Federal timber payments for Oregon counties once again revived in Congress

By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
September 25, 2013

Federal timber payments should flow to Oregon counties for another year as Congress speeds approval of legislation that includes about $100 million in aid directed mostly to economically battered rural areas.

The timber money was included in a bill unanimously passed by the House Wednesday that is mostly aimed at heading off a looming shortage of helium, which is used in several manufacturing processes.

The bill now bounces back to the Senate, which passed an almost identical version last week, for approval of minor changes. It is expected to be approved easily in the next few days and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, attached the federal timber aid to the must-pass helium bill earlier this year as a way to get Congress to restore the expired program.

The federal cash should help shore up county budgets for law enforcement and other services that have been cut repeatedly.

However, the one-year extension of the program provides much less federal aid than it once did. The Secure Rural Schools program, first pushed through by Wyden and other western lawmakers in 2000, provided about $280 million to Oregon counties at its height in 2007.

The latest one-year extension provides just over a third of that amount. And the $100 million figure could be generous. Officials expect that amount to be reduced by 5 to 8 percent because of the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration.

"It's good to hear the money is coming in," said Gil Riddell, an official with the Association of Oregon Counties. "We wouldn't send it back. But it's just not adequate."

To get more money, several lawmakers and officials from Oregon counties are pushing for Senate passage of a House-passed bill that would increase logging on federal landsonce owned by the now-defunct Oregon & California Railroad. That bill also would set higher timber-harvest levels on other federal forests around the country.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., called the money voted on Wednesday crucial short-term aid for "rural communities teetering on the edge of bankruptcy."

"But, let's be clear: this help is a lifeline, not a lifeboat," he added. "The status quo of asking Uncle Sam for a check year after year is not sustainable."

Walden called on the Senate to approve the House bill with the O&C logging provisions.

Wyden, however, has said he is working on a different bill that will include more modest logging increases while protecting environmental values. Conservation groups have also mounted a major lobbying effort to defeat the House legislation -- and the Obama administration has threatened to veto the Housebill.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who co-sponsored the House O&C bill along with Walden and Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., said he wants a long-term solution that "disentangles the health of rural county budgets from these unpredictable and diminishing federal support payments."

Keith Chu, a spokesman for the natural resources committee chaired by Wyden, said he doesn't expect any difficulty in winning speedy Senate approval for the helium bill.

"I think folks are generally feeling good they will get it done by the deadline" of Oct. 1.

If the measure isn't passed by then, the federal government is required to halt sales from its helium reserve, triggering a major shortage.

The problem arose from a 1996 law intended to spur industrial users to turn to private suppliers of helium. However, about half of the nation's helium supplies still comes from the federal reserve and there's broad agreement that more time is needed for a transition.

While most closely associated with party balloons, helium is used in both its gaseous and liquid form by several industries, including in the production of semiconductors, fiber optic cables and to cool MRI machines.

The high-tech industry has lobbied particularly hard for passage of the helium bill. When the measure first passed the Senate last week, Wyden's press release included a statement from an official at Intel, Oregon's largest private employer, warning that failure to act "would threaten the growth of the semiconductor industry, the nation's second-leading export sector."