With Green Priorities Like These...

For an organization that is claims to be a coalition of over 50 Oregon conservation groups, the Oregon Conservation Network (OCN) sure doesn't make it easy to find out who its members are.  This incomplete list (linked from here) includes groups like 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, and the League of Women Voters of Oregon.  Hmmm.  

Anyway, the OCN recently amended its legislative wish list for the umpteenth time this session.  There is some disappointing stuff in its top five.  

• Senate Bill 101: Prevents Oregon utilities from entering into new contracts for coal-fired power.

That's a pretty obvious one, though it wouldn't be good for the energy bills of most Oregonians.

• SB 740: Allows Water Resources Department to charge $100 annual fee to holders of water rights to fund administration, field staff and science for managing more than 85,000 water rights in Oregon.

So, property owners with wells--like me--would have to pay $100 a year in exchange for what?  The Water Resources Department needs another $8.5 million to do what it's already doing?  Meanwhile, there's nothing in the bill to stop the legislature from cutting a similar amount from the department's budget and spending the money elsewhere.  And laughably, the bill would declare the collection of this money a public peace, health, and safety emergency.  This bill smells.    

• House Bill 2020: Authorizes issuing $10 million in lottery-backed bonds for a fund to target invasive species as soon as they're spotted.

Combating invasive species is usually a good thing.  But doing it with debt rather than within the state budget is a lousy idea. 

• HB 2220: Charges fees to boaters to fund check stations that would check boats for aquatic invasive species. Establishes civil penalties for knowingly transporting zebra mussels and other invasive species on a boat.

I suppose it's possible that boat check stations could be more effective than the agricultural inspection stations we pass through when entering California.  We do need penalties though for knowingly transporting invasive species in boats...and cars, trains, planes, etc.  The release of bait fish has certainly caused all sorts of problems in Diamond Lake (previous blog here).  One would presume the state would try to prove the "knowingly" part through the permitting process.    

• HB 3369: Authorizes $175 million in loans and $10 million in lottery-funded grants for water development projects that meet conservation requirements.

This is another proposal to expand the state budget via debt.  No matter what the money would be spent on, this is fiscally reckless.  No, no, no.

At least the following is moving forward despite its absence from the list...though the governor may veto it.

By a 26-2 vote, the Senate approved House Bill 2472, which lowers the maximum state payments to large wind projects from $10 million to $3.5 million. Along with some other changes, the bill is expected to save taxpayers about $10 million a year.

...

At issue is Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit, a once minor subsidy program aimed at boosting conservation efforts. Two years ago, at Kulongoski's behest, the Legislature vastly expanded the program, offering millions of dollars to lure wind and solar companies to bring their projects -- and the jobs that come with them -- to Oregon.

The changes allowed a business to recoup up to half the cost of building a new plant that either generates renewable power or makes equipment for renewable power generation. With a maximum credit of $20 million, the subsidies quickly became the most generous in the nation. They have been credited for bringing a number of wind and solar projects to Oregon, including SolarWorld.

As a result, however, state spending on the projects ballooned to more than $60 million over the past two years and was expected to rise to about $150 million in the coming two years.

An investigation by The Oregonian this year showed that millions of dollars in credits were being handed to some risky startup companies, to projects with questionable environmental benefits and to projects that would have been built even without the credits.

If we could just get the leadership in Salem to think long term.  We're bribing companies to come here for a few years rather than investing more money in our university system to build foundations that would attract green businesses here on merit.  Most of the green jobs we've lured here with subsidies don't involve setting down roots...those employers will go wherever their costs are lowest. 

We need to grow more of our own jobs, but our university system isn't up to the task in the sciences and engineering.  There needs to be more research...and the quality of some of what's being done needs to improve.  Our universities are known for producing too many activists and not enough scientists...and of course, the ugly uniforms.

Comments

[Larry]

SB 740 most likely not going anywhere. But it probably would not have affected you anyway. Unless you use your well for more than domestic use and up to 1/2 acre lawn and non-commercial garden (exempt uses) you probably don't have a water right or permit.

But the money would have paid for local Watermasters, local well inspectors, ground water and aquifer study folks, water right and permit processing, and so on. All necessary to help water users protect their rights and water uses, including exempt uses.

[RoguePundit]

740 is mostly about giving the government more control over water rights and usage. In the vast majority of the state, this is a solution in search of a problem.

[OregonGuy]

Isn't this just part and parcel of the piling on of offenses determined by the Left as harming the "commons"? Is the water under you land yours? Or isn't it "really" a part of a larger community's resources? And as such, not yours?

I live in a rural county. There are a lot of private wells in the county. When the pump breaks, or the well-point needs to be replaced, will a part of the money paid end up for repair? Nope? Just another layer of petty bureaucrats?

Hard to imagine.
.

[RoguePundit]

Environmentalists never go out of their way to protect the rights of private property owners. The very fact that they're supporting this bill merits suspicion.