rulemaking webpage.  Because of the League’s work on SB 391 (2021) and additional bills in 2023, a League member is serving on the rules advisory committee to address sewer availability and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) issues. There are two additional meetings set for Feb. 13 and 26. You are welcome to  Sign up for email updates about this rulemaking via GovDelivery.


The League will again serve on an annual rulemaking advisory committee on water quality fee increases.


Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) 


By Joan Fryxell


On Jan. 28th, the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment received a presentation on the proposed pilot project on Geologic Carbon Sequestration Potential in Oregon. Follow up materials were provided.  


Dr. Day-Stirrat, DOGAMI Director, presented the information.  He stated that the target horizons are the porous zones at the tops and bases of lava flows, which are the appropriate zones, as they are highly porous (have a lot of gaps) and permeable (the gaps are well connected).  The sample he circulated was clearly from the intact center of the flow, as it was quite solid, but still had holes in it. 


The project described is only to drill a test well to evaluate feasibility of injecting brines (a.k.a. any sort of water solution, possibly saltier than we want to drink) infused with carbon dioxide.  Some test injections will need to be done to evaluate this correctly, but clearly this proposed project is not intended to be a production well for ongoing injection of brines.

$10 million from the Common School Fund (CSF) should cover the scope and duration of the project.  Because the land is located on CSF land where future viable private projects could pay to lease the land, the CSF money is considered by the State Land Board as a good investment.  Drilling is expensive, and drilling through a stack of basalt flows is likely to be relatively slow (therefore more expensive).  To characterize the well, they will want to retrieve cores at intervals, also expensive and time consuming.  More drilling info below under background information.  Monitoring wells will need to be drilled a little distance away from the pilot well, to monitor how the pilot well responds to pumping brines down the hole.  This keeps an eye on pore pressure down at the horizon of interest, as well as can retrieve brines to see if leakage is occurring as well as how effective the mineral production of calcite is going. The Dept. of Environmental Quality will need to approve well drilling permits.


 Committee members raised a number of questions with answers here:


 “Carbon isn’t the problem; other greenhouse gases are the problem”. Carbon dioxide levels have doubled in the last 200 years, and clearly are a major problem.  Other greenhouse gases are also a problem, at a secondary level.  Methane, for example, is a potent greenhouse gas, but its residence time in the atmosphere is fairly brief, on the order of a few years to a decade.  Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere indefinitely.  As Dr. Day-Stirrat said, methane can be injected underground, but it will remain a gas, and can leak back up to the surface.


 “Take carbon out of the air, don’t the trees need that?”  Plants do take up carbon dioxide (and give off oxygen), but even getting the carbon dioxide levels back to 280 ppm (pre-industrial revolution) will not hurt plants.  The forests were in fine shape throughout human history, as well as back into the fossil record to the first land forests ~300 million years ago.

 “Source of brine?” Not discussed at length, but one possibility is to pump up the fluids down there (the brines), inject carbon dioxide, and pump them back down, in a cycle.  That’s probably the cheapest way to go.


“Is it bad to plug the holes in the basalt with calcite?” This is a question of scale, really.  Pores will be plugged with calcite for some radius around the well, but these zones are really pretty tiny compared with the extent of the layers in the Columbia River Basalts. Reducing porosity is generally not detrimental to the rocks.


 “How many years have we been tracking atmospheric carbon dioxide?”  We have records of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere that extend back about 500 million years all the way up to today, utilizing different techniques, but the data set is quite robust.


“What is the seismic impact of pumping?”  That is exactly what hydrofracturing (fracking) is – enough fluid is pumped down to the horizon of interest to counteract the prevailing pressure regime enough to fracture the rock.  This is being done industrially in a number of places, and has been done long enough that the mining engineers and drillers have a very good idea of how much pressure is needed to fracture the rock.  Injecting carbonated brines with the intent of making calcite doesn’t need this high level of pressure, so it can be done without increasing the seismic risk to the area.


 “What is displaced when we put things into the subsurface?” Dr. Day-Stirrat said “the pressure goes up”, which is true but not helpful, really.  Even at relatively shallow depths like 2500 feet, things behave a little differently than they do at the surface, and we’re talking about fluids in pore spaces.  The fluids are at least a little compressible, and again, we’re talking about a relatively small radius around the well in a very large system.


 “Injection vs eruption vs earthquakes”.  Iceland is on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a spreading center, so it exists by repeated volcanic eruptions.  Movement of magma produces earthquakes, and this has been ongoing the entire history of the island, whether people have been around or not.  These injection wells are shallow and small in comparison, and the magma movement is not affected by them.  


Background information:


Basalt is particularly good for carbon sequestration in terms of its chemistry and its texture.  It contains relatively high amounts of calcium, as well as magnesium, both of which readily combine with carbon dioxide to form carbonate minerals (calcite and magnesite, respectively), which are stable solids which will stay in the rock indefinitely.  Texturally, the basalt is in the form of lava flows, which override the land surface with all its roughness, and the tops of the flows typically break up as they cool while the interior continues to move.  These broken zones are ideal for fluids to travel through.


Drilling:  Normally a drill string and bit rotates, which chews up the rock to make the hole get deeper.  The rock chips then circulate up with the drilling mud, are retrieved and logged, so the rock type is known, and changes are recorded.  To get a core (like what was handed around in the session), the whole drill string is pulled up, and the bit is replaced with a coring bit, which preserves a cylinder of rock in the center.  Once the interval to be cored is drilled, the whole drill string is pulled back up, the core is retrieved, and the normal bit is put back on, the whole drill string is fed back down the hole, and drilling resumes.  Normal drilling is faster and cheaper than drilling for a core, so it is done unless there is a lot of interest in exactly what the rock is.


 Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels:  They have fluctuated considerably over geologic time, with a high of about 4000 ppm in Cambrian time, to a low of 180 ppm in the last glacial period.  However, the rate of change has always been much slower, which allows some accommodation by the plants and animals living at the time.  The rate of change over the last 200 years is far too fast for these accommodations to take place.


Dept. of  State Lands (DSL)


By Peggy Lynch  


The Director of DSL published a proposed increase in permit fees for Removal/Fill program: “Oregon’s Removal-Fill Law helps protect wetlands and waters by requiring permits to remove or add materials in wetlands, rivers, streams, lakes, and other waters of the state.”

A League member served on the rulemaking advisory committee. “The statutory Common School Fund heavily subsidizes Oregon’s removal-fill permitting process.” “Visit the DSL website to see a draft of the proposed rules and program fees, all related materials from the rulemaking process, and the online comment form:


www.oregon.gov/dsl/Pages/rulemaking.aspx. The comment deadline is February 17th at 5:00 p.m.” The next State Land Board meeting is Feb. 11.


Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF)


The ESRF Board will meet Feb. 5th.  Here is the agenda, meeting materials and a zoom link.


Emergency Services 


By Rebecca Gladstone


HB 2581: The League spoke and filed testimony in support of a statute change, substituting the word “seismic” with “hazards”, to coordinate coverage efforts through the State Resiliency Officer. A work session is scheduled on Feb 5 at 1pm, in H Comm On Emergency Mngmt, Gen Gov, and Veterans.


SB 505 The League is preparing testimony for this bill to fund grants for county emergency liaisons, public hearing scheduled for Feb 4 at 1pm, in Sen Comm On Vets, Emergency Management, Fed and World Affairs.


Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF)


By Josie Koehne


SB 404  State Board of Forestry shall convey forest lands within a county to the county if

the board of county commissioners of the county determines that conveyance of the

forest lands to the county would secure the greatest permanent value of the forest lands to

the county.  LWVOR will oppose.


See also the Wildfire section of this report below and the separate Climate section.


Land Use & Housing


By Peggy Lynch


HB 3013: Details the process by which a permit or zone change that is based on provisions of a comprehensive plan or land use regulation that fail to gain acknowledgment is voided and any resulting improvements or uses are removed or revoked. LWVOR supports  with -1 amendment.


The following is a beginning list of land use (and housing-related) bills we are following:


  • HB 3062:  Requires local governments to map sensitive uses as part of a comprehensive plan. LWVOR may support.

  • HB 2138: Expands allowable middle housing and expands middle housing requirements to include urban unincorporated lands. LWVOR may have comments.  Some provisions we support; others not so much.

  • HB 3145:  Allows the Housing and Community Services Department to use Local Innovation and Fast Track Housing Program Fund moneys for factory-built housing. LWVOR should support.  May have overlap with Housing portfolio. 

  • HB 2316:  Allows designation of Home Start Lands to be used for housing. LWVOR will oppose.

  • HB 2347: Authorizes the Department of Land Conservation and Development to provide planning assistance for housing production to federally recognized Indian tribes and makes other technical changes to laws relating to land use planning. A -1 amendment will be considered at a public hearing on Feb. 5th in House Housing.

  • HB 2950 A bill to update Goal One and Public Participation is being sponsored by Oregon’s American Planning Association. The League is interested in the bill, but has some concerns.  We understand there will be an amendment proffered.

  • SB 462:  Requires the Oregon Business Development Department to establish an education course for land use planners for local governments, special districts and state agencies.  LWVOR supports educational efforts but there are other training opportunities, so this proposal might be redundant.

  • SB 525:  Amends expedited land division criteria and processes. LWVOR has concerns.  May need to oppose. 

     

Knowing that infrastructure is a hot topic this session, you might find these slides (Infrastructure 101 Webinar, Password: !zI0siD% )  from the Regional Solutions Team of interest.

 

See also the Housing Report in the Social Policy section of this Legislative Report.


Natural Resources  


HB 3173 – Establishing OregonFlora in Statute: OregonFlora provides comprehensive information about ~4,700 vascular plants in Oregon to the public,  state and federal agencies, educational institutions, businesses; consumers, and scientists, providing significant economic, social, and educational benefits. Long-term and sustainable funding is needed to ensure that OregonFlora can continue to provide this service. This bill creates an initial appropriation of $400,000 per biennium made to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission for distribution to Oregon State University. HB 3173 info sheet.  The bill has widespread support  statewide and the League hopes to see this program that supports many natural resource areas funded this session.


Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB)


By Lucie La Bonte  


The OWEB program began in 1993. In 1994, several pilot watershed councils developed.  After passage of Measure 66, the Governor’s Watershed Enhancement Board became the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board funded with 7.5% of lottery funds. There are now 92 Watershed Councils in Oregon. These watershed councils partner with various state and federal agencies bringing economic development to rural areas by improving watershed habitat.  Funding includes proceeds from the Oregon Lottery, federal grants and loans and, more recently, General Funds to support additional programs added to the agency’s mission.  OWEB has established a Strategic Funding Plan developing strategies to fund their programs and projects throughout the state. The Board and Staff work together updating the funding plan to ensure secure funding for restoration projects. The Legislature is a partner and generally approves funding for OWEB. The Strategic Funding Plan was reviewed at the January Board Meeting and will be updated in April.

 

Pesticides


HB 2679 directs the State Department of Agriculture to classify certain pesticides containing neonicotinoids as restricted-use. The League has supported a similar bill in past sessions.


Water


By Peggy Lynch 


The Governor has added “water” as her environmental priority this session as reported in this Oregon Capital Chronicle article.: “Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and her natural resources adviser Geoff Huntington consider water quality and availability a top priority this legislative session….Huntington said the governor’s office will back a package of bills that gives state agencies more statutory authority to manage water allocations and regulations in Oregon. Much of that is being sponsored by Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, and Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, who co-chair the House agriculture and water committee.”


The League provided testimony on HB 2168 at the House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water Committee. The bill requests $5 million for the on-site septic loan program, another $5 million for the Well Water Repair and Replacement Fund and monies to help the Oregon State Extension Service reach out to potential recipients.  The bill is scheduled for a Work Session on Feb. 3rd. 

 

Water bills we are following:


  • HB 2988:  Instructs the Water Resources Department to take certain actions related to aquifer recharge and aquifer storage and recovery.

  • HB 3108:  Requires the Water Resources Department to implement additional rules and requirements for the review of limited license applications for an aquifer storage and recovery permit

  • HB 2803: Increases certain fees related to water. LWVOR will support.  Expect amendments.  Needed to provide current service level staffing at WRD.


Oregon Water Data Portal debuted Jan. 31st. The multi-agency effort to release a beta version of the pilot portal for the Oregon Water Data Portal project debuted on January 31. The pilot portal is accessible at https://www.oregonwaterdata.org/. Changes to the pilot portal will be made intermittently from input received during the beta testing until June 2025, as resources allow. The League has supported this project so that there is ONE PLACE where Oregonians can find water information. 


This Oregon water data pilot portal was developed through a collaboration with multiple Oregon agencies, Oregon State University, and the Internet of Water Coalition. The pilot was developed based on the experience and knowledge of this group as well as the input and questions the team has received through various engagements. The objective of this initial pilot portal is to test functionality using limited data and will evolve over the next six months as data are added and improvements are made based on user feedback. We will continue to build our understanding about user needs and experiences through this pilot portal phase. Users can provide feedback about the beta version of the pilot portal by completing a survey or emailing OWDP@deq.oregon.gov.


The objective of a water data portal is to bring together Oregon’s water data and information into a single point of access so that water decision makers and others can find the data, and to improve data access and integration for better water-related decision-making.


League members may want to check the U. S. Drought Monitor, a map that is updated every Thursday. Here is a more complete website about drought in Oregon.


We all need to pay attention to the potential for harmful algal blooms. “When in doubt, stay out.”  Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body.  


Wetlands


A bill of concern to the League related to our removal/fill program has been filed:  SB 400.  As proposed, the League will oppose. 


Another wetlands-related bill we will be watching: HB 2054.


Wildfire


By Carolyn Mayers 


The League watched a meeting of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire on January 28, which addressed how wildfire losses impact homeowner insurance in Oregon, with comparisons to the CA insurance market for context. Andrew Stolfi, Director and Insurance Commissioner, Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, spoke first, laying out the overall unfavorable landscape in the insurance industry due to increasing huge natural disaster payouts. He pointed out that the double-digit premium increases people are experiencing, even in “non-high disaster areas” are  due to the increase in large claims. His presentation, as well as those of the other two speakers at this meeting, clearly illustrate the problem, and some possible approaches to solutions, when it comes to wildfire. Of note, Commissioner Stolfi pointed out that Oregon’s homeowner insurance rates, by one measure which excludes condos, are still less than half the national average, in spite of the fact that there has been an average of approximately 50% increase in rates between 2018 and 2023. This is remarkable, given the fact he also pointed out - that losses in the past 10 years are tracking 10 times the total for the past 4 decades. Finally, he shared that in spite of the feeling among consumers that many people are experiencing non-renewals, that actual number is .only 78% of policies. All these figures and more are included in his presentation.


He was followed by Michael Newman, General Counsel for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), which is a non-profit organization focused on wildfire risk mitigation at the parcel and neighborhood level. They have recently received permission to offer their program to homeowners in Oregon. One item they are working on is developing a “Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood Benchmark”. This is a program they hope to offer to homeowners at the neighborhood level to help 1) mitigate wildfire risk of loss and increase survivability and; 2) help reduce participants’ homeowner insurance rates, or at least slow rate increases.  At the end of the presentation, Senator Jeff Golden commented that another attempt at funding a grant program through the State Fire Marshal for “Neighborhood Protection Cooperatives”, which has failed repeatedly in previous sessions, is forthcoming at this Legislative Session in the form of SB 85. 


Rounding out the discussion was Kenton Brine, President, Northwest Insurance Council, who reiterated the unsustainable nature of rapidly increasing disaster payouts by insurance companies exceeding premiums collected. Increasing magnitude of disaster claims, which is also influenced in no small part by the large increase in the cost of construction materials used in rebuilding. He sited the fact that in 2023, $1.12 was paid out in claims for every $1.00 collected in 2023. 


Finally, this article from the Oregon Capital Chronicle explores the relationship between wildfire and insurance availability. 


Volunteers Needed


What is your passion related to Natural Resources?  You can help. Volunteers are needed.  The long legislative session begins in January of 2025. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring.  If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com.  Training offered.

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