Environment
U.S. Senate bill seen as big win for Oregon
Clean energy developers, farmers, ranchers, forest and home owners in Oregon are slated to get hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, tax credits and incentives from legislation that passed the U.S. Senate this weekend. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, an umbrella name for a climate and energy package that includes provisions for health […]
Logging interests now dominate forest collaboratives
Mark Webb, director of the Blue Mountains Forest Partners collaborative, recently attacked a colleague who dared to shed light on what’s actually happening across public lands in eastern Oregon. Forest collaborative groups, such as the BMFP, were initially created to bring together diverse interests, such as loggers and environmentalists, to restore forests. Unfortunately, collaboratives no […]
U.S. Senate passes major health, tax and climate bill in boost for Democrats
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate, along party lines, passed a sweeping energy, health care, climate and tax package Sunday afternoon, following an overnight marathon of votes that resulted in just a handful of notable changes to the legislation. The 755-page bill was passed after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie in the evenly […]
State on track to meet 2035 greenhouse gas reduction targets, forecast finds
At least 14 of Oregon’s climate change policies are on track to meet the state’s goals, according to a new analysis by environmental consultants. The analysis indicates the state is likely to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions to 45% below 1990 levels by 2035, a goal established by Gov. Kate Brown’s 2020 executive order on […]
U.S. Senate preps big tax, climate and health bill after deal struck with Sinema
U.S. Senate Democrats’ wide-ranging tax, climate and health bill appears set to pass after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona struck a deal to soften the measure’s corporate tax increase and a second tax hike aimed at wealthy finance-sector workers, Schumer told reporters Friday. The revenue lost to obtain Sinema’s support […]
State forester rescinds wildfire risk map in response to public, political outcry
On Thursday afternoon, just five weeks after publishing a wildfire risk map, the state Forestry Department axed it. That move follows a chorus of complaints from Republican state lawmakers and residents in southern and eastern Oregon who said the roll out of the map was clumsily handled and led to people losing their property insurance […]
Evacuations ordered as firefighters battle spreading Miller Fire in Wasco County
UPDATED: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022 at 9 p.m. Firefighters rushed to Wasco County on Wednesday to battle a brush fire that spread from 1,000 to more than 10,000 acres in 24 hours. The Miller Fire, 13 miles west of Maupin, is threatening buildings and people. The Wasco County Sheriff’s Office ordered the evacuation of some […]
Fire in Wasco County prompts conflagration order, Fire Marshal mobilizes resources
UPDATED: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022 at 10:44 a.m. A fire ignited in Wasco County on Tuesday afternoon quickly swept through dry brush, grass and juniper bushes, prompting evacuation orders and a state conflagration declaration. Late Tuesday, Gov. Kate Brown declared a conflagration, prompted by the threat to residents. “I have invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act […]
Heatwave sparks dozens of worker complaints; 14 suspected deaths
The weeklong heatwave in Oregon ended on Monday with 14 suspected deaths and dozens of complaints about companies not following new rules to protect workers from the heat. The state medical examiner tracked 14 deaths that may be heat-related: seven in Multnomah County, four in Marion County, two in Clackamas County and one in Umatilla […]
State holds hearing on permit for Foster Farms’ controversial slaughterhouse in Creswell
Efforts to renew a wastewater permit for a shuttered chicken slaughterhouse in Creswell are raising concerns among some locals that the plant will reopen and the area will soon be home to more industrial chicken farms. The public has until Aug. 31 to submit comments to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality about a water […]
U.S. House passes major wildfire and drought package
The U.S. House approved, 218-199, on Friday a massive package of bills to address the growing threat of wildfire and drought in the West. The measure includes 49 standalone bills from both Democrats and Republicans. It includes provisions to make permanent an increase in wildland firefighter pay, lift a cap on the federal cost share […]
Pressured by conservationists, Bureau of Land Management backs off on livestock in Alvord Desert
This spring, the federal Bureau of Land Management was ready to approve a long-term permit for livestock grazing on 200,000 acres of public land in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon for the first time in 57 years. Then conservationists found out. Western Watersheds, WildLands Defense and Wild Horse Education, three nonprofit conservation groups, challenged […]