Opposition packs hearing on Gov. Kotek proposal to update critical groundwater area protections

By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | April 9, 2025

Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposal to give state agencies more authority to intervene earlier in Oregon’s contaminated groundwater areas met massive opposition at its first public hearing.

Two rooms and two separate hearings were scheduled Tuesday to accommodate all of the people who went to the Capitol to offer testimony on Senate Bill 1154 during a meeting of the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee. The bill was sent to the Senate Rules Committee without recommendation, where it will receive another public hearing in the weeks ahead.

Bill advocates say it would provide much-needed updates to the state’s Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989. That act was meant to conserve groundwater resources and prevent contamination following well-testing across the state that showed many contained water with high levels of agricultural chemicals.