Environmentalists weigh goals

The Register Guard November 26, 2006

SALEM - The Democrats will soon be in charge, but that doesn't mean they'll go all out to deliver an ultra-green agenda.
And that may be just fine with their friends in the environmental movement.

After years of being on the outs with the Republicans in charge of one or both chambers of the Legislature, environmentalists find themselves with Democrats running the House and Senate, as well as retaining the governorship. And while they have lined up some goals for the 2007 session starting in January - encouraging renewable energy resources, making sure computers can be recycled and phasing out "toxic mixing zones" in rivers where pollution discharges are concentrated - they're still deciding whether to set their sights on bigger aspirations.

"Even though there's an opening here, we are being really careful about how we move forward," said Sybil Ackerman, legislative director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. "We're not going to come in and say, 'OK, you have to do really, really huge, radical things.' "
It would take only a modestly ambitious set of less-than-radical accomplishments for the environmental lobby to surpass its record during this decade and the last, during which time Republicans controlled one or both legislative chambers. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment during that stretch was presenting then-Gov. John Kitzhaber with an oversized "Veto Pen" prop in 1999, symbolizing his last-ditch weapon to shoot down bills viewed by conservationists as anti-environment - including 14 he vetoed that year alone.

The big Democratic election wins have environmentalists debating cautiously among themselves how far to expand their agenda.
"People are just now starting to think, 'Hmm, what are some additional opportunities we might have?' " Ackerman said. Characterizing them more as questions for the environmental lobby to contemplate than agreed-upon proposals, she said the agenda could be expanded to include proposals on ocean conservation, updating the Bottle Bill to cover containers for noncarbonated drinks, and revisiting laws passed since 1990 that were seen by critics as weakening protection of farm and forest lands, species and other natural resources.

One of the Legislature's most ardent advocates of protecting the environment, retiring Sen. Charlie Ringo, D-Beaverton, said the election has delivered the best opportunity in years for progress. But even so, he said, hurdles wouldn't be easy to clear.

"There are a lot of Democrats who are not staunch supporters of protecting the environment," said the former chairman of the Sierra Club's Oregon chapter. "I think a lot of people look at the trade-off of protecting the environment vs. jobs. It's a false trade-off but the challenge is to get past that."

Newly empowered Democratic lawmakers seem to share the environmental lobby's caution about reaching too far or moving too fast on environmental legislation that could arm opponents who want to accuse Democrats and the green lobby with pushing a radical, anti-jobs agenda.

Neither the Senate nor the House Democrats' caucuswide campaigns included specific environmental agendas, instead concentrating on pledges to improve education, the economy, health care, public safety and government reform.
Democratic legislative leaders say their environmentally oriented goals - expanding production and use of renewable fuels and electric resources - are as much about job creation as clean air and conservation.

Rep. Phil Barnhart, who served last session on the House Environment Committee, said he and other legislative Democrats have been hearing from environmental advocates about expanding their conservation-minded agenda, now that they're in control.
But the Eugene Democrat said his party is not making big promises.

"I don't think anybody should expect monumental, huge, big shifts," he said. "And if there are any big movements, it'll be in areas where the economy and the environment overlap - where we can make a difference environmentally and create well-paying jobs."
One environment-related issue that could come up this session at the behest of local lawmakers is field burning. Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, plans to introduce a bill banning the practice used by grass-seed growers to get rid of straw after harvesting. Other Lane County lawmakers say they support looking at the issue. South Willamette Valley residents by the hundreds complain about the smoke-producing practice every summer.

The 2004 property rights initiative, Measure 37, could also come up for some reworking. Attempts to retool it last session failed because the Democratic Senate and the Republican-led House could not agree on changes to deal with its implementation.

Barnhart said he wouldn't be surprised if changes were considered to allow property owners to build an additional home on their rural land, but that doesn't allow for "these very large, plan-busting kinds of developments" currently being promoted under Measure 37.

Terry Witt, executive director of Oregonians for Food and Shelter, said he and other farm lobbyists are preparing to be "more on the defensive side" once Democrats are in charge. Witt said he was hoping the number of moderates in the House's incoming majority party, as well as its narrow 31-29 edge over the GOP, would blunt the environmental lobby's ability to pass controversial legislation.

But unlike past sessions, when logging, farming, and pollution-creating industrial groups could count on support for their own contentious legislation, he acknowledged it would be tougher going for them than for environmentalists in 2007.
"It probably means that if we were to put anything up, we're going to have to be a little more conciliatory," he said.

GREEN AGENDA

The Oregon Conservation Network has detailed on its Web site (www.oregonpriorities.org) goals for the 2007 session. They include:
• Promoting clean and renewable energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal and wave-generated electricity
• Encouraging the production and use of biofuels, including grain-based ethanol and vegetable- and seed-oil derived biodiesel fuel
• Expansion of Oregon's electronic recycling program to assure the safe disposal of home computers containing toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury
• Phasing out the use of "toxic mixing zones," which are areas in rivers where municipal and industrial discharges are allowed