Committee advances State Lands budget and bills to create Elliott State Research Forest account; debate centers on timber revenue and past purchase costs

The Natural Resources Subcommittee recommended Thursday that Senate Bill 5539, the Department of State Lands budget bill, and Senate Bill 147, relating to the Elliott State Research Forest, be reported out do pass as amended. Committee members debated projected timber revenues, federal permits and the state’s prior payments to the Common School Fund when the Elliott was decoupled from that fund.

Senator Anderson presented SB 5539 as the department’s budget bill. The subcommittee recommended a package that the presenter said totaled, in the transcript, a figure described variously; the recommendation reflected a large increase above current service levels driven in part by continuation of earlier one‑time funding for the Portland Harbor Superfund, technology investments and funding for abandoned and derelict vessel removal and continued management of the Elliott.

Specific allocations mentioned in the work session included $7,500,000 for legal, operational and remediation costs related to the Portland Harbor Superfund site; $3,500,000 for final implementation of the lands administration system replacement; $11,200,000 for the…