A coalition of Oregon enterprise teams have filed a lawsuit difficult the state’s job web site guidelines mandating that employers take steps to guard staff from excessive warmth and wildfire smoke.
Rules adopted in Could by the Oregon Occupational Security and Well being Division lay out steps employers should take as soon as the temperature or air high quality reaches a sure threshold. The warmth guidelines went into impact June 15, whereas the wildfire smoke guidelines are set to enter impact July 1.
Oregon Producers and Commerce, Related Oregon Loggers Inc. and the Oregon Forest & Industries Council, which collectively signify greater than 1,000 Oregon corporations and 50 forestland house owners, are searching for an injunction to ban the state from imposing the brand new guidelines. The teams filed a lawsuit within the U.S. District Courtroom in Medford the day the primary of the foundations took impact, arguing they’re unconstitutional.
The teams allege that a number of provisions within the new rules are too obscure to be pretty enforced and that the state’s office security company overstepped its statutory authority by adopting them within the first place.
The teams contend that the wildfire smoke guidelines don’t give employers a way for figuring out what share of the pollution within the air at a worksite are attributable to wildfire smoke versus different components, which the teams allege makes it inconceivable for employers to know when the foundations go into impact.
In addition they allege that requiring employers to pay staff throughout warmth sickness prevention breaks oversteps state authority and that the Oregon Secure Employment Act doesn’t give the state’s office security company “the authority to control normal societal hazards which have an effect on workers out and in of the work surroundings.”
Shaun Jillions, government director for Oregon Producers and Commerce, mentioned that the state must work with employers to craft new guidelines that may shield staff and companies.
“Nothing is extra necessary to employers than conserving staff secure within the office,” Jillions mentioned in a press release. “That’s notably true for Oregon producers, who’ve an exemplary file. However OR-OSHA’s new warmth and smoke guidelines are sadly based mostly on arbitrary numbers which have the potential to disrupt numerous Oregon industries. The rules are obscure, practically inconceivable to ensure compliance with, and apply in situations that may be thought of secure and affordable.”
A spokesperson for Oregon OSHA didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Employee advocates, who for years lobbied for the state to undertake wildfire and warmth protections, praised the brand new guidelines after they had been adopted in Could whereas additionally calling for extra stringent necessities for relaxation breaks and in labor housing.
The warmth guidelines require employers to supply ample shaded areas, ample water and more and more frequent relaxation breaks as temperatures rise. It additionally requires employers to develop warmth prevention plans, practice workers and supervisors about warmth diseases and guarantee workers are given time to acclimate to warmth and are frequently monitored whereas working in excessive temperatures.
The principles additionally require employers to guard staff from warmth in agricultural labor housing, together with giving staff entry to cooling areas and followers.
The wildfire smoke guidelines require employers to supply coaching to workers in regards to the risks of wildfire smoke, make respirators out there because the air high quality reaches unhealthy ranges or require staff to put on respirators if air high quality ranges spike above a “very unhealthy” 251 on the 500-point Air High quality Index. The state additionally recommends that employers contemplate relocating to different job websites when the air high quality is unhealthy.
The federal authorities doesn’t have comparable guidelines, though it’s creating warmth rules. A number of states have adopted their very own warmth requirements, and California has guidelines to guard staff in excessive warmth and wildfire smoke.
Oregon adopted non permanent emergency guidelines to guard staff from excessive warmth and wildfire smoke final 12 months after staff throughout the state had been uncovered to harsh working situations throughout unprecedented warmth in June 2021 and wildfires in September 2020. These guidelines expired earlier this 12 months.
A minimum of two staff, farmworker Sebastian Francisco Perez and development employee Dan Harris, died from heat-related diseases after working by way of blistering warmth final June. They had been amongst practically 100 individuals throughout Oregon who died throughout final 12 months’s warmth wave as temperatures reached 116 in Portland and even greater elsewhere, shattering all-time excessive temperature data throughout the state.
Gov. Kate Brown directed Oregon OSHA and the Oregon Well being Authority to develop requirements to guard workers from extreme warmth and wildfire smoke again in March 2020. It was a part of a broader government order mandating that sure state companies interact in efforts to scale back greenhouse fuel emissions and mitigate the impacts of local weather change.
— Jamie Goldberg; jgoldberg@oregonian.com; @jamiebgoldberg
Tips to manage poor air quality
Smoke from wildfires is increasingly impacting the Willamette Valley. Here are a few tips to manage poor air quality.
Four Oregon lawmakers are calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to help stop a plan that would kill 450,000 barred owls in an effort to save endangered spotted owls over the next 30 years.
The entrepreneurs were named by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
In a letter sent Tuesday, state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Stayton, Rep. David Gomberg, D-Lincoln County, Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, and Sen.-elect Bruce Starr, R-Yamhill and Polk counties, asked the incoming Trump administration officials to stop the reportedly more than $1 billion project, calling it a “budget buster” and “impractical.”
Environmental groups Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy in late 2024 filed a federal lawsuit in Washington state to stop the planned killing of the barred owls.
Here is why the Oregon lawmakers are opposed to the plan, what the plan would do and why it is controversial.
In August 2024, after years of planning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came up with a proposal to kill a maximum of 450,000 invasive barred owls over 30 years as a way to quell habitat competition between them and the northern spotted owl.
Spotted owl populations have been rapidly declining due in part to competition from invasive barred owls, which originate in the eastern United States. Northern spotted owls are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
According to the USFWS plan, barred owls are one of the main factors driving the rapid decline of northern and California spotted owls, and with their removal, less than one-half of 1% of the North American barred owl population would be killed.
The plan was formally approved by the Biden administration in September 2024.
Shortly after it was announced, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy immediately responded in opposition to the plan to kill barred owls. They argued the plan was both ill-conceived and that habitat loss is the main factor driving the spotted owls decline.
“Spotted owls have experienced significant population decline over decades,” a news release from the groups filing the lawsuit said. “This decline began and continues due to habitat loss, particularly the timber harvest of old growth forest. The plan is not only ill-conceived and inhumane, but also destined to fail as a strategy to save the spotted owl.”
In their complaint, the groups argued the USFWS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to properly analyze the impacts of their strategy and improperly rejecting reasonable alternatives to the mass killing of barred owls, such as nonlethal population control approaches, spotted owl rehabilitation efforts and better protections for owl habitat.
The four Oregon lawmakers are siding with the environmental groups and calling for Musk and Ramaswamy to reverse the federal government’s plan to kill the barred owls. It was not immediately clear how the two could stop the plan.
The lawmakers letter stated the plan was impractical and a “budget buster,” with cost estimates for the plan around $1.35 billion, according to a press release by the two groups.
The letter speculates there likely isn’t an excess of people willing to do the killing for free: “it is expected that the individuals doing the shooting across millions of acres – including within Crater Lake National Park – will require compensation for the arduous, night-time hunts,” according to the press release.
“A billion-dollar price tag for this project should get the attention of everyone on the Trump team concerned about government efficiency,” Diehl said. “Killing one type of owl to save another is outrageous and doomed to fail. This plan will swallow up Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars for no good reason.”
USFWS says they aren’t trying to trade one bird for the other.
“As wildlife professionals, we approached this issue carefully and did not come to this decision lightly,” USFWS Oregon State Supervisor Kessina Lee said in announcing the decision in August. “Spotted owls are at a crossroads, and we need to manage both barred owls and habitat to save them. This isn’t about choosing one owl over the other. If we act now, future generations will be able to see both owls in our Western forests.”
Statesman Journal reporter Zach Urness contributed to this report.
Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval can be reached at GSandoval@gannett.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.
A rebound basket with 3.5 seconds left in overtime allowed Santa Clara to escape with an 82-81 overtime win over Oregon State in men’s basketball Thursday night.
The Beavers, looking for their first road win of the season and their third since 2021, just missed when Tyeree Bryan’s tip-in with 3.5 seconds left was the difference.
Oregon State, leading 81-78, had two chances to rescue the win.
Adama Bal, fouled while shooting a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, made his first two free throws but missed the third. But Bal outfought OSU for the rebound, then kicked the ball out to Christoph Tilly, whose three-point shot glanced off the rim. Bryan then knifed between two Beaver rebounders, collecting the ball with his right hand and tipping it off the backboard and into the basket.
OSU (12-5, 2-2 WCC) came up short on a half-court shot at the buzzer.
The loss spoiled what was a 12-point second-half comeback for Oregon State, which led by as many as four points in overtime.
Parsa Fallah led the Beavers with 24 points and seven rebounds. Michael Rataj had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Isaiah Sy scored 12 points and Damarco Minor 11.
Elijah Maji scored 21 points for Santa Clara (11-6, 3-1), which has won eight of its last nine games.
The game was tied at 32-32 at halftime following a first half where OSU trailed by as many as 12 points. Fallah and Minor combined to score the final eight points as OSU finished the half on a 10-2 run.
The game began to get away from the Beavers again as Santa Clara built a 60-48 lead with 9:43 remaining. Sy got OSU going with a three-pointer, as the Beavers whittled away at the deficit. OSU eventually grabbed the lead at 67-65 with 5:19 left on another three by Sy. It was a defensive brawl for the rest of regulation, as neither team scored during the final 1:58.
Oregon State never trailed in overtime until the final three seconds. A Sy three with 1:29 left gave the Beavers a four-point cushion. After the Broncos later cut the lead to one, Fallah’s layup with 17 seconds left put OSU up 81-78.
Oregon State returns to action Saturday when the Beavers complete their two-game road trip at Pacific. Game time is 7 p.m.
–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.
Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com.
Cal Mukumoto answers to the Oregon Board of Forestry, a citizen board appointed by the governor that helps oversee and implement forest policy. His resignation was announced Thursday during a board meeting by Chair Jim Kelly.Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Oregon State Forester Cal Mukumoto has resigned.
Mukumoto’s resignation was announced Thursday by Board of Forestry Chair Jim Kelly during a meeting of the board. Mukumoto answers to the board, a citizen panel appointed by the governor that helps oversee and implement forest policy.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
These are the top 7 issues facing the struggling restaurant industry in 2025
The 25 worst losses in college football history, including Baylor’s 2024 entry at Colorado
The top out-of-contract players available as free transfers: Kimmich, De Bruyne, Van Dijk…
New Orleans attacker had 'remote detonator' for explosives in French Quarter, Biden says
Carter's judicial picks reshaped the federal bench across the country
Who Are the Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Ozempic ‘microdosing’ is the new weight-loss trend: Should you try it?
Ivory Coast says French troops to leave country after decades
