Posts Tagged ‘ house bill 2626 ’

Over The Weekend, 4 Wins For The Enviro Agenda In Salem

June 28, 2009
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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.




Green Agenda Moves Forward In Salem

June 26, 2009
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In the past 24 hours, we’ve seen some key pieces of the environmental agenda make progress before the Oregon Legislature.

Here’s the latest we know as of this morning.

Low Carbon Fuel Standards

House Bill 2186 calls for lowering the carbon emissions associated with fuel for cars, trucks and other vehicles.  Transportation is one of the biggest source of carbon emissions in Oregon.  This bill is designed to help meet statewide goals to reduce emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, and at least 75% below 1990 levels by 2050.

But rather than mandating certain steps, supporters says the bill gives fuel companies flexibility to meet the goals.  For example, instead of producing cleaner gasoline, the fuel companies could instead reduce the emissions created by the process of producing or transporting the gas.

Supporter say the bill also encourages the development of home grown fuels, such as biofuels and will lower our dependence on foreign oil.

Business groups, such as the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association opposed it, saying it will drive up the costs of moving goods to market.

Status: The House approved Senate amendments this morning, goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.

Field Burning

Senate Bill 528 bans most field burning in nine Willamette Valley counties by 2010.  Field burning is most commonly used in this area by grass seed growers to remove leftover straw and stubble from fields, and to control weeds, insects and plant diseases.  The practice has been around for decades, but the amount of acreage being burned has fallen off dramatically since the 1980s.

Still, supporters were persuaded by people who complained about the health effects of field burning.  People with cardiovascular disease, the elderly and children are especially affected by the fine particles in field burning smoke.

Status: Approved by the Senate and goes before the House.

Help For Homeowners To Make Houses More Energy Efficient

Updating our homes so they’re more energy efficient can be expensive, and the goal of House Bill 2626 is to provide some help.  It creates low interest loans to homeowners and businesses to pay for the cost of making energy efficient improvements.  The money would be paid back, over time, as an extra charge on power bills.  But because you’d be using less energy and paying less, it would offset the extra charge for paying back the loan.

When the property is sold, the extra charge would pass on to the new owner.

Status: Approved by the House and goes before the Senate.