U.S
Congressman Greg Walden`s
Oregon Congressional
Connection
including,
Preventing an 11th
hour snag on a Klamath
irrigation project
1/16/12
Because of the economic
downturn, small businesses
and families nationwide are
finding ways to stretch
their dollars further than
ever before. Taxpayers
should expect the same kind
of commitment from their
government, be it on the
local, state, or federal
level.
In 2007 and 2008, FEMA
awarded Deschutes County
with grants to help treat
the region’s chronically
unhealthy and overstocked
non-federal forests.
To conserve taxpayer
resources while treating as
many acres as possible, the
county allowed private
landowners to clear their
own private lots of
fire-prone forest material
and deposit the debris in
communal drop spots. Rather
than traveling to a far
greater number of individual
lots, county subcontractors
were able to remove the
debris from the communal
drop spots. The costs
savings allowed the county
to treat more than 5,000
acres.
Since receiving the
funding, the county
submitted quarterly progress
reports to FEMA outlining
their strategies and
progress. At no point for
more than two years did FEMA
object to the county’s work.
Yet, all of a sudden in
September 2010, FEMA
informed the county that it
would seek reimbursement for
work “completed outside the
project area.”
FEMA took the position
that the private lots were
not subject to proper
environmental review before
treatment. Deschutes County,
however, documented the
environmental review prior
to receiving the grants. In
fact, FEMA even referenced
these lands in the county’s
environmental review in its
own Environmental
Assessment!
Here’s the crux of what I
told FEMA Administrator W.
Craig Fugate in a letter
last week: Deschutes County
shouldn’t be punished for
being careful with taxpayer
dollars. The county should
be commended for being
careful with the public’s
hard-earned money; instead,
FEMA is seeking to punish
them for outside-the-box
thinking.
This is exactly the kind
of bureaucratic thinking
that makes taxpayers lose
faith in their government
agencies.
My office participated in
a meeting this week in the
nation’s capital attended by
FEMA officials, Deschutes
County Commissioner Tammy
Baney, Deschutes County
Forester Joe Stutler, and
representatives from
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley. We need to get this
ironed out. One of the side
effects of FEMA’s new
objections is a holdup of
work waiting to be done in
Crook and Klamath counties.
More talks are scheduled for
this week in Oregon. I’ll
keep you posted.
Preventing an
11th hour snag on
a Klamath irrigation project
It’s one of those
projects that hits all the
right notes. Klamath
Irrigation District (KID) is
investing $2 million in a
small-scale hydroelectric
facility that would create
up to 18 jobs, 3,000 MWH of
clean power annually, and
hundreds of thousands of
dollars in revenues every
year.
But it almost hit a fatal
snag this month.
Last year, KID received
all the necessary state and
federal agency approvals for
the project after no
objections were raised
during public comment
periods. Construction began
in December on the
hydroelectric facility at
the “C-Drop,” where water
from the A Canal spills into
the C Canal. The project
enjoys widespread support
from organizations like the
Oregon Energy Trust, the
Klamath Tribes, and the
Klamath Water Users
Association.
But at the 11th
hour and long after the
public comment period had
closed, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) released a
letter on December 29, 2011
that proposed construction
of a fish screen at the
C-Drop. Such a mandate,
which would cost millions of
dollars, would delay the
project indefinitely,
effectively killing it and
sinking the investment
already made by KID.
A study performed last year
by the Bureau of Reclamation
already found that the
project would not result in
any significant impacts to
wildlife, including
protected fish species.
That’s because a fish screen
already exists on the A
Canal. In other words, a
multi-million dollar fish
screen on the C-Drop would
be redundant and,
ultimately, a waste of
money.
After learning of BIA’s
letter, my office inquired
with the federal agencies
involved about the
last-minute threat to this
popular job-creating clean
energy project. Good news:
KID received notice that BIA
has dropped the concerns and
construction could continue
as planned.
Here’s what KID
Manager Mike Stuntebeck said:
“The Klamath Irrigation
District can now again
concentrate on the business
at hand: completion of our
hydro project and preparing
for delivery of irrigation
water that soon will also be
able to produce clean power
and revenues to the
District.”
These are the kinds of
projects that everyone
should be able to get
behind.
Bipartisan
support for forest landscape
restoration projects in
Lake, Grant, Harney counties
Last week I organized a
bipartisan letter to USDA
Secretary Tom Vilsack that
expresses strong support for
funding two job-creating and
large-scale forest
restoration projects in the
Second District – one in the
Lake County area and the
other in Grant and Harney
counties.
In addition to me, the
letter was signed by
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley, and U.S. Reps.
Peter DeFazio, Kurt
Schrader, and Earl
Blumenauer.
The “Lakeview Stewardship
Landscape” and “Southern
Blues Restoration Coalition”
collaborative forest
landscape restoration
program (CFLRP) project
proposals were reviewed and
ranked by the CFLRP Advisory
Committee as the top two
proposals in the country.
The Lakeview proposal
includes 150,000 acres to be
treated, and estimates it
will create more than 80
jobs. The Southern Blues
proposal includes 271,980
acres to be treated, and
estimates it will create
more than 150 new jobs.
These two projects
encourage collaboration,
economic growth, and
large-scale forest health
projects. In addition, they
will reduce wildfire
management costs and create
a predictable supply of
forest byproducts to
stabilize local communities
and infrastructure.
Best of all, they will
create and sustain jobs in
areas of historically high
unemployment. We need jobs
in these rural communities.
Hopefully Secretary Vilsack
follows the advisory
committee’s recommendations.
Here’s what
Harney County Judge Steve
Grasty said:
“Harney County needs the
jobs and forest resource
production that will result
from the large-scale work
proposed by the Southern
Blues Restoration project.
The collaborative efforts
behind this project are made
up of diverse members who
have come together to
prioritize job creation and
the need to improve the
health of our federal
forests. This project will
actually lead to work and
expand what has already been
accomplished on a landscape
scale.”
Here’s what Lake
County Commissioner Dan
Shoun said:
“Congress has done its job,
now Secretary Vilsack must
do his by selecting these
projects. The federal land
managers in Lake County are
ready, pen-in-hand, to sign
task orders on already
pre-approved projects that
will create jobs once the
Lakeview Stewardship
Landscape proposal is
selected. These jobs and the
timber production look to
stimulate new businesses and
create even more jobs. This
is exactly what has been
needed to guarantee our
forest and community
health.”
Helping
Oregonians overcome
obstacles in the federal
government
The IRS maintains an
online publication of
organizations eligible to
receive tax-deductible
charitable contributions.
You can check it out at
www.irs.gov/charities.
One Bend-area nonprofit
that helps fight hunger in
central Oregon (they
provided thousands of meals
last year alone) had missed
opportunities to apply for
several grants because the
IRS had failed to update the
online directory that
community foundations use to
verify their 501c3 status.
After working with the
non-profit, we learned last
week that the IRS had
finally listed it in its
online addendum. We’ll
continue to watch it to make
sure it’s in the full update
released shortly this year.
Part of my job is helping
Oregonians overcome
obstacles in their dealings
with agencies of the federal
government. If I can ever be
of assistance to you, please
don’t hesitate to contact
any of my offices listed at
the bottom of this email.
That’s all for now. Have
a great week.
Best regards,
Greg Walden
U.S. Representative
Oregon’s Second District
