Item A: Options to address field burning

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4. A lawsuit. WELC has asked that Lane County and the City of Eugene join as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the seed growers, asking for an injunction against field burning, with a possibility of naming the State a defendant. WELC believes that a lawsuit would provide the greatest opportunity to resolve this issue, either through providing the “hammer” necessary to get the seed growers to negotiate a significant reduction of field burning, or by obtaining a permanent injunction. In discussion with County staff, it was their opinion that WELC’s proposed causes of action would not be successful in a lawsuit against the seed growers. WELC estimates that the cost of such a lawsuit is somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 to $300,000 with the WELC attorneys acting as counsel in the lawsuit. There was also discussion regarding using the City Attorney and County Counsel to pursue such a lawsuit. Evidently, WELC no longer has the financial resources to continue to pursue a lawsuit on their own. 5. Introduce a bill in the 2008 Supplemental Session. Representatives Holvey and Barnhart both requested a new field burning ban bill for the 2008 Supplemental Session, but those requests were not approved by legislative leadership, given the short Supplemental Session and the request by party leaders to keep all measures “uncontroversial.” 6. Introduce a bill in the 2009 Regular Session. Representative Holvey said he would continue pushing this issue in the 2009 session, noting that even if a lawsuit was filed or even completed by then, or a settlement has been reached, legislation would still be required to ratify and memorialize the settlement or court decision. This would also provide more opportunity to work on educating the legislature and the public, which will be necessary to getting any field burning ban bill passed. 7. Do nothing at this time. RELATED CITY POLICIES In 2007, the City of Eugene supported both HB 3000 and SB 966 to ban field burning. COUNCIL OPTIONS The council may direct the City Manager to pursue one or more of the options listed above. CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION The City Manager recommends no action at this time. While this is an important matter, with limited resources and a number of other pressing priorities, the City Manager recommends that legislative solutions be pursued in the 2009 Regular Legislative Session. F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080122\S080122A.doc