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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Environment, social justice groups withdraw support for governor's key groundwater protection bill
Gov. Tina Kotek on May 3, 2023 at the home of Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Boardman resident and Oregon Rural Action organizer, whose well water has nearly four times the safe drinking water limit for nitrate. Kotek was visiting with residents in Boardman, who are concerned that progress on the nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin has been slow. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Groups that helped champion one of Gov. Tina Kotek's key groundwater protection bills this session are withdrawing their support and asking the Legislature to let it die for now, following a last-minute amendment they say effectively neutralizes the intent of the legislation. Senate Bill 1154 as first proposed in February would provide long overdue updates to the state's Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989, giving state agencies more authority to coordinate and to intervene early in Oregon's contaminated groundwater areas. Since 1989, three critical groundwater management areas have been identified in Oregon. They are all still considered to be in critical condition due to nitrate contamination, almost entirely from agricultural fertilizers and animal manure, and none have seen vast improvement in the last two to three decades. Groups heavily involved in addressing water contamination issues in northeast Oregon — including the nonprofits Oregon Rural Action, Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch of Oregon, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Friends of Family Farmers — consulted with Kotek's environmental advisers on the bill and offered testimony supporting it in recent months. But in advance of a public hearing and vote on Monday in the Senate Committee on Rules, the groups released a statement saying they could no longer support it. They wrote that a proposed 39-page amendment posted late Friday at the request of state Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland and committee chair, 'revealed the extent to which the Governor's office had allowed powerful industrial lobbies to influence the bill late in the session.' Lawmakers have to wrap up voting on all bills by June 29. At a news conference Monday Kotek said she was not aware of the proposed amendment. 'I think the bill is in good shape, and I know some folks would like it to be stronger, but I think it significantly strengthens what we do in the state, and I support the bill in its current state,' she said. Several environmental and social justice groups that have supported the bill continue to do so with the amendment, according to Anca Matica, a Kotek spokesperson. They include the Portland-based nonprofit Verde, Oregon Environmental Council and Beyond Toxics. The amendment strikes earlier provisions in the bill that would have required state agencies to provide regular reports to the Environmental Quality Commission, the governor and the Legislature in order to receive funding to execute their local voluntary implementation plan. It also strikes part of the original bill that would have allowed the state to modify existing permits for wastewater reuse and confined animal feed operations if doing so could curb pollution. One big change the amendment brings to the original bill, according to Kaleb Lay, policy director at Oregon Rural Action, is eliminating the requirement that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Water Resources Department work together to figure out whether new requests for groundwater permits, or requests for new uses of groundwater, might contribute to pollution. Representatives from the Oregon Farm Bureau and Water for Eastern Oregon, a nonprofit industry group representing northeast Oregon food processors and agricultural industries, said the amendment makes improvements to the bill, specifically ones that require third-party analysis of state hydrogeology and well-testing data. 'The bill has come a long way. And again, the problem is identified,' Oregon Farm Bureau Executive Director Greg Addington told lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee. 'We want to avoid groundwater contamination. We can all understand that, and we can all get behind it.' Kristin Anderson Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action, said in the multi-group statement it would be better to abstain from voting on the bill now and to work on it for the next Legislative short session in 2026. 'Governor Kotek showed great initiative in putting this bill forward to learn the lessons of the LUBGWMA (Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area) in eastern Oregon, but this legislation doesn't go far enough to put those lessons into practice,' she wrote. 'Polluters continue to get whatever they want, while the communities directly impacted by pollution are denied what they need and have been asking for – to enforce the law and stop the Pollution.' The Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, designated as critically impaired in 1990, has gotten worse under state supervision. A volunteer committee established in 1997 to tackle problems has had little to no impact. Thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties — mostly Latino and low-income — have been drinking from contaminated wells, which is dangerous because nitrates consumed over long periods can increase risks for cancer and birth defects. In September, Kotek and state agency officials released a comprehensive plan for curbing nitrate pollution in northeast Oregon that 'will take decades' to achieve. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opposition packs hearing on Gov. Kotek proposal to update critical groundwater area protections
Gov. Tina Kotek on May 3, 2023 at the home of Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Boardman resident and Oregon Rural Action organizer, whose well water has nearly four times the safe drinking water limit for nitrate. Kotek was visiting with residents in Boardman, who are concerned that progress on the nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin has been slow. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Gov. Tina Kotek's proposal to give state agencies more authority to intervene earlier in Oregon's contaminated groundwater areas met massive opposition at its first public hearing. Two rooms and two separate hearings were scheduled Tuesday to accommodate all of the people who went to the Capitol to offer testimony on Senate Bill 1154 during a meeting of the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee. The bill was sent to the Senate Rules Committee without recommendation, where it will receive another public hearing in the weeks ahead. Bill advocates say it would provide much-needed updates to the state's Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989. That act was meant to conserve groundwater resources and prevent contamination following well-testing across the state that showed many contained water with high levels of agricultural chemicals. Chandra Ferrari, Kotek's natural resources adviser, told lawmakers the current law is too vague, lacks a clear process for involving state and local agencies in remediating pollution and doesn't do enough to protect groundwater from pollution before aquifers become critically impaired. About 80% of Oregonians rely on groundwater for some or all of their drinking water, and one-quarter rely on private, at-home wells. About 90% of rural Oregonians rely on those at-home wells, according to Ferrari. 'It's risky, it's costly, it's time-consuming to not effectively address contamination,' Ferrari told lawmakers. 'We need to work harder to not hit these critical contamination thresholds, and we need to work smarter when we do. Our laws should facilitate us doing these things well.' But those opposed to the updates include more than 560 people and groups who submitted testimony in advance of the hearing, as well as several eastern Oregon state representatives, who say the bill would allow state agencies broader authority to do water and soil testing and monitoring on private property without landowner consent and that it could lead to state agencies cutting off water to some. State Reps. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, and Greg Smith, R-Heppner, spoke in opposition to the bill at the hearing . Smith said allowing state agencies to monitor and test private wells, or inspect potentially leaky septic systems, would violate his constituents' property rights. Levy called it an 'unacceptable overreach of state power,' and a 'persecution' of rural Oregonians. 'It grants broad, unchecked authority to state agencies, allows them to walk onto private property, dig up soil, impose arbitrary restrictions and suspend water use that is critical, not only to agriculture, but to basic human life,' she said, before applause erupted in one hearing room. The updated Groundwater Quality Protection Act would establish thresholds for contaminants that automatically qualify them as critical groundwater management areas. It would also create a new designation for 'groundwater areas of concern,' where contaminants are detected but a threshold for declaring the area in critical condition hasn't quite been met. The five governor-appointed members of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission would designate 'areas of concern' if contamination was growing or particularly threatening, and then the governor would appoint a response team made up of a mix of agency officials who would help local stakeholders create a 'local voluntary implementation plan' for curbing pollution and alerting the public. The groups and agencies would be required to provide regular reports to the Environmental Quality Commission, the governor and the Legislature in order to receive funding to execute their local voluntary implementation plan. If the voluntary plan does not keep a basin from entering critical contamination thresholds, then state agencies could more directly intervene, including testing soil and water on private land for potential septic leaks and requiring some wastewater permit holders to conform to tighter regulations on where and how much nitrate-laden water they can release. The bill also more clearly spells out which agencies are responsible for participating in action on groundwater management areas and what each agency is responsible for doing. The Oregon Health Authority would be in charge of informing the public and helping with testing and providing safe drinking water; the Oregon Water Resources Department would be in charge of regulating water flows and rights; the Oregon Department of Agriculture would take on agricultural polluters and mitigating farm pollution; the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality would take on any changes needed to protect groundwater through industrial water permitting; and other agencies would be involved as needed, according to Ferrari. As the law works now, there isn't one sole agency responsible for groundwater quality protection in Oregon, Ferrari said, and no single agency is responsible for helping communities impacted by contaminated groundwater. Since 1989, three critical groundwater management areas have been identified in Oregon. They are all still considered to be in critical condition due to nitrate contamination, almost entirely from agriculture, and none have seen vast improvement in the last two to three decades. The Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area in northeastern Oregon, designated as critically impaired in 1990, has gotten worse under state supervision, and a volunteer committee established in 1997 to tackle problems has had little to no impact. Thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties — mostly Latino and low-income — have lived and drunk from contaminated wells, which is dangerous because nitrates consumed over long periods can increase risks for cancer and birth defects. In September, Kotek and state agency officials released a comprehensive plan for curbing nitrate pollution in northeast Oregon that 'will take decades' to achieve. More than a dozen residents of Boardman who cannot drink their well water submitted testimony in support of Senate Bill 1154. Kaleb Lay, director of policy research at the nonprofit Oregon Rural Action, said the bill could be improved in the Senate Rules Committee to get broader buy-in, but that updates to the Groundwater Protection Act are long overdue. It wasn't until Morrow County declared a water emergency and Oregon Rural Action began a grassroots well testing campaign that the state became more directly involved. 'If we leave the law unfixed, it will simply stay broken. I would argue that every moment we spend on this bill is worthwhile,' Lay told lawmakers. Ferrari said updates to the Groundwater Quality Protection Act would allow the state to intervene earlier to avoid situations such as that in the Lower Umatilla Basin. 'We know or have reason to believe there are contamination problems in other parts of the state that are not currently GWMAs (groundwater management areas). And also, we are still in the process, 30-plus years later, of undertaking costly and time consuming efforts to address contamination in the GWMAs that have been identified,' she told lawmakers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Kotek's economic emergency order is callous for eastern Oregonians
Ana Maria Rodriguez demonstrates how to test for nitrates outside the state Capitol in Salem on April 17, 2023. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Two years ago, Morrow County residents drove to Salem to meet with Gov. Tina Kotek's staff to discuss the nitrate pollution in the area's underground water. They asked that the governor declare a public health emergency to unleash resources to address the years-long crisis. Kotek finally responded — this month. She declared an economic emergency for the area, allowing the Port of Morrow to violate its wastewater permit and continue the practices that have destroyed the environment and lives. This was a callous decision and ignores the situation on the ground. Nitrate contamination in Morrow and Umatilla counties has led to miscarriages, cancer and other serious health issues. I've seen it firsthand, visiting homes where families are suffering because of the water they drink. Perhaps if she had an inbox full of heart-wrenching stories or had sat and grieved with the multitude of mothers who have lost their babies to this pestilence — it may have given her pause. Instead, in her press release, she said, 'I heard from a couple local titans of business who suggested that discontinuing the pollution will reduce their income.' It is fundamental under American law that you do not have a right to make money while harming another's property nor health. Kotek came to our community a couple of years ago, promising change. She pledged to stop the pollution, to end winter discharges that flood our groundwater with nitrates. But those promises have been forgotten, replaced by an economic emergency declaration that prioritizes profit over people. Those promises have turned out to be lies. The community hit hardest by this crisis is largely made up of minority and low-income families, making this an environmental justice issue at its core. Kotek campaigned on environmental justice, but her actions tell a different story. Here, in the Lower Umatilla Basin, we're living proof that those pledges were empty. The violence against advocacy, like when one of Oregon Rural Action's vehicles was firebombed during a visit by BIPOC legislative members, shows how desperate some are to silence our cries for a cleaner, safer environment. It's not just about health and environmental policy; it's about basic human rights. The Environmental Protection Agency recommended a health assessment and an epidemiological study to truly understand the impact of nitrates on our community. Both the state and the polluters have been reluctant, perhaps fearing what the truth might cost them. But the cost to us, in health and lives, is already too high. This situation demands immediate, decisive action, not economic Band-Aids that allow pollution to continue. Kotek's decision to prioritize an economic emergency over public health shows a preference for safeguarding agricultural and industrial profits at the expense of our well-being, especially for those in our marginalized communities who suffer the most. Sadly, when money is at stake there are those on the left and right that won't let reproduction, environmental degradation or justice stand in their way. This declaration isn't just a setback for environmental justice in Oregon; it's a betrayal of the trust we placed in our leaders to protect us. It's a harsh reminder that without relentless advocacy, public pressure, and possibly legal action, the voices of those suffering from nitrate contamination will continue to be ignored in favor of economic interests. But the fight isn't over, and as long as I'm here, I'll keep pushing for real change — —putting health and justice before profit.
