14-50 Bailout: Oregon Department of Forestry Chooses to Be Insolvent
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Show 14-50 Summary: Too big to fail? Too green to fail? For an agency designed to fund itself and some 200 other public agencies and services, like rural schools, counties, roads, police, and fire, the new “thinking” at the Oregon Department of Forestry just ran out of sustainability. It is now insolvent. And required a special session of the legislature to bail them out because they couldn’t pay the bills they owed for firefighting. But it’s going to get worse with the environmentalists’ new scheme. We talk with Jennifer Hamaker of Oregon Natural Resources and State Rep. Ed Diehl, to find out what happened, why it happened, and how this is all going to get a lot worse.
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Original Air Dates: December 14th & 15th, 2024 | Guest: Jen Hamaker & Ed Diehl
This Week – Oregon Department of Forestry Insolvent
The legislature held a special session this week to bailout a state agency. One that, since its inception, has been self funding. The Oregon Department of Forestry. Which this year could not pay its own bills for firefighting and had to be rescued by the taxpayer. While it’s not surprising a government agency spent too much and needed more money, this is way worse than the usual government failure.
The Oregon Department of Forestry was designed to fund itself. And not only that, it also funds some 200 other public entities and services. But not any more. Because now ODF has redesigned itself to fail. And to soak up taxpayer dollars. Instead of generating income for the state, it is now a liability. Leadership at Oregon Department of Forestry has determined it no longer wants to do its fundamental job. Which is to oversee—and make money from—the sale of timber on state lands.
But no more. By implementing a massive Habitat Conservation Plan (or HCP), the ODF has ensured its own perpetual bankruptcy. For the next 70 years.
Let’s recap. The Oregon Department of Forestry is supposed to harvest timber on state lands. It doesn’t want to do that. ODF is supposed to manage the forests. It doesn’t want to do that. Managing the forests means preventing fires. It doesn’t want to do that. ODF is supposed to ensure an ongoing, profitable, perpetual, and sustainable timber harvest for the future. It doesn’t want to do that.
What does it want to do? Apparently, sell carbon credits. But there is a real problem with that. (Aside from the fact it’s a massive scam.)
So Why is Oregon Department of Forestry Bankrupt?
We talk with Jen Hamaker, the president of ONRI (Oregon Natural Resource Industries) to find out the Oregon Department of Forestry got into this mess. It was a massive, self-inflicted wound. Like someone who gets injured and then gets surgery to stay disabled so they don’t have to work. Jen walks us through what the ODF was designed to do, what it is doing now, and why the need for a special session to bail them out. And if democrat lawmakers think this is going to get better, think again. This is now baked in. The Oregon Department of Forestry has changed from a billion dollar asset to a billion dollar liability.
Then we talk with State Representative, Ed Diehl (R-HD17), about what happened at the special session. Why did they call the meeting to session and then immediately go behind closed-door committee meetings? Were deals being cut? Rep. Diehl also confirms that ODF is now insolvent. Bankrupt.
ODF’s New Plan: Carbon Credits. Get Paid for Doing Nothing
And it’s only going to get worse. Why? Because the Oregon Department of Forestry wants to move away from forestry and into the carbon credit scheme.
A scheme based on false premises (CO2 is not the enemy, and it is not a pollutant). And a scheme that is likely to fall apart as all across the nation, states lose federal funding for their net zero initiatives.
And we ask, how would this be different if Republicans were in charge? Because this whole Oregon Department of Forestry fiasco is about to get a lot worse — a lot worse — with democrat super majorities in Oregon’s house and senate.
We can all agree ODF needed to pay the bills owed to firefighters. Some whom had to take out huge loans to make ends meet while waiting to be paid. But this bailout doesn’t fix the problem that ODF just created for itself. And its solution to lock up Oregon’s forest lands — let ’em burn! — Oregon Department of Forestry has just made things a lot worse.
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Show Notes: Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info
- Jen Hamaker’s organization is Oregon Natural Resource Industries. Visit them at ONRI.us
- Rep. Ed Diehl’s website is www.eddiehl.com
- Oregon isn’t paying its wildfire bills on time. Now legislators must act (OPB, December 11, 2024)
- Taxpayers “gave” billions to create interest-bearing endowments for Far-Left environmental groups that assault natural resources: “Environmental nonprofit fundraising draws criticism across political spectrum (Capital Press, Nov 14, 2024)
- An analysis showed “20 nonprofit environmental organizations active in the West … have total net assets of nearly $2 billion dollars”
- “a significant amount of the money is set aside as an endowment to generate income”
- This isn’t going to work. Oregon’s Department of Forestry’s plan to stop harvesting timber and start selling carbon credits will fail when the federal government stops cuts the trillions (yes, trillions) of dollars for “Climate Change.”
- Oregon’s carbon credits scheme to get to net zero, like all states, depends heavily on federal funding.
- How much federal funding for states’ net zero funding? About $40 billion. (via Perplexity, retrieved Dec 13, 2024).
- Do democrat state lawmakers honestly think the Trump will continue that scam? (If so, we have a unicorn to sell them.
- Sen. James Lankford Offers Sneak Peak Into How Exactly DOGE Will Clean Up Government Waste and Abuse (The Daily Signal, Dec 11, 2024)
