SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE, SALMON AND WATER

January 10, 2001 Hearing Room B

8:00 a.m. Tapes 1 - 2

MEMBERS PRESENT: Sen. Ken Messerle, Chair

Sen. Frank Shields, Vice-Chair

Sen. Bill Fisher

Sen. Ginny Burdick

Sen. Jason Atkinson

Sen. Roger Beyer

Sen. Ryan Deckert

STAFF PRESENT: Judith Callens, Committee Administrator

Patricia Nielsen, Committee Assistant

MEASURE/ISSUES HEARD: Adoption of Committee Rules

Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#		Speaker	Comments
TAPE 1, A
007	Chair Messerle		Calls committee to order at 8:17 a.m.
ADOPTION OF COMMITTEE RULES
017	Chair Messerle		Offers to entertain a motion to adopt rules (EXHIBIT A).
020	Sen. Burdick		Inquires whether there is a change to item 11, regarding minority reports.
025	Judith Callens		Responds these are from Judy Hall, adopted to coincide with new Senate rules, to reflect a 48-hour deadline for filing minority reports.
030	Sen. Burdick		MOTION: Moves to ADOPT the proposed Committee Rules.
			VOTE: 5-0 EXCUSED: 2 – Sen. R. Beyer, Sen. Deckert
040	Chair Messerle		Hearing no objection, declares the motion CARRIED.
045	Chair Messerle		Asks for introductions, and introduces himself.
057	Sen. Atkinson		Introduces himself and describes his background.
69	Sen. Burdick		Introduces herself and describes her background.
094	Sen. Shields		Introduces himself and describes his background.
109	Sen. Fisher		Introduces himself and describes his background
136	Sen. Deckert		Introduces himself and describes his background.
156	Chair Messerle		Introduces committee staff.
170	Judith Callens		Introduces herself and describes her background.
189	Jennifer Solomon		Introduces herself and describes her background.
207	Chair Messerle		Describes issue assignments for staff, with Judith Callens working on salmon and water issues, and Jennifer Solomon handling agriculture and forestry issues.
OREGON PLAN FOR SALMON AND WATERSHEDS
238	Chair Messerle		Opens informational meeting regarding the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.
250	Louise Solliday		Governor’s Assistant for Natural Resources. Describes the structure and staffing for the Oregon Plan. Refers to handouts: “A guide to State Teams, Oversight Bodies and Funding Agency” (EXHIBIT C); Oregon Plan Directory (EXHIBIT D); and List of Governor’s staff working on Oregon Plan (EXHIBIT E).
296	Solliday		Presents overview of Oregon Plan oversight structure and stakeholders.
383	Solliday		Describes how implementation has been progressing.
414	Roy Hemmingway		Governor’s Policy Advisor on Salmon and Energy Policy. Submits and reviews written material on the Oregon Plan (EXHIBIT F).
TAPE 2, A
040	Hemmingway		Continues reviewing submitted material.
119	Hemmingway		Continues reviewing submitted material.
207	Hemmingway		Continues reviewing submitted material.
291	Chair Messerle		Describes Soil and Water Districts efforts, forest industry activities, and actions of ranchers, cities and counties. Asks Hemmingway to describe what progress has been made to try to get the federal agencies to work with us, instead of having individual agencies work on their own behalf.
371	Hemmingway		Explains that it has always been the idea of the Oregon Plan to let local people solve their own area problems, and to give landowners a set of tools to manage their land.
431	Solliday		Describes other efforts under the Oregon Plan to deal with issues on a more local level, and the lesser level of involvement of federal agencies which is developing.
TAPE 1, B
22	Chair Messerle		Reiterates anxiety and concern of constituents about the uncertainty over what the federal government will do, and concern about third-party lawsuits.
068	Hemmingway		Reviews his understanding of the economics of the energy crisis problem.
080	Chair Messerle		Requests information, with focus on Oregon Plan efforts and how they will be affected by the energy situation.
085	Hemmingway		Continues to describe economics of the energy crisis, with net effect of money leaving Oregon because of the situation in California.
162	Chair Messerle		Describes the California energy deregulation, and what consequences resulted.
176	Sen. Burdick		Asks for clarification about interaction between federal listings and mandates, and the Oregon Plan.
185	Hemmingway		Identifies the two aspects of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
216	Solliday		Describes federal process of listing a species, and developing a recovery plan for that species, and explains how the Oregon Plan is the state equivalent.
240	Sen. Burdick		Asks about cooperation between federal and state agencies.
248	Solliday		Responds and describes cooperation efforts, especially with regard to the Willamette River. Cautions that neither Oregon Plan nor Willamette Restoration Initiative (WRI) is a complete strategy.
262	Chair Messerle		Elaborates about other federal agencies which have come in without consulting the state agencies.
280	Solliday		Describes the interface of Oregon Water Rights law with the ESA, and court cases resulting from conflicts, enforcement actions, and permitting processes.
325	Sen. Deckert		Asks what implications the White House Conference on 1-9-01 will have for Oregon, and the whole northwest, and who will speak for the northwest region during the energy crisis.
347	Hemmingway		Details the results of the meeting, the Governor’s efforts to work with other western leaders to alleviate the problems, and federal agency actions.
414	Chair Messerle		Asks for clarification whether the Federal Energy Regulatory (FERC) has required the northwest to send power south.
420	Hemmingway		Explains that the Secretary of Energy has required utilities throughout the west to sell power to California, and describes the effect on the selling companies, and the prices of electricity in California.
454	Messerle		Observes how the Bonneville system was holding water behind the dams in reserve for extreme winter conditions, and was then ordered to generate power and sell it in California. Describes the Boise meeting to form a coalition of northwest legislators.
TAPE 2, B
021	Sen. R. Beyer		Introduces himself and describes his background.
036	Chair Messerle		Concludes that natural resource issues are becoming very important statewide, and that the energy crisis could cause a recession or depression in our economy.
050	Chair Messerle		Announces the next meeting, at 8:00 a.m., Friday, January 12, 2001, with Eric Bloch to further discuss energy crisis and its impact.

055

Chair Messerle

Adjourns meeting at 9:40 a.m.

Submitted By, Reviewed By,

Patricia Nielsen, Judith Callens,

Committee Assistant Committee Administrator

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Proposed Committee Rules, staff, 2 pp

B – Year 2000 update on the Oregon Plan, booklet, staff, 44 pp

C – A guide to State Teams, Oversight Bodies and Funding Agency, booklet, Louise Solliday, 18 pp

D – Oregon Plan Directory, brochure, Louise Solliday, 2 pp

E – List of Governor’s staff working on the Oregon Plan, Louise Solliday, 1 p

F – The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, Roy Hemmingway, 12 pp