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6 days ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 10:21 am Friday, April 18, 2025 Oregon lawmakers have decided against imposing the same siting standards on all renewable energy projects, whether they’re regulated by statewide officials or local governments. Supporters argued that House Bill 3422 would level the regulatory playing field while protecting high-quality farmland from energy development by requiring an analysis of alternative sites with lower agricultural value.
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6 days ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 8:50 am Friday, April 18, 2025 Beaver trapping would be prohibited along impaired waterways on public lands in Oregon under a bill that’s headed for a vote in the House. Supporters of House Bill 3932, including environmental and animal advocates, argue it’s imprudent to allow the rodents to be killed in areas where expensive riparian habitat improvements are meant to attract them.
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1 week ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 3:56 pm Wednesday, April 16, 2025 Workers would no longer face a 90-day limit to file certain harassment and discrimination lawsuits against employers under a bill that’s passed the Oregon Senate. The change is troubling to lawmakers involved in the farm industry, who say it’ll create more uncertainty for agricultural operations that are already under regulatory strain.
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1 week ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 11:14 am Wednesday, April 16, 2025 Legislative deadlines have killed proposed restrictions on replacement dwellings, home occupations and retail operations in Oregon agricultural zones that were intended to stem the loss of farmland. Exactly why the proposals fizzled, and whether their prospects will improve in the future, is a matter of diverging perspectives.
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1 week ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 10:01 am Monday, April 14, 2025 Oregon regulators would gain new powers to enter private rural properties under a bill that aims to make the state government more proactive in preventing groundwater pollution. Senate Bill 1154 would grant state inspectors the authority to examine private septic systems under certain circumstances to ensure they’re not contaminating aquifers, among a host of other measures. Oregon Gov.
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1 week ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 1:02 pm Friday, April 11, 2025 The history of the Salt Creek Cider House could read as a hard luck tale, but that’s not how founder Carter Rickert chooses to see it. Shortly after the business opened to the public in late 2019, restrictions associated with the COVID outbreak shook the global economy. Rickert also ran up against a steep learning curve as a beginning orchardist, losing nearly a third of the apple trees he planted on the property.
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2 weeks ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski |Joe Beach
Published 4:13 pm Wednesday, April 9, 2025 A contentious Oregon wildfire map that imposed new regulations on high-risk landowners may be swapped for incentives meant to promote home hardening and defensible space. The Senate Natural Resources Committee has unanimously voted to scrap the state’s wildfire hazard map, originally approved in 2021, as well as the enhanced building code standards and other requirements it entailed.
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2 weeks ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 11:44 am Wednesday, April 9, 2025 Lawmakers may lift Oregon’s prohibition on irrigating commercial crops with domestic wells, alarming agricultural and environmental groups who rarely agree on water policy. Some small farm advocates have told the House Agriculture Committee it’s unreasonable to prohibit growing food with domestic well water while still allowing its use for other commercial purposes.
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3 weeks ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 11:28 am Thursday, April 3, 2025 A proposal to hike Oregon’s well construction fees to shore up a regulatory budget shortfall has shone a spotlight on the problem of unlawful well drilling. House Bill 2808 would raise a variety of fees for obtaining, renewing and reinstating well construction licenses by 10% and increase the fee for drilling a new well from $350 to $490.
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3 weeks ago | 
capitalpress.com | Mateusz Perkowski
Published 10:28 am Wednesday, April 2, 2025 After a couple of false starts, legislation intended to reform Oregon’s compensation policy for wolf killings of livestock appears to have gained momentum. Supporters say the overhaul will help restore trust in the state’s livestock compensation program and discourage the illegal poaching of wolves. “We have ranchers all over this state who’ve lost faith in this program, that have lost faith in the voting that takes place in this Capitol.
