[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S4074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN:
  S. 2482. A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to grant to 
Deschutes and Crook Counties in the State of Oregon a right-of-way to 
West Butte Road; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I introduce legislation transferring 
from Federal to county jurisdiction the West Butte Road, located in the 
counties of Crook and Deschutes, Oregon. In exchange for the new right-
of-way for the West Butte Road, Crook and Deschutes counties will 
transfer their right-of-way on the George Millican Road to the U.S. 
Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management, BLM.
  The right-of-way exchange authorized by this legislation would clear 
the way for a paved road, pursued for more than 30 years by Prineville, 
in Crook County, OR, to connect their community with U.S. Highway 20. 
Such a road would substantially enhance the economic development 
potential for Prineville, a community suffering from 15 percent 
unemployment, by providing an alternative route for passenger and 
commercial traffic traveling between Portland and Boise, ID. It would 
also encourage commerce in Prineville by efficiently directing traffic 
to the Prineville/Crook County Industrial Parks, areas set aside for 
the sole purpose of promoting industrial diversification within Crook 
County. By increasing the traffic to these areas, the opportunity to 
promote and increase their occupancy would be greatly improved.
  In addition to economic advantages, the paved road would provide 
important environmental benefits. It would reduce traffic congestion on 
the overloaded highway 97 passing through Bend and Redmond, OR. It 
would eliminate the prospect of major improvements to the Crooked River 
Highway. The Crooked River Highway follows the meander of the Crooked 
River, a tributary of the salmon-bearing Deschutes River. Improvement 
of that road would entail substantial impacts to riparian areas, 
expensive bridge maintenance, and likely adverse effects to the river. 
In contrast, the proposed new road would reclaim a straight section of 
the old Prineville-Lakeview highway, surveyed in 1915, which crosses 
flat desert lands and no riparian zones. In addition, the legislation 
directs the BLM to propose affirmative measures to protect wildlife and 
game habitat in the area traversed by the new road.
  Some suggest that this legislation is not necessary because the BLM 
already has the authority to issue a right-of-way. That may be true, 
but it is also true that the BLM decided it can make a decision on the 
county right-of-way application only thought an extended process, which 
close observers tell me could take anywhere from four to six years, 
with no guarantee of success. I am not willing to stake Prineville's 
economic or environmental future on such an uncertainty.
  Improvement of the Millican/West Butte road is supported by the City 
of Prineville, Crook County, Deschutes County, the City of Bend, the 
City of Redmond, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the 
Central Oregon Transportation Commission. They have identified the new 
right-of-way as a means of reducing environmental impacts associated 
with the existing road, reducing traffic congestion, improving the 
northwest-southeast connections between the state's wealthiest and 
poorest regions, and offering the community the chance to retain its 
largest employers so as to address some of the economic woes of the 
region.
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