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Tag: John Kitzhaber

Early reports indicate Kitzhaber appoints Ophus and Farm for port commission

The commission for the Port of Coos Bay had two slots come open and two more openings on the five person commission were vacant when Dan Smith and Caddy McKeown resigned. Sources indicate that Gov John Kitzhaber has appointed Eileen Ophus, Community Development Director of CCD Business Development and Eric Farm of Menasha Forest Products to fill two commission seats. These appointments would indicate that Kitzhaber supports the port’s role as an economic development agency while simultaneously ignoring the effect of a healthy environment on local industry. No one on the port appears to represent the environment or the fishing industry.

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Beware Tax Certainty

If corporations really wanted tax certainty, they would stop fiddling with the tax code and they would help clean it up by getting rid of the tax loopholes they enjoy.

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Eco-advocates to join rally at State Land Board

The timber harvest privilege tax accrued roughly $35 million per year ( Oregon Department of Revenue ) to the state of Oregon, public schools and county governments before 2000. However, with the full implementation of HB 3575 by 2004 the timber harvest taxes collected from owners of more than 5,000 acres plummeted to zero. This has meant the loss of hundred of millions of tax revenue dollars over the last 12 years that is now vital to the State of Oregon, Oregon’s public schools, and shrinking county budgets and services.

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Forest defenders plan ruckus at State Land Board

In 1995, Kitzhaber approved a plan for the Elliott State Forest that allowed a 500-acre annual cut for the next 60 years. On Oct. 11, 2011, the governor approved a new plan allowing an annual cut of 850 acres a year, with decreased protection for endangered species and riparian zones. CFD says that the governor broke his own promise and is allowing a bigger cut in an already devastated ecosystem.

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