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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his wife, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Brady Preheim, Marty Rowe, President Elon Musk, President Trump, Jerry Falwell Jr., Mike Johnson, J.D. Vance, Vlad Putin, Ted Cruz, Kamala Harris, Trump’s MAGA followers, or my neighbor’s dogs. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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Logging Made Oregon House Bill 3103 - Bad For Oregon
Representatives in the House Committee on Natural Resources solidly advanced House Bill 3103. A highly debated logging bill that could open the state up to lawsuits if Oregon doesn’t log enough timber in a given year. The bill would allow counties and the timber industry to sue the state forester if Oregon logs less than the Department of Forestry forecasts in its once-a-decade estimates. The only exception if enough timber is destroyed by any disasters. Really this is just a back door way for timber companies to be able to get away with more litigation against the state and state owned timber lands. How the state became owners of vast amounts of timber lands dates back to the 1930’s. The Oregon Department of Forestry manages 745,000 acres of forestlands across 15 counties. In the late 1930s, counties reclaimed ownership of these lands after they went into foreclosure during the Depression. These forested areas couldn’t generate property taxes under county ownership. So state lawmakers reached deals with these counties, giving them the decision to handover these lands to the state in exchange for 64% of logging revenues in perpetuity. The Forestry Department does a calculation of how much timber can be logged every ten years. Proponents of the bill suggest that the state forestry over estimated and under delivers the amount of timber which companies are able to log, making it hard for the companies to plan ahead on logging shows. Over 1,160 people submitted written testimony in response to the bill, and of those, 80% opposed it. Most of these opponents, were environmental nonprofits, they were worried the bill would undermine state environmental regulations meant to protect threatened and endangered species, including the state’s Western Habitat Conservation Plan, which is awaiting federal approval. Most likely to fail under the Trump administration, but the state could make it a state plan vs a federal one. And in a smart move by the republicans they did just that. With the Trump administration against anything that helps the environment, The bill’s five sponsors all Republicans added an amendment ahead of Monday’s work session. This was a move to help get the bill passed. The addition preserves the state’s ability to add and enforce other environmental regulations, like the Habitat Conservation Plan. That pacified the environmental nonprofit Wild Salmon Center, which moved its stance to neutral with this amendment. That was enough to pull some Democrats in the committee to vote for the bill. Some other conservation groups remain against the bill as it stands, saying that it will allow endless lawsuits that the state will have to fight against timber lawyers in the amount of timber that will be allowed to be harvested. HB 3103 now moves to the Ways and Means committee, which will decide whether to move it to the House floor for a full vote.
Tammy
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