February 22nd, 2007

Blumenauer expects timber payments will be less

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Congress is unlikely to reauthorize the full amount Oregon has been receiving under recently expired legislation that helped counties offset lost timber revenues, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer said Wednesday.

"If we could get half the money ... I'd be ecstatic," the Portland Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press.

A total of 700 counties in 39 states had been receiving money under a law known as the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. More than half has gone to Oregon, one reason Congress let the law expire last year.
"We don't have a lot of leverage," Blumenauer said.

The congressman's comments come as counties around Oregon brace for what could be a substantial financial hit. Schools and sheriffs' departments are already looking at layoffs to balance their budgets, and libraries are preparing to close.

At stake is more than $220 million a year in payments to 33 Oregon counties. The money comes from a program that is supposed to help make up for the rapid decline in logging in national forests, which was restricted in the 1990s to help protect the northern spotted owl and other threatened species.

Blumenauer said he holds out hope for at least a partial extension of the program.

"We have an argument for something. But I think candidly it will be partial," he said.

He suggested that the state should be willing to offer some financial help to the counties.

"We've got to be artful about how we do it. I think the state ought to take some of the extra money it has to help a little bit," he said.

On another topic, Bluemenauer said he was cautiously optimistic that the House and Senate might agree this year on a Mount Hood wilderness bill.

He said he was ready to work with Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith on a bill they have introduced to extend wilderness protection to an additional 128,600 acres surrounding Mount Mount and the Columbia River Gorge.
The senators' "Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007" would increase existing wilderness protection by almost 90 percent and add Wild and Scenic protection to nearly 80 miles of rivers.

Blumenauer said the Senate bill "uses the basic framework" of earlier House legislation introduced by himself and by his Republican colleague, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden.

"At this point, there is nothing here that gives me heartburn," Blumenauer said. "We think we can work with their bill. I hope it happens this year. I'm optimistic."

As for his own political future, Bluemenauer sidestepped questions about whether he will mount a 2008 Senate campaign against Smith, the wealthy Republican who already has amassed a $2 million campaign re-election fund even though no Democrat has jumped into the race yet.

"There is no doubt in my mind there will be a strong Democratic opponent for Gordon Smith," Blumenauer said. "By Labor Day, we will know who a strong alternative to Smith will be."

Asked whether he will be that contender, he said, "I will deal with the question in due course."

Blumenauer's star seems to be on the rise.

He easily won re-election last year, while at the same time increasing his political clout within the Democratic Party.
In the run-up to the November vote, Blumenauer's political action committee spent more than $200,000 helping 39 Democratic candidates who stressed "smart growth" and environmentally friendly development. Twenty-five candidates backed by Blumenauer's Committee for a Livable Future were victorious.

Last December, Blumenauer won a seat on the powerful, tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.