U.S. House passes bill containing DeFazio-Walden-Schrader plan

September 20, 2013

The House of Representatives passed controversial legislation Friday morning that would boost timber harvest levels on federal lands in 18 Oregon counties.

The passage of H.R. 1526 — which provides for a two-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act — comes two days after the Obama Administration issued a threat to veto the bill if it reaches the president’s desk.

The House vote follows action Thursday in the Senate where a bill that extends federal subsidies for timber counties was also passed.

The House bill contains the O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act, sponsored by Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield; Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River; and Kurt Schrader, D-Canby.

That act would place more than a million acres of forest lands — ceded to the federal government with the collapse of the Oregon and California Railroad — into a trust for management on behalf of the state’s 18 timber counties.

The Senate bill passed Thursday extends federal subsidy a single year. That bill would still need to go to the House. It would mean about $100 million for Oregon if the measure passes the House.

Coos County Commissioner Melissa Cribbins said the money would be divided into 33 counties and wasn’t sure how much would go to Coos County. The Senate bill reauthorizes Secure Rural School payments at 5 percent less than last year’s payments, Cribbins said, and the House bill reauthorized payments at the 2010 rate.

“This is a really important step in getting O&C funding,” Cribbins said. “It helps bridge the gap until next year.”

Coos County has about two or three years left in its general fund, which it has drawn from to balance the 2013-2014 budget. Josephine and Curry counties don’t have a general fund and are in more danger of “going under,” Cribbins said.

Sen. Ron Wyden-D, added the extension for the expired rural schools program on a bill addressing the impeding shutdown of the national helium reserve.

“This bill currently represents the best option for compromise,” Cribbins said. “Yesterday's bill, the helium bill, essentially serves the purpose of bridge funding in order to allow our county to continue services for the public as a long term funding solution is crafted.”

Yesterday’s helium legislation provides breathing room to Oregon’s 18 O&C counties, many of which face tight budgets this fall.

In 2000, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools Act, which was intended to prop up the counties in the face of flagging timber revenues.

In a teleconference Friday, DeFazio said he appreciated the administration's concerns about underlying bill.

"I voted today to move the whole package to the Senate, but I don't support the three (titles) that are dead on arrival," he said.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Executive Office said it took issue with conflicts in state and federal authority under several of the bill's provisions.

DeFazio said the administration's concerns over the O&C plan being an end run around environmental protections are misguided.

"I would say the comments on O&C do not demonstrate any understanding of the legislation," he said.

The congressman said the legislation is the first permanent protection for old-growth timber — something he said the Clinton administration's Northwest Forest Plan failed to do.

In addition to protecting 1.2 million acres of old-growth, DeFazio said the legislation designates 90,000 acres of wilderness, 130 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers and 300,000 acres of protected riparian area.

In 1937, Congress passed the O&C Lands Act, which dedicated half of all timber proceeds from the lands to the counties.

Following the protection of the northern spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act, logging on the lands ground to a halt in the early 1990s.

Reporter Thomas Moriarty can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240, or by email at thomas.moriarty@theworldlink.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ThomasDMoriarty. Reporter Emily Thornton can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 249 or at emily.thornton@theworldlink.com or on Twitter: @EmilyK_Thornton.