{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bonamici.house.gov/media/press-releases/wyden-merkley-bonamici-hoyle-press-feds-provide-more-opportunities-oregon", "Wyden, Merkley, Bonamici, Hoyle Press Feds to Provide More Opportunities for Oregon Coast to Weigh in on Draft Wind Energy Areas", "2023-08-11", "2023", "2023-08", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Suzanne Bonamici", "B001278", "bonamici.house.gov", "bonamici", "https://bonamici.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley along with U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Val Hoyle said today they are urging federal officials -- if draft wind energy areas for the Oregon Coast are released -- to schedule three public meetings on the Coast for public review, and also to double the comment period from 30 days to 60 days.\n\nThe letter with those requests from the four Oregon lawmakers to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein comes in response to concerns from coastal communities, the fishing industry and Tribes that their voices have been left out of the process to develop wind energy areas along the South Coast.\n\n\u201cDeploying clean energy is imperative to move our country forward and meet our climate goals, but it\u2019s also important to have robust community engagement throughout the entire process to ensure any project is done responsibly,\u201d wrote Wyden, Merkley, Bonamici and Hoyle. \u201cIn order to facilitate meaningful engagement, we ask that you specifically plan and facilitate in-person meetings in communities that would be impacted by the development of wind energy off of Oregon\u2019s South Coast if you move forward with the leasing process.\u201d\n\nMembers of the Oregon delegation wrote the agency in June 2022 with their concerns that Tribes, coastal communities, and fishing communities had been left out of the initial planning process \u2013 and reiterated those same concerns last month.\n\n\u201cWhile your response letter in July of 2023 explained a number of efforts BOEM is working on to engage and inform the public, we remain concerned the process is not adequately engaging all voices in the planning process,\u201d they wrote. \u201cIt is critical that BOEM develops a deep appreciation of all community interests and fully studies every opportunity to reduce conflict with all ocean users before making substantial development decisions.\u201d\n\n\u201cFollowing the release of the draft wind energy areas, we urge you to proactively solicit input on the draft plan during the formal comment period and answer questions in a timely fashion to allow for informed comments,\u201d the Oregon lawmakers wrote. \u201cWe also request that you extend the comment period to 60 days. We request that you set up three public, in-person meetings in Oregon coastal communities to hear directly from them.\n\nThe entire letter is here.\n\nA web version of this release is here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:30:18Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bonamici.house.gov/media/press-releases/wyden-merkley-bonamici-hoyle-press-feds-provide-more-opportunities-oregon"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9450158104300499, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}