No more leftovers in the trash. This summer, people in Salem will have the chance to put their food waste in composting bins and have it hauled away like the rest of the garbage. The city council approved the plan last night. It could reduce the city’s waste stream up to 20%. To be determined – how much more this will cost. But the program will be voluntary. Keizer is considering a similar service.
From the Salem Statesman Journal: Council to allow new food waste recycling service
Just hours after withdrawing his bill for a statewide ban on single use plastic bags, Senator Mark Hass sounds upbeat.
SB 1009, the bill he co-sponsored with Senator Jason Atkinson, was the underdog story of the special session. At the beginning, it wasn’t on the radar screen of the state’s big environmental groups. But when news of the proposed bag ban broke it grabbed the public’s attention like nothing else the green agenda.
“We just ran out of time,” say Hass. Efforts to reach some kind of agreement with Oregon grocers never came about. In a shortened special session, consensus must come together quickly.
But ban supporters accomplished something important. The debate focused lots of attention on plastic bags and their major contribution to Oregon’s litter problem. “We’ll fight again another day,” says Hass, promising to revive the issue when the legislature returns in early 2011.
Just got off the phone with Charlie Plybon of Oregon Surfrider. Plybon says SB 1009, the bill to ban plastic bags at grocery stores and other retail locations is done for the session.
Plybon says sponsor Senator Mark Hass of Beaverton withdrew the bill this afternoon. He quoted Hass as telling the Environment and Natural Resources Committee there wasn’t enough of a consensus for it.
The first year of electronics recycling programs in Oregon and Washington were a huge success.
Both states started nearly identical programs at the beginning of 2009 and reported their yearly results today.
With adjournment just a few days away, the Oregon Senate made a rare weekend appearance to take care of unfinished business. This includes some of the bills that are important to the state’s environmental community.
Invasive Species
The Senate approved a bill that creates a system of mobile checkpoints, where vehicles hauling boats and trailers will be stopped and inspected for invasive species. If necessary, the boats and trailers will be disinfected before resuming travel. This bill gives wildlife officials an important tool to keep nasty invaders such as quagga and zebra mussels out of Oregon. House Bill 2220 also increases penalties for people who knowingly transport invasive species.
Status: Goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.
Recycling Paint
Leftover paint is the biggest hazardous waste problem for Oregon. But with House Bill 3037 passing the Senate, recycling paint will be easier than ever. It allows the paint industry to create a paint recycling and disposal program. The goal to is establish more places where old paint can be dropped off by consumers and contractors. While many environmental bills are controversial, this one was supported by the paint industry.
Status: Goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.
Promoting Energy Efficiency
Oregonians will be getting some help to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient. House Bill 2626 allows us to finance energy efficient improvement with low interest loans. The money has to be repaid through an extra charge in our monthly utility bills. But if we’re using less energy to heat, cool and light our buildings, then the extra charge may not hurt so much. The Senate approved this bill Saturday.
Status: Goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.
Educating Our Kids
The last of the four bills approved this weekend is House Bill 2544. It creates the Oregon Environmental Literacy Task Force. The group’s goal will be to create a plan to educate our school kids about the environment, get them outside more often to experience it, and includes professional development for teachers on environmental issues. It’s better known as the “No Child Left Outside” law.
Status: Goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.
The update of Oregon’s Bottle Bill was sent to the House floor this afternoon, but not without a concession to grocery stores. House Bill 2184 adds several new beverages to the bottle bill list. It also raises the refund from five cents to ten cents, if Oregonians don’t meet certain recycling goals. The Environment and Water Committee approved it on a 5-2 party line vote.
Grocers want to create a statewide system of redemption centers, so that they don’t have to handle so many bottle returns. A dispute over which stores would have to accept returns, and how many, was dropped to help the bill pass.
As for the Greenhouse gas legislation, the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved it on a 3-2 party line vote. Senate bill 80 puts into place plans to reduce greenhouse emissions in the state over the next 40 years. It was forwarded to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, meaning a floor vote is still in doubt.
Two major pieces of green legislation get another chance in Salem today.
The bottle bill, House Bill 2184, goes before the House Environment and Water Committee this afternoon. Katy Daily of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters thinks there’s a good chance it’ll be approved today. The latest version adds several beverages to the bottle refund list starting in 2013, including sports drinks, coffee, tea, juice and similar non-carbonated beverages. Meanwhile, Oregonian will have to do a better job of recycling or returning bottles. If we don’t hit an 80% recycle/return rate in the next few years, the deposit increases to ten cents per bottle.
Odds are improving that the greenhouse gas reduction bill, Senate Bill 80, gets a vote this afternoon. The latest version includes language that might provide some relief to opponents. It allows the Public Utility Commission, and utilities, to back away from plans to reduce emissions if the costs are so high they’re not “economically feasible”. The earlier version used an “extreme economic hardship” standard.
Three big environmental projects in Salem today, starting with…
Greenhouse gas reductions:
The big event of the day comes this afternoon when the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee resumes work on a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Senate Bill 80, utilities and transportation companies have to find ways to reduce emissions and help the state reach the goals agreed upon in the 2007 legislature. Those goals are reducing emissions at least 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, and at least 75% below 1990 levels by 2050. Factories, and other “stationary” sources of greenhouse gas would get a five year break to develop a voluntary program.
Business groups have lobbied hard against the bill, warning that the costs of meeting these goals will hurt the state’s economy and cost jobs. Considering the current economic situation, it’s no surprise that their arguments are getting striking home with legislators. There were more behind the scene talks this week on a possible compromise.
Updating The Bottle Bill:
Really interesting story in the Statesman Journal this morning. It’s about a company, Agri-Plas, that has found a way to get oil from recycled plastic. The paper says Agri-Plas can get about a gallon of oil from 9 pounds of plastic. The company thinks it can produce about 70 barrels a day. It’s already sold about 20,000 gallons to a Tacoma refinery. Some of the best plastics for oil are considered “lower grade” and more likely to end up in landfills.
Every wonder what to do with a fluorescent light bulb after it burns out? Don’t just throw it away. Those energy saving bulbs contain mercury which is harmful to wildlife and people. In fact many of the things we toss out are toxic to the environment. That’s why the Legislature is looking at a series of bills designed to make it easier to recycle things like fluorescent bulbs, rechargeable batteries, paint and prescription drugs. Manufacturers say the bills will make these products more expensive. For the complete story see the Salem Statesman Journal.
Meanwhile the Statesman Journal also includes a good article about plans to regulate chemicals in children’s products. One bill would ban BPA and phthalates, while the other gives state officials the power to monitor what’s in products and possibly order safer alternatives to be used. See the full story here.
Crook County gave a big thumbs to Central Oregon’s first wind farm. The West Butte Wind Power Project will be located on about 20 acres of private land just north of Millican. Developers say they plan to build about 34-52 turbines, but most of them won’t be visible from major highways. ODFW officials raised concerns about the project because it’s close to a small population of Sage Grouse. But county officials decided that the $1 million it’ll get in additional property taxes was more important. From the Bend Bulletin.
The amount of material being recycled in Umatilla County is down and the recession is to blame. Pendleton Sanitary Service tells the East Oregonian that its two largest suppliers of recyclable goods are RV manufacturers. One of them has shut down operations in the area and the other is operating at a reduced level. For more information see “Reduce, Reuse, Recession”.
