Dear John,

This is urgent. We need your help today. 

A “Major Threat” bill, SB 16, is headed to the House floor. It already passed the Senate, which means that this vote is our last chance to kill the bill. SB 16 will waive Oregon’s land use laws and allow up to 100 new houses to be scattered across 200 acres of exclusive farm use (EFU) lands in the large “Eastern Oregon border region.” 

100 houses in Eastern Oregon might not sound like a big deal, but this law would set a scary precedent, rolling back critical farmland protections outlined in Oregon’s land use system. It would result in:

• More scattered housing development, which would interfere with wildlife and water resources and increase the risk of wildfire in an area already rated as high for wildfire risk;
• The loss of some of our state’s most valuable and productive agricultural land; and
• Greater stress to already scarce water resources in the border region.

This bill is dangerous. It pits housing and food production against one another by treating working lands as vacant lands. It rolls back Oregon’s land use planning system, which has long been lauded as a model for other jurisdictions across the country. That’s why we need to tell our representatives to vote no on SB 16. 

Can I count on you to take action today?

Sincerely,

Doug Moore
OLCV Executive Director