Category Environment & Agriculture
Slate of bills to modernize Oregon water laws await votes in final month of session
Bills from Gov. Tina Kotek and a bipartisan duo of representatives would streamline water rights transfers and impose new environmental reviews.
Group formed to grant money from Oregon’s Monsanto settlement
The Oregon Environmental Restoration Council will help invest and dole out nearly $700 million in funds the state received from a settlement with Monsanto.
After reaching historic lows, hydropower generation in the Northwest expected to rise in 2025
Hydropower in the region is expected to increase about 17% compared to last year, but will still be below the 10-year average.
Wyden puts forward bipartisan wetland habitat restoration plan
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, have put forward a $50 million proposal to support wetlands along the Columbia River Basin and Oregon and Washington coasts.
Meet the experts working to stop invasive garlic mustard in the Willamette Valley
Garlic mustard is an emerging concern for local invasive plant specialists, particularly in the Santiam Canyon, where the noxious weed has been sighted in areas affected by wildfire.
Oregon governor, congressional delegation urge feds to declare disaster for coast salmon fisheries
It would be the seventh disaster declaration since 2016 for the state’s coastal salmon fisheries, which have been hit by warming waters and drought from climate change.
Oregon senators kill proposal to make fossil fuels industry pay for climate-change driven disasters
Senate Bill 1187 would have made companies responsible for millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution pay into a “climate superfund."
EPA withholds $85 million meant to fund environmental justice projects in Oregon
Ten Oregon projects are among more than 470 environmental efforts across the country stuck in limbo, with recipients denied access to millions in funding.
Climate change coupled with migration of non-native species pose threat to Northwest fish
Some already threatened cold-water fish species in the Northwest will not only face shrinking habitat from climate change but will face growing pressure from invasive fish species fleeing their own warming and dwindling waters, according to modeling from researchers at Oregon State University.