Knute Buehler & Craig Wilhelm

Bend’s two state House candidates are campaigning to represent a district where the economy is deeply tied to the environment.

While in the last century Bend was fueled by timber, both Democrat Craig Wilhelm and Republican Knute Buehler say vitality is now linked to preservation.

Both candidates running for the open District 54 seat agree more needs to be done in Salem to protect Central Oregon’s natural spaces. Wilhelm, an executive with Resource Recycling Technologies, said all of his decisions about the environment will be made with an eye to the connection between the economy and the region’s mountains, pines and rivers. Buehler, a surgeon, also stressed this connection, and said he plans to increase the state’s supply of clean energy by helping Oregonians tap into solar, geothermal and similar power sources.

On a global scale, both candidates cited climate change as a threat to our region’s natural beauty. Wilhelm said curbing carbon production makes economic sense, but he would not support immediate action targeting carbon pollution with stringent taxes or limits. Instead, Wilhelm said he would advocate that the state observe the carbon tax employed by British Columbia and California’s 2-year-old cap-and-trade program.

“We should sit back and see how it works with them before we jump into something that isn’t good policy,” Wilhelm said. “We certainly need to make sure we protect small businesses, number one. But it will be interesting to see how these different schemes work. I think we should be very pragmatic in the way we approach any sort of policy around this.”

Buehler said he does not support a tax or limit, but to reduce carbon the state should stimulate the use of new energy sources. To do this better, Buehler said, the state needs to focus more on promoting the consumer demand for clean energy as opposed to subsidizing companies developing such technologies. He cited the now defunct Business Energy Tax Credit, which, among other things, supported renewable energy manufacturers, as an example of something “that’s a good idea, but where the implementation was a struggle.”

“There are programs with worthy goals that haven’t really delivered,” Buehler said. “We need to see if there’s a better way to support clean energy. With the business credit, I think they stimulated the wrong side of the demand-supply equation. I think we should help to create demand for clean energy; the other way is just too prone to corporate cronyism. I don’t think we should invest in startup ventures, so the state isn’t picking winners or losers in a new industry.”

When discussing what else can be done to preserve the land surrounding Bend, both candidates touched on the state’s urban growth boundary rules, saying the policy, which limits how far cities can spread, has done much to prevent sprawl. Nonetheless, the pair also said the state’s UGB policies should differentiate the Portland area from regions like Central Oregon.

Buehler said the way farmland on the eastern side of the mountains is classified and protected by UGB policies should be different than in the Willamette Valley, where, he said, it is much more productive. Buehler also said the process of expanding the UGB “has got to speed up.”

Wilhelm did not specify changes he would make to UGB policies, but said “there needs to be a way to balance stewardship and economic development” as Bend works to expand its boundary.

Neither candidate took a strong stance on local environmental debates that will fall outside the realm of the Legislature, including the city’s $24 million water supply project that Central Oregon LandWatch has opposed with litigation.

Regarding whether to preserve Mirror Pond, Wilhelm said he hopes there is significant public input in the decision and the interests of those hoping to preserve the site as an economic asset are balanced with the health of the Deschutes River.

Buehler said he hopes the current water level of the “iconic” pond is preserved, but that “if we can make the river flow better and get rid of the unsightly dam, let’s try to think outside the box to do that, too.”

An issue of importance to those living on rangeland just east of Bend is the preservation of sage grouse, a threatened bird that has been considered for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Both candidates noted much of the work around protection of the bird, a chicken-sized species neither candidate has seen, will not fall to the Legislature, though Buehler did emphasize the sage grouse “absolutely needs to be preserved.”

“I think we need to take a more holistic approach to preservation,” Buehler said. “I think the spotted owl is a great example of why this is needed. We did a lot to sustain that species, which is now being outcompeted by the barred owl. I think to preserve sage grouse we need to take in a holistic view of the environment.”

Wilhelm said he is “anxious to see” how the bird is protected, and that the needs of those who may be economically affected by any preservation measures must be considered.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com