Senator Ted Ferrioli's Senate Bill 644 limiting the size of transmission towers crossing exclusive farm use ground to 400,000 kV may not be the only bill dealing with this issue.
Oregon House Representative Brian Clem, D-Salem, also plans to introduce land use legislation that would generally follow Farm Bureau policy:
1) Condemnation of Farmland by Cities - Restrict city, utilities, and special districts' ability to condemn farmland and require payment at Urban Growth Boundary values.
2)UGB Planning and Expansion - Require that cities plan for their utility, open space, school, commercial, and industrial needs inside the UGB and prohibit using such zoned land for residential or other uses.
3) Remove utilities and other urban type uses as "permitted uses" in EFU (exclusive farm use) zones. Every piece of farmland that changes to a non-farm use, be it a school or a UGB expansion, hurts ag infrastructure.
While these bills may eventually be combined and altered in some degree, the main effort now will be to get the bills a hearing, i.e. out of committee, so write your letters asking that Senate Bill 644 be given a hearing.
Listed below are the addresses of Ferrioli's Environment and Natural Resources Committee, as well as Rep. Clem's contact information to encourage him in the writing of his land use bill. You can always go to http://www.leg.state.or.us/ to find Senate and House contacts, including email and telephone (click the Senate and House links along the top, then click "Senator Information" or "Representative Information").
While you're at it, invite Representative Clem to come take a tour of Malheur County!
Senate President Peter Courtney
900 Court St NE S-203
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1600Capitol
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us
Sen. Jason Atkinson
900 Court St NE S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1702
sen.jasonatkinson@state.or.us
Sen. Brian Boquist
900 Court ST. NE S-305
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1712
sen.brianboquist@state.or.us
Sen Mark Hass
900 Court St. NE S-419
Salem, OR 97301
503-641-2742
sen.markhass@state.or.us
Sen. Floyd Prozanski
900 Court St NE S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1704
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us
Sen. Jackie Dingfelder
Committee Chair, Environment and Natural Resources
900 Court St NE S-407
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1723
sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us
Rep. Brian Clem
900 Court St. NE, H-284
Salem, OR, 97301
503-986-1421
rep.brianclem@state.or.us
