Draw The Line Where It Needs To Be Drawn - Rebecca Biddle Wood Hardesty

[Sent to the members of the Senate Rules Committee and Reps. Merkley, Hunt, and Roblan:]

I am writing in support of the original vision behind SB 30 and a total prohibition on resorts in or within three miles of the Metolius River Watershed. The reality is that economic interests are the sole driving force behind the irreversible threat to the Metolius River Basin raised by the proposed destination resort rezone. The only value being promoted by the proposed rezone is economic - a profit to private developers and more tax money for just one of Oregon's counties.

Let's look at the balance sheet. What benefit and what burden do Oregonians derive and bear from the resort rezone in one of Oregon's most scenic and treasured areas? On one side, there is virtually NO benefit to Oregonians at large derived by the rezone. The benefit is purely economic and mostly private. The advancement of these private and isolated interests is at great public cost and expense. The public expense is not born by the developer and the county as it should be; rather state and federal taxpayers and citizens will bear the expenses, resulting in a shocking subsidy of private and limited county interests.

There are of course costs which one cannot put a price on – lost scenic value, lost wild land, increased noise and pollution, human imprint contaminating nature’s perfection, endangered species destruction, habitat and ecosystem devastation and solitude’s death. There is also the reality of an additional 36,000 car trips PER DAY attributable SOLELY to the proposed 3,500 home resort, increased emissions (at a time when we should be DECREASING emissions due to global warming), dramatically increased traffic, road construction and infrastructure to name just a few. This list just scratches the surface. But beyond these staggering costs is the enormous cost of catastrophic wildfire, a virtual certainty in the region which will only become more prevalent with the development of 3,500 homes in the middle of the Deschutes National Forest. The cost of catastrophic wildfire is staggering - the recent B & B complex fire which occurred in the same area as the proposed resort in 2003 cost the government 43 million dollars. Human imprint dramatically increases the chance of wildfire and if one occurs, the state of Oregon and the federal government will bear the greatest burden of the cost of containing such a fire with the developers walking away from such liability, their profits in their pockets.

I urge you to consider the balance sheet of the resort rezone for the Oregonians you represent. SB30 is a heroic effort to draw the line where it needs to be drawn; to place the value of nature above the value of money in one of the world's most pristine wild areas; to support and defend Oregonian's love of their land.

Thank you for your support.

Rebecca Biddle Wood Hardesty