Measure 37 Watch

Allow a Pumice Mine and Housing Lots in Newberry National Monument? Or Else Oregon Taxpayes Pay $203 Million to the Developer

From oregonphotos.com. Click to learn more about Newberry Crater.

In 1992, Congress designated the Newberry Crater (some photos) a national monument. By definition, a national monument can include private property, but is managed by federal agencies to insure proper protection of the area.

On June 1, 2006, James Miller filed a Measure 37 claim for $203 million in compensation for restrictions on development in the Newberry Crater. Miller claims the property contains 8.5 million cubic yards of high-grade pumice roughly worth $179,800,000 at current prices.

Under the measure, the county (in this case, Deschutes) would have to either pay the claim in full, or would be forced to strip away regulations and allow the proposed development to take place. Miller owns 157 acres of forests inside the National Monument that borders the west side of East Lake.   Miller is seeking to begin extracting the pumice deposits and geothermal resources, and to build cottages along the 167-acre lot.

Measure 37 allows claims to be filed for development or compensation if the landowner had purchased the land before the regulations were in place, or if the claimant legally holds “any interest therein” of the land. In 1969, La Pine Pumice Company  signed an unrecorded mining/lease option to extract pumice from the southwest shore of East Lake. In 1988, Miller became a major shareholder of La Pine.

Miller’s claim was based on the Measure 37 provision that defines a property owner as “the present owner of the property, or any interest within.” The claim was rejected however, because of ambiguity of Miller's personal interest in the initial mining/lease option with La Pine.

Recently, La Pine Pumice Company, rather than Miller himself, re-filed the claim for the extraction of the pumice deposits and geothermal resources. To date, the claim is still pending.  Read more about the La Pine Pumice Company's Measure 37 claim to build a mine in Newberry Crater.