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Tag: Forests

  • Atlanta project decried as ‘Cop City’ gets funding approval from City Council

    Atlanta project decried as ‘Cop City’ gets funding approval from City Council

    ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council early Tuesday approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, rejecting the pleas of hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project they decry as “Cop City.”

    The 11-4 vote just after 5 a.m. is a significant victory for Mayor Andre Dickens, who has made the $90 million project a large part of his first term in office, despite significant pushback to the effort. The City Council also passed a resolution requesting two seats on the Atlanta Police Foundation’s board. The decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement has galvanized protesters from across the country, especially in the wake of the January fatal police shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old environmental activist known as “Tortuguita” who had been camping in the woods near the site of the proposed project in DeKalb County.

    For about 14 hours, residents again and again took to the podium to slam the project, saying it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-Black area.

    “We’re here pleading our case to a government that has been unresponsive, if not hostile, to an unprecedented movement in our City Council’s history,” said Matthew Johnson, the executive director of Beloved Community Ministries, a local social justice nonprofit. “We’re here to stop environmental racism and the militarization of the police. … We need to go back to meeting the basic needs rather than using police as the sole solution to all of our social problems.”

    The training center was approved by the City Council in September 2021 but required an additional vote for more funding. City officials say the new 85-acre (34-hectare) campus would replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers that worsened after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice three years ago.

    But opponents, who have been joined by activists from around the country, say they fear it will lead to greater militarization of the police and that its construction will exacerbate environmental damage. Protesters had been camping at the site since at least last year, and police said they had caused damage and attacked law enforcement officers and others.

    Though more than 220 people spoke publicly against the training center, a small handful voiced support, saying they trusted Dickens’ judgment.

    Councilmembers agreed to approve $31 million in public funds for the site’s construction, as well as a provision that requires the city to pay $36 million — $1.2 million a year over 30 years — for using the facility. The rest of the $90 million project would come from private donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation, though city officials had, until recently, repeatedly said that the public obligation would only be $31 million.

    The highly scrutinized vote also comes in the wake of the arrests Wednesday of three organizers who lead the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has provided bail money and helped find attorneys for arrested protesters.

    Prosecutors have accused the three activists of money laundering and charity fraud, saying they used some of the money to fund violent acts of “forest defenders.” Warrants cite reimbursements for expenses including “gasoline, forest clean-up, totes, covid rapid tests, media, yard signs.” But the charges have alarmed human rights groups and prompted both of Georgia’s Democratic senators to issue statements over the weekend expressing their concerns.

    U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock tweeted that bail funds held important roles during the civil rights movement and said that the images of the heavily armed police officers raiding the home where the activists lived “reinforce the very suspicions that help to animate the current conflict—namely, concerns Georgians have about over-policing, the quelling of dissent in a democracy, and the militarization of our police.”

    Devin Franklin, an attorney with the Southern Center For Human Rights, also invoked Wednesday’s arrests while speaking before City Council.

    “This is what we fear — the image of militarized forces being used to effectuate arrests for bookkeeping errors,” Franklin said.

    Numerous instances of violence and vandalism have been linked to the decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement, including a January protest in downtown Atlanta in which a police car was set alight as well as a March attack in which more than 150 masked protesters chased off police at the construction site and torched construction equipment before fleeing and blending in with a crowd at a nearby music festival. Those two instances have led to more than 40 people being charged with domestic terrorism, though prosecutors have had difficulty so far in proving that many of those arrested were in fact those who took part in the violence.

    In a sign of the security concerns Monday, dozens of police officers were posted throughout City Hall and officials temporarily added “liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes” to the list of things prohibited inside the building.

    Six hours into the meeting, Emory University religion professor Sara McClintock took to the podium and pleaded with councilmembers to reject, or at least rethink, the training center.

    “We don’t want it,” McClintock said. “We don’t want it because it doesn’t contribute to life. It’s not an institution of peace. It’s not a way forward for our city that we love.”

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  • ‘Stop Cop City’ activists pack Atlanta City Hall ahead of crucial vote

    ‘Stop Cop City’ activists pack Atlanta City Hall ahead of crucial vote

    ATLANTA — Hundreds of activists gathered to speak Monday at Atlanta’s City Hall ahead of a council vote over whether to approve tens of millions in public funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center that activists decry as “Cop City.”

    The meeting is a culmination of nearly two years of activism against the project — a movement that has galvanized protesters from across the country, especially in the wake of the January fatal police shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old environmental activist known as “Tortuguita” who had been camping in the woods near the site of the proposed project in DeKalb County.

    More than 350 people signed up to speak during the meeting by early Monday afternoon, with hundreds more unable to sign up in time, including a large crowd kept outside City Hall due to capacity concerns. The rowdy crowd just outside the council chamber repeatedly chanted, “Let them in!”

    “We’re here pleading our case to a government that has been unresponsive, if not hostile, to an unprecedented movement in our City Council’s history,” said Matthew Johnson, the executive director of Beloved Community Ministries, a local social justice nonprofit. “We’re here to stop environmental racism and the militarization of the police. … We need to go back to meeting the basic needs rather than using police as the sole solution to all of our social problems.”

    The training center was approved by the City Council in September 2021 but requires an additional vote for more funding. City officials say the new 85-acre (34-hectare) campus would replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers that worsened after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice three years ago.

    But opponents, who have been joined by activists from around the country, say they fear it will lead to greater militarization of the police and that its construction of the facility in a large urban forest will exacerbate environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area. Protesters had been camping at the site since at least last year, and police said they had caused damage and attacked law enforcement officers and others.

    Though the vast majority of those who spoke during the first six hours of the City Council meeting were against the training center, a few people voiced support, saying they trusted the judgment of Mayor Andre Dickens.

    Councilmembers are considering whether to approve $31 million in public funds for the site’s construction, as well as a provision that requires the city to pay $36 million — $1.2 million a year over 30 years — for using the facility. The rest of the $90 million project would come from private donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation, though city officials had, until recently, repeatedly said that the public obligation would only be $31 million.

    The highly scrutinized vote also comes in the wake of the arrests Wednesday of three organizers who lead the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has provided bail money and helped find attorneys for arrested protesters.

    Prosecutors have accused the three activists of money laundering and charity fraud, saying they used some of the money to fund violent acts of “forest defenders.” Warrants cite reimbursements for expenses including “gasoline, forest clean-up, totes, covid rapid tests, media, yard signs.” But the charges have alarmed human rights groups and prompted both of Georgia’s Democratic senators to issue statements over the weekend expressing their concerns.

    U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock tweeted that bail funds held important roles during the civil rights movement and said that the images of the heavily armed police officers raiding the home where the activists lived “reinforce the very suspicions that help to animate the current conflict—namely, concerns Georgians have about over-policing, the quelling of dissent in a democracy, and the militarization of our police.”

    Devin Franklin, an attorney with the Southern Center For Human Rights, also invoked Wednesday’s arrests while speaking before City Council.

    “This is what we fear — the image of militarized forces being used to effectuate arrests for bookkeeping errors,” Franklin said.

    Numerous instances of violence and vandalism has been linked to the decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement, including a January protest in downtown Atlanta in which a police car was set alight as well as a March attack in which more than 150 masked protesters chased off police at the construction site and torched construction equipment before fleeing and blending in with a crowd at a nearby music festival. Those two instances have led to more than 40 people being charged with domestic terrorism, though prosecutors have had difficulty so far in proving that many of those arrested were in fact those who took part in the violence.

    In a sign of the security concerns Monday, dozens of police officers were posted throughout City Hall and officials temporarily added “liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes” to the list of things prohibited inside the building.

    Six hours into the meeting, Emory University religion professor Sara McClintock took to the podium and pleaded with councilmembers to reject, or at least rethink, the training center.

    “We don’t want it,” McClintock said. “We don’t want it because it doesn’t contribute to life. It’s not an institution of peace. It’s not a way forward for our city that we love.”

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  • Notre Dame’s fire-ravaged roof rebuilt using medieval techniques

    Notre Dame’s fire-ravaged roof rebuilt using medieval techniques

    SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-PLAINE, France — If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered in building Notre Dame Cathedral more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument’s fire-ravaged roof.

    Certainly the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame’s new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It’s given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century.

    “It’s a little mind-bending sometimes,” says Peter Henrikson, one of the carpenters. He says there are times when he’s whacking mallet on chisel that he finds himself thinking about medieval counterparts who were cutting “basically the same joint 900 years ago.”

    “It’s fascinating,” he says. “We probably are in some ways thinking the same things.”

    The use of hand tools to rebuild the roof that flames turned into ashes in 2019 is a deliberate, considered choice, especially since power tools would undoubtedly have done the work more quickly. The aim is to pay tribute to the astounding craftsmanship of the cathedral’s original builders and to ensure that the centuries-old art of hand-fashioning wood lives on.

    “We want to restore this cathedral as it was built in the Middle Ages,” says Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired French army general who is overseeing the reconstruction.

    “It is a way to be faithful to the (handiwork) of all the people who built all the extraordinary monuments in France.”

    Facing a tight deadline to reopen the cathedral by December 2024, carpenters and architects are also using computer design and other modern technologies to speed the reconstruction. Computers were used in the drawing of detailed plans for carpenters, to help ensure that their hand-chiseled beams fit together perfectly.

    “Traditional carpenters had a lot of that in their head,” Henrikson notes. It’s “pretty amazing to think about how they did this with what they had, the tools and technology that they had at the time.”

    The 61-year-old American is from Grand Marais, Minnesota. The bulk of the other artisans working on the timber frame are French.

    The roof reconstruction hit an important milestone in May, when large parts of the new timber frame were assembled and erected at a workshop in the Loire Valley, in western France.

    The dry run assured architects that the frame is fit for purpose. The next time it is put together will be atop the cathedral. Unlike in medieval times, it will be trucked into Paris and lifted by mechanical crane into position. Some 1,200 trees have been felled for the work.

    “The objective we had was to restore to its original condition the wooden frame structure that disappeared during the fire of April 15, 2019,” says architect Remi Fromont, who did detailed drawings of the original frame in 2012.

    The rebuilt frame “is the same wooden frame structure of the 13th century,” he says. “We have exactly the same material: oak. We have the same tools, with the same axes that were used, exactly the same tools. We have the same know-how. And soon, it will return to its same place.”

    “It is,” he adds, “a real resurrection.”

    ___

    John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

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  • Judge says fire retardant drops are polluting streams but allows use to continue

    Judge says fire retardant drops are polluting streams but allows use to continue

    BILLINGS, Mont. — The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday.

    Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana.

    The judge agreed with U.S. Forest Service officials who said dropping retardant into areas with waterways was sometimes necessary to protect lives and property.

    The ruling came after came after environmentalists sued following revelations that the Forest Service dropped retardant into waterways hundreds of times over the past decade.

    Government officials say chemical fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of dangerous blazes. Wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades as climate change warms the planet.

    More than 200 loads of retardant got into waterways over the past decade. Federal officials say those situations usually occurred by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of loads annually.

    A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — had said a court ruling that stopped the use of retardant would have put lives, homes and forests at risk.

    “This case was very personal for us,” Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin said. “Our brave firefighters need every tool in the toolbox to protect human lives and property against wildfires, and today’s ruling ensures we have a fighting chance this fire season.”

    State and local agencies lean heavily on the U.S. Forest Service to help fight fires, many of which originate or include federal land.

    Fire retardant is a specialized mixture of water and chemicals including inorganic fertilizers or salts. It’s designed to alter the way fire burns, making blazes less intense and slowing their advance.

    That can give firefighters time to steer flames away from inhabited areas and in extreme situations to evacuate people from danger.

    “Retardant lasts and even works if it’s dry,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “Water is only so good because it dries out. It does very well to suppress fires, but it won’t last.”

    The Oregon-based group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics argued in its lawsuit filed last year that the Forest Service was disregarding the Act by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.

    Christensen said stopping the use of fire retardant would “conceivably result in greater harm from wildfires — including to human life and property and to the environment.” The judge said his ruling was limited to 10 western states where members of the plaintiff’s group alleged harm from pollution into waterways that they use.

    After the lawsuit was filed the Forest Service applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit that would allow it to continue using retardant without breaking the law. The process could take several years.

    Such a permit could require tighter restrictions on when retardant could be used or for officials to use less-toxic chemicals, said Andy Stahl with Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.

    “It’s certainly a good first step,” Stahl said.

    Christensen ordered federal officials to report every six months on their progress.

    Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof said the agency believes retardant can be used “without compromising public health and the environment.”

    “The Forest Service is working diligently with the Environmental Protection Agency on a general permit for aerially delivered retardant that will allow us to continue using wildfire retardant to protect homes and communities,” Muehlhof said.

    Climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.

    Almost 150 million gallons (567 million liters) of fire retardant were dropped on National Forest lands between 2013 and 2022, according to the Department of Agriculture. Retardant drops onto forests in California accounted for 49% of the total volume.

    Health risks to firefighters or other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment.

    But the chemicals can be harmful to some fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic species. A government study found misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.

    Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit but that could take years.

    To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet (92 meters) of waterways. Retardant may only be applied inside those zones when human life or public safety is threatened. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents and the remainder were necessary to save lives or property, officials said.

    Many areas of the Western U.S. experienced heavy snowfalls this past winter, and as a result fire dangers are lower than in recent years across much of the region.

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  • China lifts ban on Australian timber imports in another sign of improving bilateral relations

    China lifts ban on Australian timber imports in another sign of improving bilateral relations

    CANBERRA, Australia — China opened its doors on Thursday to Australian timber imports for the first time in more than two years, in another sign that the tattered bilateral relationship is being repaired.

    Timber was on a list of Australian exports subjected to official and unofficial Chinese trade barriers imposed in 2020 after Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The list that included coal, wine, barley, beef, seafood, cotton and copper was estimated to cost Australian exporters $14 billion a year.

    But relations have improved since the center-left Labor Party came to power a year ago, ending nine years of conservative rule in Australia. Australian coal, cotton and copper exports to China have recently resumed.

    Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said the timber ban had been lifted from Thursday because Australian exporters had satisfied China’s quarantine concerns. The Australian government was officially informed on Wednesday.

    “So from today on, the Australian timber is going back to China,” Xiao told reporters.

    The breakthrough came after Trade Minister Don Farrell visited Beijing last weekend seeking to lift trade barriers especially on Australian wine and barley.

    Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed the return of the timber trade with China. It had been worth $1 billion a year before the ban.

    “We are pleased with this development,” Wong said during a joint press conference with her Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo during a visit to Manila.

    “We do believe that removal of these trade impediments benefits both parties,” she added, referring to China and Australia.

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers said China’s decision on timber was a step toward his government’s objective to stabilize the economic relationship with China.

    “It’s a crucially important market for us and we want to stabilize the relationship and any progress in lifting these trade restrictions is welcome,” Chalmers told reporters.

    The Australian Forest Products Association, which represents a range of forestry and paper industries, also welcomed China’s decision.

    “When the ban came into effect more than two years ago, it caused a great deal of upheaval and uncertainty for many timber exporters and the broader forest sector and this resolution is welcomed,” the association’s chief executive Joel Fitzgibbon said in a statement.

    China is Australia’s biggest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling $287 billion last year.

    In April, Australia suspended a complaint to the World Trade Organization in a bid to reopen the Chinese market to Australian barley.

    In return, China has agreed to review its decision to impose an 80% tariff on the grain. Australia hopes that China will agree within months to lift tariffs on both Australian barley and wine.

    ____

    Associated Press reporter Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

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  • EU countries adopt law banning products which fuel deforestation

    EU countries adopt law banning products which fuel deforestation

    The 27 European Union countries have formally endorsed a law that should help the bloc reduce its contribution to global deforestation by regulating the trade in a series of harmful goods

    BRUSSELS — The 27 European Union countries have formally adopted new rules that should help the bloc reduce its contribution to global deforestation by regulating the trade in a series of goods.

    Under the legislation, companies trading palm oil, cattle, wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy will need to verify that the goods they sell in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation anywhere in the world since 2021.

    The regulation also covers derived products such as chocolate or printed paper.

    Forests are an important natural means of removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, since plants absorb carbon dioxide when they grow.

    According to the World Resource Institute, a forest area the size of 10 soccer pitches disappears in the world every minute and the EU says that without the new regulation it could be responsible for the loss of 248,000 hectares of deforestation per year — a surface almost as large as member country Luxembourg.

    The law will force companies to show that goods they import comply with rules in the country of origin, including on human rights and the protection of indigenous people.

    Forests around the world are increasingly under threat from clearance for timber and agriculture, including soybean and palm oil. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 420 million hectares (1.6 million square miles) of forest — an area larger than the EU — were destroyed between 1990 and 2020.

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  • World’s oldest dog, according to Guinness, celebrates 31st birthday

    World’s oldest dog, according to Guinness, celebrates 31st birthday

    The world’s oldest dog recently celebrated his 31st birthday, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

    Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a breed of Portuguese dog, celebrated during a party Saturday at his home in the rural Portuguese village of Conqueiros, where has lived his entire life.

    More than 100 people attended the “very traditional” Portuguese party, owner Leonel Costa said.

    Local meats and fish were served to up to 100 guests, with extra for Bobi, who only eats human food. A dance troupe also performed with Bobi participating in one of their routines.

    Costa has owned several old-aged dogs in the past, including Bobi’s mother, Gira, who lived to the age of 18. However, Costa said he never imagined any of his dogs would reach their 30s.

    “We see situations like this as a normal result of the life that they have, but Bobi is one of a kind,” Costa said.

    One of the biggest contributing factors to Bobi’s longevity is the “calm, peaceful environment” in which he lives, according to Costa.

    Throughout his life, Bobi has freely roamed the forests surrounding the Costa house. He has never been chained or leashed.

    The “very sociable” dog was never lonely because he grew up surrounded by many other animals, Costa said.

    Now in his senior years, Bobi finds it difficult to walk, so he prefers to hang out at home in the yard. His eyesight has gotten worse, meaning he often bumps into things when he walks. Just like old-aged humans, Bobi sleeps a lot. He immediately lies down in bed after eating, although on cold days he chooses to nap by the fire, his owner said.

    Bobi’s birth date has been confirmed by Serviço Medico-Veterinário do Município de Leiria (Veterinary Medical Service of the Municipality of Leiria), which registered Bobi in 1992.

    His age also has been verified by SIAC, a pet database authorized by the Portuguese government and managed by the SNMV (Sindicato Nacional dos Médicos Veterinários; National Union of Veterinarians).

    Costa, now 38, was just 8 years old when Bobi was born. For him, Bobi is a living reminder of the past, he said.

    “Bobi is special because looking at him is like remembering the people who were part of our family and unfortunately are no longer here, like my father, my brother, or my grandparents who have already left this world,” Costa said. “Bobi represents those generations.”

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  • Memphis ‘snake factory’ transplants slither into their new home in Louisiana

    Memphis ‘snake factory’ transplants slither into their new home in Louisiana

    BENTLEY, La. — They were born and raised in captivity, but as they slowly slithered away from their handlers and disappeared into gopher holes in the Kisatchie National Forest, the group of Louisiana pine snakes appeared to be right at home.

    The five pine snakes bred at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee were released into the Kisatchie in early May as part of an ongoing conservation effort involving zoos in Memphis, New Orleans and two Texas cities, Fort Worth and Lufkin. This year, more than 100 pine snakes — a species the federal government lists as threatened — will be released into the central Louisiana forest.

    “We provide the snakes in our snake factories, which are funded by the U.S. Forest Service, into habitat that the Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service have developed,” said Steve Reichling, the Memphis Zoo’s Director of Conservation and Research. “It’s just a perfect marriage, really.”

    Reichling said the characteristics of the area where the snakes were released — a high tree canopy dominated by longleaf pine, little mid-level vegetation, grassy ground and sandy soil — are all vital to the snakes’ survival. The forest is also home to gophers that are both a food source for the snakes and the creators of the burrow system where the snakes live and hibernate.

    “Unlike some of the other snakes that are here that can survive in different habitats, Louisiana pines, they cannot,” Reichling said as the snakes were being released.

    Although they bear a resemblance to rattlesnakes, pine snakes are non-venomous constrictors and aren’t considered dangerous to humans.

    “There is no other snake in the world like it,” Reichling said. “And to me, that’s the definition of precious, right?”

    The release into the Kisatchie of juvenile pine snakes raised at the Memphis Zoo has become an annual event, one that Emlyn Smith, a biologist with the forest service, looks forward to.

    “I love this,” she said. “This is why I haven’t retired yet, because I love this project and it’s just so exciting. Every time I come out here, there’s the potential to see a pine snake that we released and to see that it’s surviving and it’s thriving and it’s making babies and it’s getting bigger.”

    ___

    McGill reported from New Orleans.

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  • Pollution lawsuit could curb use of aerial fire retardant

    Pollution lawsuit could curb use of aerial fire retardant

    BILLINGS, Mont. — A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft.

    A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.

    An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.

    The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit.

    The dispute comes as wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades because climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.

    Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more then 200 times over the past decade. They said it happens usually by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of drops annually.

    “The only way to prevent accidental discharges of retardant to waters is to prohibit its use entirely,” government attorneys wrote. “Such a prohibition would be tantamount to a complete ban of aerial discharges of retardant.”

    Government officials and firefighters say fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of a blaze so firefighters can try to stop it.

    “It buys you time,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “We live in a populous state — there are people everywhere. It’s a high priority for us to be able to use the retardant, catch fires when they’re small.”

    Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit but that could take years.

    “The Forest Service says it should be allowed to pollute, business as usual,” said Andy Stahl, who leads the Eugene, Oregon-based group behind the lawsuit. “Our position is that business as usual is illegal.”

    A ruling from U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen is expected sometime after the opposing sides present their arguments during a Monday hearing in federal court in Missoula.

    Christensen denied a request to intervene in the case by the coalition that includes Paradise, other California communities and trade groups such as the California Forestry Association. The judge is allowing the coalition’s attorney to present brief arguments.

    More than 100 million gallons (378 million liters) of fire retardant were used during the past decade, according to the Department of Agriculture. It’s made up of water and other ingredients including fertilizers or salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.

    A government study found misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.

    Health risks to firefighters or other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment commissioned by the Forest Service.

    To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet (92 meters) of waterways.

    Under a 2011 government decision, fire retardant may only be applied inside the zones, known as “avoidance areas,” when human life or public safety is threatened and retardant could help. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents, officials said.

    The remaining 23 drops were necessary to save lives or property, they said.

    Stahl’s organization suggested in court filings that the buffer zones be increased, to 600 feet (182 meters) around lakes and streams.

    In January — three months after the lawsuit was filed — the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a permit allowing the service to drop retardant into water under certain conditions. The process is expected to take more than two years.

    Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof declined comment on the case.

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  • US inventory: old forests cover area larger than California

    US inventory: old forests cover area larger than California

    BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to craft a new rule to better protect the nation’s woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change, officials said Thursday.

    The results from the government’s first-ever national inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal land revealed more expanses of older trees than outside researchers had recently estimated.

    Most are in Western states such as Idaho, California, Montana and Oregon. But they’re also in New England, around the Great Lakes and in Southern states such as Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to a Forest Service online map.

    The inventory’s release comes as President Joe Biden navigates opposing political pressures over federal forest management: Many members of Congress including some Democrats want to ramp up logging in the name of reducing wildfire risks, while environmentalists hope the inventory will be used to justify new restrictions on the timber industry.

    U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands combined have more than 50,000 square miles (129,000 square kilometers) of old growth forests and about 125,000 square miles (324,000 square kilometers) of mature forests, according to the inventory.

    That’s more than half the forested land managed by the two agencies, and it covers an area larger than California. Yet officials say those stands of older trees are under increasing pressure as climate change worsens wildfires, drought, disease and insects — and leaves some forests devastated.

    Older forests “are struggling to keep up with the stresses of climate change,” said USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Homer Wilkes. “We must adapt quickly.”

    The most extensive old growth forests are dominated by pinyon pines and junipers and cover a combined 14,000 square miles (36,000 square kilometers), according to the inventory.

    The age used to determine what counted as old growth varied widely by tree species — from 80 years for Gambel oaks, to 300 years for bristlecone pines. Mature forest definitions — which have been disputed among experts — were broader with no ages specified.

    The tally excluded national parks, national wildlife refuges and large areas of Alaska where an old growth analysis is ongoing.

    Representatives of the timber industry and some members of Congress have been skeptical about Biden’s ambitions to protect older forests, which the Democrat unveiled last year on Earth Day.

    They’ve urged the administration to instead concentrate on lessening wildfire dangers by thinning stands of trees where decades of fire suppression have allowed undergrowth to flourish, which can be a recipe for disaster when fires ignite.

    Forest Service Chief Randy Moore appeared this week before a U.S. Senate committee where he was pressured by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to speed up thinning work on federal forests.

    Moore faced pointed questioning from U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Republican who warned the administration’s conservation efforts could “lock Americans out of the public lands” by putting areas off-limits to timber harvests and other uses.

    Most old growth forests in the Lower 48 states were logged during the past two centuries. Previous protections for older trees have come indirectly, such as the “roadless rule” adopted under former President Bill Clinton in 2001 that blocked logging on about a quarter of federal forests.

    “There’s a significant amount of mature and old growth trees that are already under protected status,” said Nick Smith with the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group. “We’re not calling for active management on environmentally-sensitive landscapes, but at least in areas where we can do thinning and wildfire mitigation fuels reduction. Federal land managers should already be doing that.”

    Administration officials announced Thursday they will be soliciting comments ahead of an anticipated rule that would “adapt current policies to protect, conserve and manage national forests and grasslands for climate resilience.”

    A formal rulemaking notice was expected to be published in the federal register in coming days. Further details were not immediately released.

    Environmental groups had lobbied the administration to pursue new regulations for forests that would limit logging of older trees.

    Blaine Miller-McFeeley with Earthjustice said he expects some logging would continue under a new rule, but conservation and recreational uses also would be promoted.

    “We are still logging old growth and mature forests here at home,” Miller-McFeeley said. “The focus has been largely on the number of board feet (harvested). It has not been focused on which trees are most scientifically smart to bring down for climate, for community protection from wildfires.”

    The inventory, based on field surveys, identified significantly more areas of older forest than outside researchers had mapped for a study last year based on satellite imagery. The outside researchers did not include any of Alaska and had trouble identifying dryer forests, such as pinyon pine stands, where tree canopies are not as dense, said study author Dominick DellaSala with the conservation group Wild Heritage.

    DellaSala — who wants to see the Biden administration adopt regulations similar to the Clinton-era roadless rule — said it was “good news” that the government inventory was larger.

    Experts say large trees can store significant volumes of carbon dioxide and keep the gas from warming the planet as it enters the atmosphere.

    Underlining the urgency of the issue are wildfires in California that killed thousands of giant sequoias in recent years. Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of the trees in 2021, adding to a two-year death toll of up to nearly a fifth of Earth’s largest trees. They are concentrated in about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range.

    Global wildfires in 2021 emitted the equivalent of about 7.1 billion tons (6.4 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. That’s equal to about 18% of global CO2 emissions from coal, oil and other energy sources recorded in 2021 by the International Energy Agency.

    ___

    On Twitter follow Matthew Brown @MatthewBrownAP

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  • US plans new forest protections, issues old-growth inventory

    US plans new forest protections, issues old-growth inventory

    BILLINGS, Mont. — Alert: US officials say old growth and mature forests on government lands cover an area larger than California, and the Biden administration plans a new rule to protect them.

    The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to craft a new rule to better protect the nation’s woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change, federal officials planned to announce Thursday.

    Results from the government’s first-ever national inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal land were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of a public release.

    U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands combined have more than 50,000 square miles (129,000 square kilometers) of old growth forests and about 125,000 square miles (324,000 square kilometers) of mature forests, according to the inventory.

    That’s more than half the forested land managed by the two agencies, and it covers an area larger than California. Yet officials say those stands of older trees are under increasing pressure as climate change worsens wildfires, drought, disease and insects — and leaves some forests devastated.

    Older forests “are struggling to keep up with the stresses of climate change,” said USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Homer Wilkes. “We must adapt quickly.”

    Representatives of the timber industry and some members of Congress have been skeptical about President Joe Biden’s ambitions to protect older forests, which the Democrat unveiled last year on Earth Day.

    They’ve urged the administration to instead concentrate on lessening wildfire dangers by thinning stands of trees where decades of fire suppression have allowed undergrowth to flourish, which can be a recipe for disaster when fires ignite.

    Forest Service Chief Randy Moore appeared this week before a U.S. Senate committee where he was pressured by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to speed up thinning work on federal forests.

    Moore faced pointed questioning from U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Republican who warned the administration’s conservation efforts could “lock Americans out of the public lands” by putting areas off-limits to timber harvests and other uses.

    Most old growth forests in the Lower 48 states were logged during the past two centuries. Previous protections for older trees have come indirectly, such as the “roadless rule” adopted under former President Bill Clinton in 2001 that blocked logging on about a quarter of federal forests.

    “There’s a significant amount of mature and old growth trees that are already under protected status,” said Nick Smith with the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group. “We’re not calling for active management on environmentally-sensitive landscapes, but at least in areas where we can do thinning and wildfire mitigation fuels reduction. Federal land managers should already be doing that.”

    Administration officials announced Thursday they will be soliciting comments for a proposed rule that would “adapt current policies to protect, conserve and manage national forests and grasslands for climate resilience.”

    A formal rulemaking notice was expected to be published in the federal register in coming days. Further details were not immediately released.

    Environmental groups had lobbied the administration to pursue new regulations for forests that would limit logging of older trees.

    Blaine Miller-McFeeley with Earthjustice said he expects some logging would continue under a new rule, but conservation and recreational uses also would be promoted.

    “We are still logging old growth and mature forests here at home,” Miller-McFeeley said. “The focus has been largely on the number of board feet (harvested). It has not been focused on which trees are most scientifically smart to bring down for climate, for community protection from wildfires.”

    The age used to determine what counted as old growth varied widely by tree species – from 80 years for gambel oaks, to 300 years for bristlecone pines.

    Most of the old growth and mature forests are in western states such as Idaho, California, Montana and Oregon. But they’re also in New England, around the Great Lakes and in southern states such as Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to an online map posted by the Forest Service.

    The most extensive old growth forests are dominated by pinyon and juniper trees and cover a combined 14,000 square miles (36,000 square kilometers), according to the inventory.

    The inventory excluded federal lands in Alaska where an old growth analysis was ongoing.

    Experts say large trees can store significant volumes of carbon dioxide and keep the gas from warming the planet as it enters the atmosphere.

    Underlining the urgency of the issue are wildfires in California that killed thousands of giant sequoias in recent years. Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of the trees in 2021, adding to a two-year death toll of up to nearly a fifth of Earth’s largest trees. They are concentrated in about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range.

    Global wildfires in 2021 emitted the equivalent of about 7.1 billion tons (6.4 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. That’s equal to about 18% of global CO2 emissions from coal, oil and other energy sources recorded in 2021 by the International Energy Agency.

    ___

    On Twitter follow Matthew Brown @MatthewBrownAP

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  • Keukenhof, Halle: Flower power draws crowds to Low Countries

    Keukenhof, Halle: Flower power draws crowds to Low Countries

    HALLE, Belgium (AP) — Rain or shine, there is no way to keep budding flowers down.

    From the world-famous Keukenhof garden in the Netherlands to the magical bluebell Hallerbos forest in Belgium, they are out there again, almost on cue to enthrall, enthuse and soothe the mind. All despite the cold and miserable early spring in this part of Western Europe.

    The beauty is not lost on tens of thousands of visitors thronging the pathways through the riot of color and fragrances. And if the COVID-19 pandemic left the sights eerily deserted for a few years, the challenge now has become how to manage the masses.

    At the Keukenhof, one of the most famous flower gardens in Europe nestled amid tulip fields between Amsterdam and The Hague, the gates have opened again for the spring, but this year it is letting in fewer visitors each day to give them a better experience of the manicured beds of tulips and other flowers.

    “Before COVID we had some days 60,000 people here in the park. That’s too much,” said the garden’s director, Jeroen Duyster. “So, we said 40,000 in one day, that’s enough. It’s better for the waste. It’s better in the park. So you enjoy your stay here with 40 (thousand) better than with 60,000.”

    Gardeners plant and nurture the staggering 7 million bulbs to ensure visitors who flock to The Keukenhof from around the world all get to see a vibrant spectacle whenever they come during the opening season from March 23-May 14.

    “Our first visitor has to see the colors and our last visitor has to see the colors,” Duyster said. “We have the early tulips, we have the middle blooming tulips and the last the third, the later blooming tulips. So, every week we have a different picture of Keukenhof.”

    Shirley Ludwig from Michigan visited recently with her family.

    “We’re all excited to be together for one thing but just coming here is awesome. The flowers just add to the beauty, right?”

    South of the Netherlands, in Belgium, the Hallerbos just outside of Brussels needs as little manicuring as possible — actually it is a wild forest that has a few walkways through it that for two weeks become an ever bigger tourist attraction.

    For years, the annual show of an endless carpet of bluebells spreading under the fresh foliage of the beech trees was largely a local treat for the few in the know. Now that the internet can spread beauty at the push of a button, it has gone global and visitors come from as far as China, Argentina and South Africa to see the Hallerbos just after Easter.

    “But as the crowds grew bigger, the flowers suffered since they were trampled upon or picked for bouquets,” Halle mayor Marc Snoeck said. Some recent years, when spring was warm and clear, crowds swelled close to 100,000 over the top weeks.

    Ever since, parking close by is largely barred and people are shuttled in from Halle town, and venturing among the fragile bluebells is prevented, with miles of rope protecting the fragile flowers.

    Even dogs have to be kept on a leash. Deer, though, still roam as they please — once the crowds have left.

    ___

    Aleksandar Furtula reported from the Keukenhof. Mike Corder contributed from The Hague.

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  • Expelled Justin Pearson could be returned to Tennessee House

    Expelled Justin Pearson could be returned to Tennessee House

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House could return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission vote Wednesday, nearly a week after their banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled them into the national spotlight.

    A Shelby County Board of Commissioners committee approved a resolution Wednesday morning that clears the way for an afternoon vote by the full commission on whether Justin Pearson will get his seat back.

    “I will continue to fight with and for our people, whether in or out of office. We and the young protesters are the future of a new Tennessee. Those who seek to silence us will not have the final say,” Pearson wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times.

    Republicans banished Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones last week over their role in a gun control protest on the House floor after a Nashville school shooting that left three children and three adults dead.

    The Nashville Metropolitan Council took only a few minutes Monday to unanimously restore Jones to office. He was quickly reinstated to his House seat.

    The appointments are interim and special elections for the seats will take place in the coming months. Jones and Pearson have said they plan to run in the special elections.

    The House’s vote to remove Pearson and Jones but keep white Rep. Gloria Johnson drew accusations of racism. Johnson survived by one vote. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor, however.

    The expulsions last Thursday made Tennessee a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy. In the span of a few days, the two had raised thousands of campaign dollars, and the Tennessee Democratic Party had received a new jolt of support from across the U.S.

    Political tensions rose when Pearson, Johnson and Jones on the House floor joined with hundreds of demonstrators who packed the Capitol last month to call for passage of gun control measures.

    As protesters filled galleries, the lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant. The scene unfolded days after the shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school. Their participation from the front of the chamber broke House rules because the three did not have permission from the House speaker.

    Support for Pearson has come from across the country, including Memphis. During a Monday rally in support of Tyre Nichols, who died in January after he was beaten by police during an arrest, backers of Pearson said the commission was “on the clock.”

    “You’ve got one job — to reinstate Justin Pearson,” activist LJ Abraham said.

    Ahead of the Wednesday vote, Pearson was set to lead a march from the National Civil Rights Museum to the county commission’s office in downtown Memphis.

    Pearson grew up in the same House district he was chosen to represent after longtime state Rep. Barbara Cooper, a Black Democrat, died in office. It winds along the neighborhoods, forests and wetlands of south Memphis, through the city’s downtown area and into north Shelby County.

    Before he was elected, Pearson helped lead a successful campaign against a planned oil pipeline that would have run through neighborhoods and wetlands, and near wells that pump water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, which provides drinking water to 1 million people.

    He gained a quick reputation as a skilled community activist and gifted public speaker.

    Should Pearson join Jones in returning to the Tennessee Capitol, they’ll do so when political divisions between the state’s few Democratic strongholds and the Republican supermajority were already reaching boiling point before the expulsions.

    GOP members this year introduced a wave of punishing proposals to strip away Nashville’s autonomy. Others have pushed to abolish the state’s few community oversight boards that investigate police misconduct and instead replace them with advisory panels that would be blocked from investigating complaints.

    Lawmakers are also nearing passage of a bill that would move control of the board that oversees Nashville’s airport from local appointments to selections by Republican state government leaders

    Particularly on addressing gun violence, Republicans have so far refused to consider placing any new restrictions on firearms in the wake of the Nashville school shooting. Instead, lawmakers have advanced legislation designed to add more armed guards in public and private schools and are considering a proposal that would allow teachers to carry guns.

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  • As tiger count grows, India’s Indigenous demand land rights

    As tiger count grows, India’s Indigenous demand land rights

    BENGALURU, India — Just hours away from several of India’s major tiger reserves in the southern city of Mysuru, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to announce Sunday how much the country’s tiger population has recovered since its flagship conservation program began 50 years ago.

    Protesters, meanwhile, will tell their own stories of how they have been displaced by such wildlife conservation projects over the last half-century.

    Project Tiger began in 1973 after a census of the big cats found India’s tigers were fast going extinct through habitat loss, unregulated sport hunting, increased poaching and retaliatory killing by people. Laws attempted to address those issues, but the conservation model centered around creating protected reserves where ecosystems can function undisturbed by people.

    Several Indigenous groups say the conservation strategies, deeply influenced by American environmentalism, meant uprooting numerous communities that had lived in the forests for millennia.

    Members of several Indigenous or Adivasi groups — as Indigenous people are known in the country — set up the Nagarahole Adivasi Forest Rights Establishment Committee to protest evictions from their ancestral lands and seek a voice in how the forests are managed.

    “Nagarahole was one of the first forests to be brought under Project Tiger and our parents and grandparents were probably among the first to be forced out of the forests in the name of conservation,” said J. A. Shivu, 27, who belongs to the Jenu Kuruba tribe. “We have lost all rights to visit our lands, temples or even collect honey from the forests. How can we continue living like this?”

    The fewer than 40,000 Jenu Kuruba people are one of the 75 tribal groups that the Indian government classifies as particularly vulnerable. Jenu, which means honey in the southern Indian Kannada language, is the tribe’s primary source of livelihood as they collect it from beehives in the forests to sell. Adivasi communities like the Jenu Kurubas are among the poorest in India.

    Experts say conservation policies that attempted to protect a pristine wilderness were influenced by prejudices against local communities.

    The Indian government’s tribal affairs ministry has repeatedly said it is working on Adivasi rights. Only about 1% of the more than 100 million Adivasis in India have been granted any rights over forest lands despite a government forest rights law, passed in 2006, that aimed to “undo the historical injustice” for forest communities.

    Their Indigenous lands are also being squeezed by climate change, with more frequent forest fires spurred by extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall.

    India’s tiger numbers, meanwhile, are ticking upwards: the country’s 2,967 tigers account for more than 75% of the world’s wild tiger population. India has more tigers than its protected spaces can hold, with the cats also now living at the edge of cities and in sugarcane fields.

    Tigers have disappeared in Bali and Java and China’s tigers are likely extinct in the wild. The Sunda Island tiger, the other sub-species, is only found in Sumatra. India’s project to safeguard them has been praised as a success by many.

    “Project Tiger hardly has a parallel in the world since a scheme of this scale and magnitude has not been so successful elsewhere,” said SP Yadav, a senior Indian government official in charge of Project Tiger.

    But critics say the social costs of fortress conservation — where forest departments protect wildlife and prevent local communities from entering forest regions — is high. Sharachchandra Lele, of the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, said the conservation model is outdated.

    “There are already successful examples of forests managed by local communities in collaboration with government officials and tiger numbers have actually increased even while people have benefited in these regions,” he said.

    Vidya Athreya, the director of Wildlife Conservation Society in India who has been studying the interactions between large cats and humans for the last two decades, agreed.

    “Traditionally we always put wildlife over people,” Athreya said, adding that engaging with communities is the way forward for protecting wildlife in India.

    Shivu, from the Jenu Kuruba tribe, wants to go back to a life where Indigenous communities and tigers lived together.

    “We consider them gods and us the custodians of these forests,” he said.

    ___

    Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi, India, contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Microchips or microgreens? Oregon tweaks farm protection law

    Microchips or microgreens? Oregon tweaks farm protection law

    SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is changing a half-century-old land-use law to make room for semiconductor development and gain an edge in attracting the multi-billion-dollar industry, upsetting farmers who see their livelihoods at risk.

    Lawmakers backing a bill that also provides about $200 million in grants to chipmakers said it’s needed to make Oregon more competitive in luring more of the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry to the state. Other lawmakers argued that the measure is an attack on the nation’s first statewide policy — created a half-century ago — that limits urban sprawl and protects farmland and forests.

    “These regulations have resulted in 50 years of success protecting our farm and forest lands, containing urban sprawl, and protecting natural resources,” said Republican state Rep. Anna Scharf. “Senate Bill 4 throws that out the window.”

    The bill, which the state Senate approved last week and the House passed on a 44-10 vote Thursday, allows Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek to designate up to eight sites for urban growth boundary expansion — two that exceed 500 acres (202 hectares) and six smaller sites. The Oregon Farm Bureau was among the groups that opposed the bill.

    “There is some extremely valuable farmland in the area that produces Oregonians’ food and provides those families and those employees jobs,” Scharf said. “Farmland, once it is paved over, can never be reclaimed.”

    State Rep. Kim Wallan, a Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, said it gives the governor only narrow authority and is aimed at expediting the process for setting aside land for semiconductor factories, called fabs, and related businesses.

    State officials and lawmakers were stung by Intel’s decision last year to build a $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio instead of Oregon, where suitable zoned land is scarce. Intel is the state’s largest corporate employer.

    In Oregon, once land is included in an urban growth boundary, it is eligible for annexation by a city. Those boundary lines are regularly expanded, but the process can take months or even years. Under the bill, any appeals to the governor’s urban growth boundary expansions are expedited by going straight to the state Supreme Court.

    Kotek’s office said Friday that she will sign the measure into law in the next few days. In a statement Thursday, Kotek said the bill makes Oregon “poised to lay the foundation for the next generation of innovation and production of semiconductors.”

    “Oregon has been at the center of the semiconductor industry in the United States for decades,” Kotek said. “This bill is an absolutely essential tool for leading a coordinated effort with the private sector to ensure we can compete for federal funds to expand advanced manufacturing in Oregon.”

    The CHIPS and Science Act that Congress passed last year provides $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.

    It was Republican Gov. Tom McCall, who served from 1967 to 1975, who urged lawmakers to push for a tough new land-use law. In a 1973 speech to the Legislature, he denounced “sagebrush subdivisions, coastal ‘condomania’ and the ravenous rampage of suburbia.” Lawmakers responded by passing the law that placed growth boundaries on Oregon’s cities.

    Some opponents of the CHIPS bill objected Thursday to changing a system that’s been in place for 50 years.

    “I cannot in good conscience give the governor what is essentially a super-siting authority to take lands and bring them into the urban growth boundary,” said state Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican. “That is not the Oregon way.”

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  • Microchips or microgreens? Oregon tweaks farm protection law

    Microchips or microgreens? Oregon tweaks farm protection law

    SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is changing a half-century-old land-use law to make room for semiconductor development and gain an edge in attracting the multi-billion-dollar industry, upsetting farmers who see their livelihoods at risk.

    Lawmakers backing a bill that also provides about $200 million in grants to chipmakers said it’s needed to make Oregon more competitive in luring more of the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry to the state. Other lawmakers argued that the measure is an attack on the nation’s first statewide policy — created a half-century ago — that limits urban sprawl and protects farmland and forests.

    “These regulations have resulted in 50 years of success protecting our farm and forest lands, containing urban sprawl, and protecting natural resources,” said Republican state Rep. Anna Scharf. “Senate Bill 4 throws that out the window.”

    The bill, which the state Senate approved last week and the House passed on a 44-10 vote Thursday, allows Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek to designate up to eight sites for urban growth boundary expansion — two that exceed 500 acres (202 hectares) and six smaller sites. The Oregon Farm Bureau was among the groups that opposed the bill.

    “There is some extremely valuable farmland in the area that produces Oregonians’ food and provides those families and those employees jobs,” Scharf said. “Farmland, once it is paved over, can never be reclaimed.”

    State Rep. Kim Wallan, a Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, said it gives the governor only narrow authority and is aimed at expediting the process for setting aside land for semiconductor factories, called fabs, and related businesses.

    State officials and lawmakers were stung by Intel’s decision last year to build a $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio instead of Oregon, where suitable zoned land is scarce. Intel is the state’s largest corporate employer.

    In Oregon, once land is included in an urban growth boundary, it is eligible for annexation by a city. Those boundary lines are regularly expanded, but the process can take months or even years. Under the bill, any appeals to the governor’s urban growth boundary expansions are expedited by going straight to the state Supreme Court.

    Kotek’s office said Friday that she will sign the measure into law in the next few days. In a statement Thursday, Kotek said the bill makes Oregon “poised to lay the foundation for the next generation of innovation and production of semiconductors.”

    “Oregon has been at the center of the semiconductor industry in the United States for decades,” Kotek said. “This bill is an absolutely essential tool for leading a coordinated effort with the private sector to ensure we can compete for federal funds to expand advanced manufacturing in Oregon.”

    The CHIPS and Science Act that Congress passed last year provides $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.

    It was Republican Gov. Tom McCall, who served from 1967 to 1975, who urged lawmakers to push for a tough new land-use law. In a 1973 speech to the Legislature, he denounced “sagebrush subdivisions, coastal ‘condomania’ and the ravenous rampage of suburbia.” Lawmakers responded by passing the law that placed growth boundaries on Oregon’s cities.

    Some opponents of the CHIPS bill objected Thursday to changing a system that’s been in place for 50 years.

    “I cannot in good conscience give the governor what is essentially a super-siting authority to take lands and bring them into the urban growth boundary,” said state Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican. “That is not the Oregon way.”

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  • Oregon alters half-century-old land use law for chipmakers

    Oregon alters half-century-old land use law for chipmakers

    SALEM, Ore. — In an attempt to attract semiconductor companies to Oregon, the state Legislature authorized the governor on Thursday to expand urban growth boundaries to provide land for chipmakers to build factories.

    Lawmakers backing the bill, which also provides some $200 million in grants to chipmakers, said it’s needed to make Oregon more competitive among other states in luring more of the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry to the state. Other lawmakers argued that the measure is an attack on the nation’s first statewide policy — created a half-century ago — that limits urban sprawl and protects farmland and forests.

    “These regulations have resulted in 50 years of success protecting our farm and forest lands, containing urban sprawl and protecting natural resources,” said Rep. Anna Scharf, a Republican. “Senate Bill 4 throws that out the window.”

    The bill, approved by the state Senate last week and passed by the House on a 44-10 vote Thursday, allows Gov. Tina Kotek to designate up to a maximum of eight sites for urban growth boundary expansion — two that exceed 500 acres (202 hectares) and six smaller sites.

    “There is some extremely valuable farmland in the area that produces Oregonians’ food and provides those families and those employees jobs,” Scharf said. “Farmland, once it is paved over, can never be reclaimed.”

    Rep. Kim Wallan, a Republican and co-sponsor of the bill that a joint committee spent more than a month working on, said it gives Kotek only narrow authority and is aimed at expediting the process for setting aside land for semiconductor factories, called fabs, and related businesses.

    State officials and lawmakers were stung by chipmaker Intel’s decision last year to build a massive $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio, and not in Oregon where suitable zoned land is scarce. Intel is the state’s largest corporate employer.

    In Oregon, once land is included in an urban growth boundary, it is eligible for annexation to a city. Those boundary lines are regularly expanded. But the process can take months or even years. Under the bill, any appeals to the governor’s urban growth boundary expansions are expedited by going straight to the state Supreme Court.

    The bill goes to Kotek for signing into law and takes effect immediately. In a statement Thursday, Kotek said the bill makes Oregon “poised to lay the foundation for the next generation of innovation and production of semiconductors.”

    “Oregon has been at the center of the semiconductor industry in the United States for decades,” the Democrat said. “This bill is an absolutely essential tool for leading a coordinated effort with the private sector to ensure we can compete for federal funds to expand advanced manufacturing in Oregon.”

    The CHIPS and Science Act, passed by Congress in 2022, provides $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.

    It was Republican Gov. Tom McCall, who served from 1967 to 1975, who had urged lawmakers to push for a tough new land-use law. In a 1973 speech at the Legislature, he denounced “sagebrush subdivisions, coastal ‘condomania’ and the ravenous rampage of suburbia.” Lawmakers responded by passing the law that placed growth boundaries on Oregon’s cities.

    Some opponents of the Oregon CHIPS bill objected on Thursday to changing a system that’s been in place for 50 years.

    “I cannot in good conscience give the governor what is essentially a super-siting authority to take lands and bring them into the urban growth boundary,” said Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican. “That is not the Oregon way.”

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  • Paying for paradise? Hawaii mulls fees for ecotourism crush

    Paying for paradise? Hawaii mulls fees for ecotourism crush

    HONOLULU — Repairing coral reefs after boats run aground. Shielding native forest trees from a killer fungus outbreak. Patrolling waters for swimmers harassing dolphins and turtles.

    Taking care of Hawaii‘s unique natural environment takes time, people and money. Now Hawaii wants tourists to help pay for it, especially because growing numbers are traveling to the islands to enjoy the beauty of its outdoors — including some lured by dramatic vistas they’ve seen on social media.

    “All I want to do, honestly, is to make travelers accountable and have the capacity to help pay for the impact that they have,” Democratic Gov. Josh Green said earlier this year. “We get between nine and 10 million visitors a year (but) we only have 1.4 million people living here. Those 10 million travelers should be helping us sustain our environment.”

    Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require tourists to pay for a yearlong license or pass to visit state parks and trails. They’re still debating how much they would charge.

    The governor campaigned last year on a platform of having all tourists pay a $50 fee to enter the state. Legislators think this would violate U.S. constitutional protections for free travel and have promoted their parks and trails approach instead. Either policy would be a first of its kind for any U.S. state.

    Hawaii’s leaders are following the example of other tourism hotspots that have imposed similar fees or taxes like Venice, Italy, and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. The Pacific island nation of Palau, for example, charges arriving international passengers $100 to help it manage a sprawling marine sanctuary and promote ecotourism.

    State Rep. Sean Quinlan, a Democrat who chairs the House Tourism Committee, said changing traveler patterns are one reason behind Hawaii’s push. He said golf rounds per visitor per day have declined 30% over the past decade while hiking has increased 50%. People are also seeking out once-obscure sites that they’ve seen someone post on social media. The state doesn’t have the money to manage all these places, he said.

    “It’s not like it was 20 years ago when you bring your family and you hit maybe one or two famous beaches and you go see Pearl Harbor. And that’s the extent of it,” Quinlan said. “These days it’s like, well, you know, ‘I saw this post on Instagram and there’s this beautiful rope swing, a coconut tree.’”

    “All these places that didn’t have visitors now have visitors,” he said.

    Most state parks and trails are currently free. Some of the most popular ones already charge, like Diamond Head State Monument, which features a trail leading from the floor of a 300,000-year-old volcanic crater up to its summit. It gets 1 million visitors each year and costs $5 for each traveler.

    A bill currently before the state House would require nonresidents 15 years and older visiting forests, parks, trails or “other natural area on state land” to buy an annual license online or via mobile app. Violators would pay a civil fine, though penalties wouldn’t be imposed during a five-year education and transition period.

    Residents with a Hawaii driver’s license or other state identification would be exempt.

    The Senate passed a version of the measure setting the fee at $50. But the House Finance Committee amended it last week to delete the dollar amount. Chair Kyle Yamashita, a Democrat, said the bill was “a work in progress.”

    Dawn Chang, chair of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, told the committee that Hawaii’s beaches are open to the public, so people probably wouldn’t be cited there — and such details still need to be worked out.

    Rep. Dee Morikawa, a Democrat on the committee, recommended that the state create a list of places that would require the license.

    Green has indicated he’s flexible about where the fee is imposed and that he’s willing to support the Legislature’s approach.

    Supporters say there’s no other place in the U.S. that imposes a similar fee on visitors. The closest equivalent may be the $34.50 tax Alaska charges to each cruise ship passenger.

    Hawaii’s conservation needs are great. Invasive pests are attacking the state’s forests, including a fungal disease that is killing ohia, a tree unique to Hawaii that makes up the largest portion of the canopy in native wet forests.

    Some conservation work directly responds to tourism. The harassment of wildlife like dolphins, turtles and Hawaiian monk seals is a recurring problem. Hikers can unknowingly bring invasive species into the forest on their boots. Snorkelers and boats trample on coral, adding stress to reefs already struggling with invasive algae and coral bleaching.

    A 2019 report by Conservation International, a nonprofit environmental organization, estimated that total federal, state, county and private spending on conservation in Hawaii amounted to $535 million but the need was $886 million.

    At the Diamond Head trail recently, some visitors said the fee would make the most sense for people who come to Hawaii often or who might be staying for several weeks. Some said $50 was too high, especially for those who view a walk through nature as a low-cost activity.

    “For a large family that wants to have the experience with the kids, that would be a lot of money,” said Sarah Tripp, who was visiting Hawaii with her husband and two of their three children from Marquette, Michigan.

    Katrina Kain, an English teacher visiting from Puerto Rico, said she thought the fee would “sting” some people but would be fine so long as it was well-advertised.

    “If tourists were informed about it, then they would be OK with it,” she said. “If that was a surprise $50 fee, it would be a pretty lousy surprise.”

    The legislation says proceeds would go into a “visitor impact fee special fund” managed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

    Carissa Cabrera, project manager for the Hawaii Green Fee, a coalition of nonprofit groups supporting the measure, said this would ensure the state has money for conservation regardless of budget swings.

    Mufi Hanneman, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, which represents hotels, backs the bill but said Hawaii must carefully monitor how the money is used.

    “The last thing that you want to see is restrooms that haven’t been fixed, trails or pathways that haven’t been repaved or what have you — and year in, year out it remains the same and people are paying a fee,” Hannemann said.

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  • Factory or farm? Oregon may alter land use for chipmakers

    Factory or farm? Oregon may alter land use for chipmakers

    NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Aaron Nichols walked past rows of kale growing on his farm, his knee-high brown rubber boots speckled with some of the richest soil on earth, and gazed with concern toward fields in the distance. Just over the horizon loomed a gigantic building of the semiconductor chipmaker Intel.

    For exactly 50 years, the farms and forests that ring Oregon’s metropolitan centers have been protected from urban sprawl by the nation’s first statewide law that placed growth boundaries on cities. Cities cannot expand beyond those borders unless they make a request and justify it. Approval by cities and counties can take months or even a few years (larger expansions also need approval by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development).

    But now, a bill being considered in Oregon’s Legislature could authorize the governor to unilaterally expand those boundaries as part of Oregon’s quest to lure chip companies and provide land for them to build their factories. The measure would also provide $200 million in grants to chipmakers.

    Farmers and conservationists are deeply worried about the proposal and what it will mean for a state that cherishes its open spaces.

    “One of the reasons we bought our farm right here is that we knew that for 50 years we’d be farms, and everyone around us would be farms,” Nichols said. “And now we’re not so sure. Now it’s up to one decision by the governor. And that’s a scarier place to be.”

    State officials and lawmakers, on the other hand, are eager to bring more semiconductor factories to Oregon while billions of dollars of federal funding to promote the industry is available.

    They were stung by Intel’s decision last year to build a massive $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio, and not in Oregon where suitable zoned land is scarce.

    Oregon has its “Silicon Forest” — a counterpoint to California’s Silicon Valley — and has been at the center of semiconductor research and production for decades. But Oregon is competing with other states to host multibillion-dollar microchip factories, called fabs. The competition heated up after Congress passed the CHIPS Act in 2022, providing $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.

    Dramatically expanding semiconductor design and manufacturing in Oregon would create tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs and thousands of manufacturing and supply chain jobs, the Oregon Semiconductor Competitiveness Task Force, said in a report in August.

    But the task force warned that Oregon needs more buildable industrial land near infrastructure, talented workers and specialized suppliers to attract and retain semiconductor businesses, and called for “urgent legislative attention.”

    “This is about generational change,” Democratic state Sen. Janeen Sollman, a chief sponsor of the bill, said during a recent tour of an HP Inc. campus in Corvallis, Oregon. “This is the opportunity that students will have for their future in going into these types of jobs.”

    Today, thanks to a former Republican governor, you can drive from many cities in Oregon and within minutes be in farm or ranch country, unlike many states where cities are surrounded by expanses of shopping centers and housing developments.

    Tom McCall, who served as Oregon’s governor from 1967 to 1975, had successfully championed protections for Oregon’s beaches to ensure they remained public. In 1973, he urged lawmakers to push for a tough new land-use law.

    “Sagebrush subdivisions, coastal ‘condomania’ and the ravenous rampage of suburbia here in the Willamette Valley all threaten to mock Oregon’s status as an environmental model of this nation” McCall said in a speech before the Legislature in 1973.

    The Legislature complied, passing a bill that established the nation’s first statewide urban growth boundary policy.

    Washington state and Tennessee followed Oregon’s lead. In 1982, a ballot measure called for a repeal in Oregon. McCall, who was dying of cancer, campaigned against it. Voters upheld Oregon’s land-use system by rejecting the measure two months before McCall died.

    Under Oregon’s system, an urban growth boundary designates where a city expects to grow over the next 20 years. Once land is included in a UGB, it is eligible for annexation to a city. Those UGB lines are regularly expanded. From 2016 through 2021, 35 were approved, according to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.

    But the process takes time. McMinnville, in Oregon’s fabled wine country, battled for 20 years to expand its boundary, said Robert Parker, director of strategy at the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement.

    Obtaining approval can take months or years, depending on its level of controversy, said Gordon Howard, of Oregon’s land conservation department. Appeals to the courts or a state board cause further delays.

    That’s too long a wait for chipmaking companies, especially those that want to take advantage of CHIPS Act funding.

    “Other states offer a more streamlined approach that is more in sync with the speed of the market,” according to Oregon’s semiconductor task force, whose members included then-Gov. Kate Brown.

    Under the bill, the governor may designate up to a maximum of eight sites for UGB expansion: two that exceed 500 acres (202 hectares) and six smaller sites. Any appeals go straight to the state Supreme Court.

    The Oregon Farm Bureau, which represents 7,000 family farmers, said the effort should instead focus on lands already within the urban growth boundary.

    “The conversion of agricultural lands into paved industrial lands is a permanent destruction of our natural and working lands,” said bureau Vice President Lauren Poor. “Once it’s paved, the soil and its ability to sequester carbon, support our food system and generate income for Oregonians is gone forever.”

    Washington County, where Nichol’s farm is located, produces more clover seed crop than anywhere else in the world, thanks to its unique soil and rainy climate, said Nicole Anderson, an associate professor at Oregon State University’s Department of Crop and Soil Science.

    “I hope that science and consideration of our land resources are considered when this bill is voted on,” Anderson told the Legislature’s joint committee on semiconductors on March 13.

    On Friday, the ways and means committee sent the bill for a vote on the Senate floor. The Senate will consider the priority legislation this week.

    “I am thrilled to see this legislation pass out of committee and look forward to seeing it through to the finish line,” said Rep. Kim Wallan, a Republican and a chief sponsor of the bill.

    Parker, the land-use expert, doesn’t believe its passage would mark the start of the end of Oregon’s treasured policy.

    “Will there be more challenges and bumps in the road ahead? Yeah, I think so,” Parker said. “But I feel like it is so well established in the state at this point that it has the inertia to carry it through those challenges.”

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  • Factory or farm? Oregon may alter land use for chipmakers

    Factory or farm? Oregon may alter land use for chipmakers

    NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Aaron Nichols walked past rows of kale growing on his farm, his knee-high brown rubber boots speckled with some of the richest soil on earth, and gazed with concern toward fields in the distance. Just over the horizon loomed a gigantic building of the semiconductor chipmaker Intel.

    For exactly 50 years, the farms and forests that ring Oregon’s metropolitan centers have been protected from urban sprawl by the nation’s first statewide law that placed growth boundaries on cities. Cities cannot expand beyond those borders unless they make a request and justify it. Approval by cities and counties can take months or even a few years (larger expansions also need approval by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development).

    But now, a bill being considered in Oregon’s Legislature could authorize the governor to unilaterally expand those boundaries as part of Oregon’s quest to lure chip companies and provide land for them to build their factories. The measure would also provide $200 million in grants to chipmakers.

    Farmers and conservationists are deeply worried about the proposal and what it will mean for a state that cherishes its open spaces.

    “One of the reasons we bought our farm right here is that we knew that for 50 years we’d be farms, and everyone around us would be farms,” Nichols said. “And now we’re not so sure. Now it’s up to one decision by the governor. And that’s a scarier place to be.”

    State officials and lawmakers, on the other hand, are eager to bring more semiconductor factories to Oregon while billions of dollars of federal funding to promote the industry is available.

    They were stung by Intel’s decision last year to build a massive $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio, and not in Oregon where suitable zoned land is scarce.

    Oregon has its “Silicon Forest” — a counterpoint to California’s Silicon Valley — and has been at the center of semiconductor research and production for decades. But Oregon is competing with other states to host multibillion-dollar microchip factories, called fabs. The competition heated up after Congress passed the CHIPS Act in 2022, providing $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.

    Dramatically expanding semiconductor design and manufacturing in Oregon would create tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs and thousands of manufacturing and supply chain jobs, the Oregon Semiconductor Competitiveness Task Force, said in a report in August.

    But the task force warned that Oregon needs more buildable industrial land near infrastructure, talented workers and specialized suppliers to attract and retain semiconductor businesses, and called for “urgent legislative attention.”

    “This is about generational change,” Democratic state Sen. Janeen Sollman, a chief sponsor of the bill, said during a recent tour of an HP Inc. campus in Corvallis, Oregon. “This is the opportunity that students will have for their future in going into these types of jobs.”

    Today, thanks to a former Republican governor, you can drive from many cities in Oregon and within minutes be in farm or ranch country, unlike many states where cities are surrounded by expanses of shopping centers and housing developments.

    Tom McCall, who served as Oregon’s governor from 1967 to 1975, had successfully championed protections for Oregon’s beaches to ensure they remained public. In 1973, he urged lawmakers to push for a tough new land-use law.

    “Sagebrush subdivisions, coastal ‘condomania’ and the ravenous rampage of suburbia here in the Willamette Valley all threaten to mock Oregon’s status as an environmental model of this nation” McCall said in a speech before the Legislature in 1973.

    The Legislature complied, passing a bill that established the nation’s first statewide urban growth boundary policy.

    Washington state and Tennessee followed Oregon’s lead. In 1982, a ballot measure called for a repeal in Oregon. McCall, who was dying of cancer, campaigned against it. Voters upheld Oregon’s land-use system by rejecting the measure two months before McCall died.

    Under Oregon’s system, an urban growth boundary designates where a city expects to grow over the next 20 years. Once land is included in a UGB, it is eligible for annexation to a city. Those UGB lines are regularly expanded. From 2016 through 2021, 35 were approved, according to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.

    But the process takes time. McMinnville, in Oregon’s fabled wine country, battled for 20 years to expand its boundary, said Robert Parker, director of strategy at the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement.

    Obtaining approval can take months or years, depending on its level of controversy, said Gordon Howard, of Oregon’s land conservation department. Appeals to the courts or a state board cause further delays.

    That’s too long a wait for chipmaking companies, especially those that want to take advantage of CHIPS Act funding.

    “Other states offer a more streamlined approach that is more in sync with the speed of the market,” according to Oregon’s semiconductor task force, whose members included then-Gov. Kate Brown.

    Under the bill, the governor may designate up to a maximum of eight sites for UGB expansion: two that exceed 500 acres (202 hectares) and six smaller sites. Any appeals go straight to the state Supreme Court.

    The Oregon Farm Bureau, which represents 7,000 family farmers, said the effort should instead focus on lands already within the urban growth boundary.

    “The conversion of agricultural lands into paved industrial lands is a permanent destruction of our natural and working lands,” said bureau Vice President Lauren Poor. “Once it’s paved, the soil and its ability to sequester carbon, support our food system and generate income for Oregonians is gone forever.”

    Washington County, where Nichol’s farm is located, produces more clover seed crop than anywhere else in the world, thanks to its unique soil and rainy climate, said Nicole Anderson, an associate professor at Oregon State University’s Department of Crop and Soil Science.

    “I hope that science and consideration of our land resources are considered when this bill is voted on,” Anderson told the Legislature’s joint committee on semiconductors on March 13.

    On Friday, the ways and means committee sent the bill for a vote on the Senate floor. The Senate will consider the priority legislation this week.

    “I am thrilled to see this legislation pass out of committee and look forward to seeing it through to the finish line,” said Rep. Kim Wallan, a Republican and a chief sponsor of the bill.

    Parker, the land-use expert, doesn’t believe its passage would mark the start of the end of Oregon’s treasured policy.

    “Will there be more challenges and bumps in the road ahead? Yeah, I think so,” Parker said. “But I feel like it is so well established in the state at this point that it has the inertia to carry it through those challenges.”

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