🍫 A Craving For "Snickers" - Gorge Commission May '26

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🏛 May 12, 2026 Meeting

The Body: Columbia River Gorge Commission

The Bottom Line: While the Commission secured supplemental funding for modernized permitting software, structural budget directives from Oregon will prevent the restoration of full-time staff, all while the Commission struggles internally with public records compliance and boardroom dynamics.

The Vibe: Firm, bureaucratic, and occasionally tense. Significant time was spent reminding commissioners of their legal liabilities regarding public records, contrasting sharply with the collaborative presentations from state climate officials.

🔎 What Changed

• New Appointee: Abby Hall, formerly of the EPA, was formally welcomed as the new Multnomah County representative.
• Permitting Software: Both Oregon and Washington approved $75,000 in supplemental funding to cover Enterprise Licensing and Permitting platform licenses, finally enabling online permit applications.
• Working Group Initiated: The Economic Vitality Committee formally requested the establishment of a community working group to explore Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the National Scenic Area rules.

⚠ What Escalated

• Public Records Liability: Agency legal counsel issued a stark warning to commissioners regarding their failure to promptly respond to internal record requests, citing potential legal liability under public records laws.
• Staffing Shortfalls: Oregon has directed agencies to submit "revenue neutral" budgets for the upcoming cycle, effectively blocking the Commission's request to restore critical staff positions to full-time status.
• Cold Water Refuges (CWR): New Vital Signs data reveals that rising temperatures on the Columbia River mainstem are regularly exceeding safe temperature thresholds for salmon, severely threatening cold-water refuges essential for migratory fish.

🧭 What’s Next

• May 20, 2026: Commission update presentation to Hood River County.
• July 2026: Deadline for Oregon state budget submissions.
• September 15, 2026: Deadline for Washington state budget submissions.

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🗣 Public Comment: Housing & Agriculture

• Mary Repar (Agricultural Advocate): Highlighted the need to change tax structures for working farms to prevent local agriculture from failing. She also raised concerns about aging dams heating the Columbia River and the impacts of pesticide runoff.
• Kate Bertash (Underwood Resident): in a written comment urged the Commission to use the 2027 Gorge Management Plan (GMP) review to pivot away from dangerous and expensive "temporary" or "seasonal" agricultural housing. Highlighting case studies like Ventura County’s pre-approved farmworker dwelling plans, she shared examples of how the GMP can encourage construction of safe, permanent, and dignified workforce infrastructure.
• Nina Sackett Kronberg (Bee Easy Farm LLC): in a written comment shared a stark cautionary tale about the severe bureaucratic barriers facing farmers trying to implement climate resilience projects. She detailed how a simple, critical water pipe for her livestock was nearly derailed by a requirement for a year-long, $3,000 "Full Reviewed Use" permit, urging the Commission to drastically lower barriers for low-impact agricultural survival projects to align with the Governor’s climate orders.
• Sally Newell (Underwood Resident): Defended the original intent of the Scenic Area Act to concentrate growth within Urban Areas rather than the General Management Area (GMA). She argued that the true bottleneck for workforce housing is a lack of municipal infrastructure, noting that Carson still lacks a sewer system, and warned that "leaking" development into protected rural lands is not a sustainable solution.

The public comment period underscored a policy mismatch that grows more intense with climate-driven urgency: the structural inability of designated Urban Areas to support the housing growth they were legally designed to absorb. Sally Newell, a former Gorge Commissioner, pointed out that because towns like Carson lack basic services like sewer systems, they cannot build the high-density workforce housing the region requires. This creates a "pressure cooker" effect where the demand for housing "leaks" out into requests for more flexible development rules in the GMA.

Newell’s testimony serves as a strategic warning to the Commission: in her opinion the solution to the housing crisis is not to erode GMA protections, but to address the infrastructure failures within the towns themselves. This sets the stage for a major conflict in the upcoming Management Plan review, balancing a particular vision for what protection of rural lands means against the reality of towns that are physically unable to grow.

"There need to be places for the people who pour the beer and make the beds... This is not going to be improved or enhanced by allowing more development in the general management area." — Sally Newell

🛠 Jargon Buster: The Infrastructure Gap

• Sewer Capacity vs. Septic Limits: In land-use planning, "Urban Areas" are intended for high-density growth. However, without a municipal sewer system, development is limited by the immense physical space required for septic drain fields. This "septic sprawl" prevents the construction of the multi-family housing needed for a local workforce.
• The "Unfunded Mandate": While the National Scenic Area Act mandates that growth should happen in towns, it doesn't provide the funding for the massive infrastructure projects (sewers, water treatment, roads) required to make that growth possible. This leaves small rural counties in a "growth trap," required to house more people but unable to afford the pipes to put them in.

⚡ Energy Infrastructure & Regional Grid Expansion

• The Projects: Public commenters and tribal representatives raised alarms about the Cascade Renewable Transmission Project (which proposes burying a cable under the Columbia River) and the Goldendale Pumped Storage Project.
• The Concerns: Commenters argued these projects threaten to dredge up drowned tribal cemeteries in the riverbed and will destroy the sacred site of Pushpum. Commissioner Patu Pitt explicitly requested the Commission take a formal position of solidarity with the tribes against desecrating these sacred sites.
• The Rhetoric: Commenters repeatedly framed the projects as existing solely to feed corporate "data centers."

A unified front formed between local residents and tribal representatives against massive proposed energy infrastructure projects. While commenters painted the Cascade Renewable Transmission Project as a corporate handout designed to feed energy-hungry "data centers," there is not currently any source supporting the claim that these projects will primarily support those uses (see: agency dockets on the CRT project). The reality is this infrastructure feeds the broader regional grid: powering homes, hospitals, and municipal infrastructure in major population centers.

However, by leveraging the politically sensitive "data center" label, advocates look to raise hard questions about what is considered an "acceptable trade-off" for expanded renewable energy capacity, and who is historically and structurally excluded from the rooms where these decisions are made. For local residents and tribal leaders, the end-user of the electricity is secondary to the local cost. Their primary goal is protecting irreplaceable cultural resources, whether that means defending the sacred site of Pushpum from the Goldendale project, or protecting drowned tribal cemeteries and fishing sites from the CRT river trench, from being sacrificed for regional grid expansion.

🏛️ The Jurisdiction Trap: Why the Commission Can't Just Say "No" to These Projects

During public comment, advocates demanded the Gorge Commission halt the Goldendale Pumped Storage and Cascade Renewable Transmission projects. But legally, the Commission’s hands are mostly tied. Goldendale is located just outside the Scenic Area boundaries, leaving the Commission with zero regulatory authority over the site. Meanwhile, the CRT cable falls under Washington’s EFSEC process, which preempts local zoning to fast-track regional energy projects. While the Commission does have a consulting role to assess if the CRT cable violates Scenic Area rules, they do not hold the ultimate veto power over these projects.

Commenters aren't confused about the law; they are looking for political leverage and greater public support. Advocates are pushing the Commission to pass a formal resolution of solidarity with the Yakama Nation. While the Commission lacks the regulatory power to veto these projects, its bi-state, federally mandated voice carries massive political weight with the governors who do have the final say.

🏛 Governance: The Battle Over "Hostile" Labels

• Media Defense: Commissioner Valerie Fowler delivered a sharp rebuttal to a recent Columbia Insight article and former Commissioner Robert Liberty’s claims that the agency is "anti-conservation." Fowler expressed deep disappointment at the Commission’s silence in the face of these public attacks on its integrity.
• Commissioner Roger Nichols: Stated he was "shocked and saddened" to read the recommendation in the Avarna report to build a "succession pipeline" focused on values alignment to counter "hostile or obstructionist appointments". He further remarked that such characterizations did not seem in line with equitable or inclusive values.
• Commissioner Fowler: Referencing the same section (10F) that Nichols mentioned, she stated she found the characterization of fellow commissioners as "hostile or obstructionist" to be "surprising and tremendously disappointing". She emphasized that every commissioner is a volunteer dedicated to advancing the National Scenic Act, even when they disagree on priorities.
• The Accountability Debate: Chair Karina Miller defended the report's call to review past meeting recordings to identify "harmful patterns," stating she has personally used such reviews to track instances of hostility at the table.

By including language that labels potential future appointees as "hostile" or "obstructionist," the report may suggest that some within the agency view political dissent not as a healthy part of a bi-state body, but as a threat to be managed. If the Commission adopts a framework that pre-emptively labels certain perspectives as "obstructionist," it risks chilling public debate and alienating the very counties it serves. Conversely, as Chair Miller articulated, failing to acknowledge "harmful patterns" from the past can leave commissioners unprotected from targeted hostility. The Commission is currently at a crossroads: deciding whether to use its DEI initiatives to foster inclusion for all Gorge stakeholders or to build defensive barriers against a changing tide.

"To have a document that talks about being inclusive and then suggests we have to watch out for 'hostile and obstructionist' appointments... I find that shocking and saddening." — Commissioner Roger Nichols

🏛 Governance & Boardroom Dynamics

• Legal and Administrative Tensions: Commission counsel directly addressed ongoing issues with commissioners failing to respond to staff requests for document searches related to public records requests.
• Accountability: Commissioners were warned that ignoring staff emails regarding records searches violates their legal duties and puts the entire bi-state Commission at risk of being sued.

The Commission is currently operating with part-time staff who are burdened by administrative delays caused by the commissioners themselves. The stark warning about FOIA and Public Records Act compliance highlights a critical vulnerability: because the Commission operates under a unique bi-state compact, it is subject to distinct federal and state legal scrutiny, including the public records obligations of both states. When commissioners and staff fail to support these administrative tasks, they may potentially expose the agency to costly litigation that drains already limited budgets.

🌡️ Climate Resilience & State Crosswalks

• Oregon Executive Orders: Chandra Ferrari, Natural Resources Policy Advisor to Governor Kotek, presented Oregon EOs 25-26 (climate resilience on natural/working lands) and 25-29 (greenhouse gas reduction).
• Washington Climate Strategy: Jimmy Kralj presented Washington’s Climate Resilience Strategy, focusing on hazards like wildfire, extreme heat, drought, and floods.
• Agency Alignment: Gorge Commission staff have begun crosswalking the agency's Climate Change Action Plan with these two state strategies to find areas of overlap.

The Commission is actively trying to tether its localized Climate Change Action Plan to the massive bureaucratic engines of Oregon and Washington. This is a strategic survival mechanism. By aligning its metrics with the specific resilience goals mandated by state leaders, the Commission makes itself eligible for a share of state and federal climate funding. The structural hurdle, however, is jurisdictional translation: state-level strategies often focus broadly on statewide hazards, whereas the Gorge Commission must apply these mandates to a highly regulated, bi-state patchwork of private, tribal, and federal lands.

🛠 Jargon Buster:

• SNCRs (Pronounced "Snickers"): A common acronym for the Scenic, Natural, Cultural, and Recreational resources of the Gorge, which the Commission is federally mandated to protect.
• Crosswalking: The administrative process of mapping the policies of one organization's plan directly to the corresponding policies of another (like state executive orders) to ensure they align.

📊 Vital Signs Indicators (VSI) & Agriculture

• The Data Hub: Program Manager Sage Ebel presented the annual report for the VSI Monitoring Program, highlighting the newly launched Vital Signs Data Hub.
• Agricultural Realities: The VSI data shows that 90% of agricultural land in the NSA is pastureland, and economic profitability varies wildly depending on the specific crop and region.

The Vital Signs Indicator program is shifting the Commission’s policy debates from anecdotal assumptions to evidence-based realities. By proving that 90% of the Gorge's agricultural footprint is pastureland, which often has lower profit margins than high-yield orchards or vineyards, the data forces a reckoning about economic vitality in the region. If traditional farming is financially precarious, the pressure to convert working lands into tourism infrastructure or residential developments will only increase.

Oregon's directive for agencies to submit "revenue neutral" budgets means the state will not fund any new program expansions or restore previously cut positions to full-time status. Because the Gorge Commission is funded equally by both states, Oregon's budget freeze effectively limits Washington's contributions as well, trapping the agency's operational capacity at current levels.

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How to Join & Learn More

The Columbia River Gorge Commission meets regularly to discuss land use, economic vitality, and environmental protection in the National Scenic Area.

• To Review Raw Materials: You can access the meeting agendas, staff reports, and public comment guidelines directly at the Columbia River Gorge Commission Website.
• Explore the new Vital Signs Data Hub