Editorial

Wyden beats Smith on timber payments

The West Linn Tidings, Jun 12, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

John McCain probably didn’t have the proverbial snowball’s chance of winning Oregon in the presidential campaign, but any hopes of this Republican making a good showing evaporated last week when they monkey-wrenched the so-called timber payments bill that would have maintained the most basic services in Columbia County and other counties across the state.

Congress refused to support the $250 million timber payments bill championed by Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio. The bill sought to compensate Western counties for the loss of federal timber receipts.

We can understand why some representatives from the other side of the country opposed the bill, which at first blush might look like Western pork.

They do not realize that Oregonians and Westerners in general pay a heavy fiscal price when it comes to preserving forestlands for the benefit of the entire country.

What we cannot understand is why Rep. Greg Walden, who portrays himself as a champion of timber-dependent communities, betrayed his fellow Oregonians on the issue and, ultimately, sided with oil companies by refusing to tap into royalties from offshore gas and oil leases to pay for the rural county finance program.

Every agency and program in the 33 Oregon counties that was depending passage of DeFazio’s bill is well aware of the stakes. In many of these counties, everybody, from the fair and library boards to the sheriff’s and road departments, knew that failure of Congress to pass the timber payments bill would necessitate deep budget cuts.

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