February Newsletter
Secretary of State released audit on Oregon water
Recently, the Secretary of State for Oregon released a report that found that the system for managing water in this state is ‘under-funded and uncoordinated’. Due to climate change, drought, and over allocation of both the surface and groundwater, there are challenges the State must confront. This is reported in the Salem Statesman Journal and the SOS report is titled :State Leadership Must Take Action to Protect Water Security for all Oregonians. LINK to OPB News streaming Jan 26,23 “Oregon water audit long on plans, short on enforcement”
Update on 18505
According to Ken Friday, the Director of Land Management in Yamhill Co., the attorney for WAG industries/Derby Farms claims that since they have not started processing any hemp or marijuana, the requirements for processing do not need to be met. Review of the OLCC licenses do not show a processing license in Yamhill Co for WAG industries or Derby Farms. We do not know the state of any pending applications. By law, if Derby Farms begins to process hemp or marijuana, they do have to meet the stated requirements. The Director of Land Management notified us that their office is only complaint driven and there must be a complaint filed before they can or will look into any matter.
Update on licensure for legal marijuana
In April 4, 2022, House Bill 4016 (2022) required the OLCC to stop processing applications for New Production, Processing, Retail or Wholesale licenses for marijuana for the State until March 31, 2024 due to an over abundance of applications. This does not apply to a change of ownership of any existing licenses. It is still legal to sell a marijuana license to another grower. This state still produces much more legal marijuana than it consumes. That fact and the additional overproduction of illegal crops has hurt the local industry.
Well Monitoring on CMGWLA
The Chehalem Mountain Groundwater Level Monitoring Project is moving along nicely. The Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District has offered a grant to cover the costs of 10 monitors on the Washington County side of the mountain. Yamhill County Soil and Water Conservation District is also lending support in finding additional grants and outreach to promote the project. The current phase of the project is all about visiting the neighbors who would like to have monitors installed on their wells and checking to see that the well is set up to make an installation successful. Please Contact Karyn Hanson at kghkeatingeng@gmail.com if you would like to participate in the project.
What SCM has done over the past year
We have also partnered with Water Watch of Oregon to write comments to the OWRD for individual applications for groundwater use.
We are monitoring the weekly applications submitted to the OWRD for wells and other groundwater uses.
We are maintaining our website to provide information to those who live and/or work within the CMLGWA.
And we are also updating information to our readers by posting this newsletter. We have written comments to the OWRD in response for their request for comments on proposed groundwater reforms. A copy of these suggestions was also mailed to the new governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, who emphasized in her inaugural speech that among her many priorities, she wants accountability for government agencies. See below for our recommendations to the OWRD:
COMMENTS OF SAVE CHEHALEM MOUNTAIN
REGARDING PROPOSED OWRD GROUNDWATER REFORMS
Save Chehalem Mountain (SCM) is a non-profit organization established to ensure that the Chehalem Mountain watershed provides the quality and quantity of water necessary to support fish, wildlife, recreation, biological diversity, ecological values, public health and a sound economy. Oregon law requires the state to sustainably manage groundwater. It is OWRD’s responsibility to maintain reasonably stable groundwater levels and to allocate groundwater within the capacity of the resource. SCM strongly supports OWRD in its effort to better protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems and the residents who rely on them. To aid in this effort, SCM has several suggestions.
1. OWRD should not issue groundwater permits without knowing whether the underlying aquifers do indeed have the capacity to sustain the groundwater resource. OWRD’s current practice appears to be that, unless OWRD can affirmatively determine that water is not available, it will issue a permit. This is contrary to Oregon law. SCM maintains that OWRD should issue groundwater permits only where it can affirmatively determine that groundwater is available. While Oregon law allows OWRD to presume that issuance of a permit is within the public interest, this presumption is warranted only if OWRD can first show that water is available. Without such a showing, there is no presumption that the permit is in the public interest, and the permit must be denied, unless the applicant can otherwise show that issuance of the permit is in the public interest. In other words, where lacking data, OWRD must "default to no." This should then shift the burden to the applicant to show that either that groundwater is available or that issuance of a permit is otherwise in the public interest.
2. While SCM appreciates the importance of agriculture to Oregon’s economy, we also recognize that irrigation is by far the largest user of groundwater. SCM urges OWRD to consider issuing irrigation permits only where the county’s soil survey shows that dryland crops are not a feasible alternative. Such an approach would leave groundwater available for those crops that truly need it.
3. Chehalem Mountain is a groundwater limited area. There are numerous streams that either themselves contain sensitive, threatened and endangered fish, or that feed larger streams and rivers that contain STE fish. Oregon should not issue any new groundwater permits where the pumping would diminish stream flows in the near future and in the long term. Pumping should not be allowed to reduce stream flows or injure surface water rights, whether the impact would be tomorrow or years into the future.
Furthermore, in areas of the state that no longer have groundwater available for new groundwater rights, the state should close those areas to new permit applications. Because of the connection between surface water and groundwater, this should include all areas where surface water is not available or is threatened.
4. In developing new policies to assure that groundwater remains available to support the various ecosystems that rely on such water, OWRD should not lose sight of the importance of enforcement as an effective tool to further these policies. Along these lines, we would like to commend Jake Constans, our district watermaster, for his willingness to investigate properties suspected of using unpermitted water.
In sum, Oregon must stop over-issuing groundwater permits and adopt a much more thoughtful and sustainable approach.
Respectfully submitted,
Juliette Wait, President
Save Chehalem Mountain
(214) 668-8433
Save Chehalem Mountain, Inc., Local Non-Profit
Save Chehalem Mountain & Protect the Aquifer
Illegal Cannabis grows and processing are not safe and hurt legal operations:
Note: Since May of 2021 Law Enforcement agencies in Oregon have confiscated over:
2,705,515 known illegal marijuana plants
873,717 lbs./437 tons of processed marijuana
hundreds of greenhouses in 21 (OR 58%) of Oregon's 36 Counties
Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 92 known busts to date 2022
May, June, July, August, September, October, November, 51 known busts Dec. 2021
Jan. 2 known busts to date 2023
Source: Shirley Morgan Newsletter Citizens for Public Safety, Jan 2023
Over the past few months there have been some local unpleasant activities related to illegal marijuana grows and processing around our aquifer and region:
A hemp processing explosion in Dayton, Oregon on November 21, 2022 caused a fire, injuring 5 and required evacuation of the neighboring town due to the chemical release and spreading fire.
Then there was a large bust of a Marijuana operation that involved sources from many different grows near Newberg. Not all of those sources were identified. See link below
Newberg Marijuana bust:
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2022/10/19/marijuana-seized-newberg-oregon-yamhill-county-sheriff/69575676007/#:~:text=The%20Yamhill%20County%20Sheriff's%20Office,according%20to%20the%20sheriff's%20office.arijuana bust in Newberg:
Illegal Marijuana Grows on Chehalem Mountain
As far as we know, there are no illegal grows on Chehalem Mountain. However, the neighbors of such operations would likely be the first to suspect it. Illegal operations are dangerous to the local residents due to the following concerns: the association with high crime rates, the risk to the aquifer due to local water poaching, unfair competition to the legal cannabis operations, and possible fire or explosion risks. If you suspect or know of an illegal operation near you, the best course is to notify the police. This can be done anonymously. For obvious reasons, do not try to confront people associated with illegal operations yourselves.
Yamhill County Sherriff’s Office: 503-434-7506
Or call the local police for Newberg or Sherwood
Washington Co Sherriff’s Office: non-emergency, 503-629-0111
Call the local police for the city nearest the grow.
