NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: Fires and ICE

By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10

12/1/2025
Dear Friends and Neighbors,

A few months ago, I was pleased to host Attorney General Dan Rayfield for a Town Hall here at the Coast. And this week, I’m again pleased to host our State Treasurer, Elizabeth Steiner, at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, December 3, at the Lincoln City Cultural Center.

The Treasurer administers our portfolio of Oregon investments, serves with the Governor and Secretary of State on the State Land Board to manage our natural and working lands, oversees the Common School Fund, and facilitates the Unclaimed Property Program.

Every year, I encourage readers to check the Unclaimed Property site to see if the state is holding forgotten checking accounts, old security deposits, an inheritance, or a misplaced tax refund. And every year, a few folks email to thank me and report they have found money.

All you have to do is enter your name. Add family members. Check for your friends and surprise them with news!

Please join us on Wednesday night for a conversation with your State Treasurer and me about Oregon and your money.

When Senator Ron Wyden met with us last Sunday, I took some time to talk with him about wildfires, and specifically the ongoing challenges of local Echo Mountain survivors. A critical date is approaching for those families who sought compensation for their 2020 losses.

I was part of a successful effort to waive Oregon taxes on wildfire judgments and settlements. The Federal government adopted a similar law but wrote it to expire on January 1, 2026. What that means is that someone who receives a large legal settlement after the New Year will be required to pay federal taxes on those funds. Let me say that another way. You lose everything – your home, personal possessions, and peace of mind. Your world is turned upside down for years, and the courts award you a million dollars. You pay one-third to your lawyers. And then, because you are in the highest tax bracket you have ever imagined, you also owe the IRS more than 30%. You’ll be lucky to get $300,000 of that million dollars.

Senator Wyden is working to fix that … again.

It is interesting to me that people affected by the fires have generally chosen to pursue one of two approaches.

Some survivors joined with others in class action lawsuits and went to Court. Lawyers for the plaintiffs have focused on PacifiCorp, rather than other utilities, because the company chose not to deenergize its power lines. As the wind and resulting falling trees hit power lines, they started fires. Lawsuits against PacifiCorp center on blazes in the Santiam River canyon, the hills inland from Lincoln City, Southern Oregon, and Chiloquin. Juries in the class action case awarded the first round of plaintiffs between $3 million and $5 million each. But the defendant, PacifiCorp, is appealing those verdicts, and it will take years for the class action to wind its way through the courts.

Another group of survivors chose to negotiate rather than go to Court. In a settlement announced on November 19, PacifiCorp agreed to pay $150 million to 1,434 people in the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. This settlement marks the largest single disposition of cases since litigation began. Payments will vary depending on the extent of losses and average $107,142 each. (The average includes claimants who lost their homes and some who had minor damages.) What this means is that claimants taking the settlement route will receive less than jury awards, but will finally have their cases closed while lawsuits drag on. And importantly, those settlements beat the January tax deadline.

Individual settlements are confidential.

Read more about the settlement and the interesting differences in legal compensation strategy in Willamette Week.

Despite early forecasts of a punishing 2025 wildfire season, Oregon escaped relatively unscathed. That’s good news in general, but little consolation to those who lost homes and property. But midseason rains, cooler temperatures, and quicker responses prevented wider damage across the state during the fire season, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).

While the number of fires was higher, the amount of fire-damaged acres was way down. Less than 400,000 acres burned in 2025, only one-fifth of the 2 million acres ravaged the year before, and well below the 10-year average of 680,000. The vast majority of fires on state forest land—94%—were 10 acres or less.

Disturbingly, more fires than average were human-caused this past season. In the last decade, humans caused 7 out of 10 wildfires on state-protected land. (Lightning accounted for the rest.) In 2025, the number of human-caused fires exceeded the 10-year average by 33, totaling 796. According to ODF data, the human causes of fire, in declining order, include equipment use, debris burning, recreation, smoking, arson, juveniles, and railroads.

Read more here.

The situation in Newport with the status of the Coast Guard air rescue operation and the possibility of an ICE detention center continues to evolve.

Tuesday, I shared news that U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken found that the sudden relocation of the helicopter last month could imperil lives as crabbing season gets underway, and that the Coast Guard had not provided the legally required notice before moving the aircraft nearly 100 miles south to North Bend.

Translation: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated the law in removing the helicopter and put lives at risk. You can read the order here.

The U.S. Coast Guard must immediately return a rescue helicopter to the city of Newport as a court case challenging the aircraft’s removal gets underway. The order remains in effect for 14 days, though Aiken will also consider a permanent injunction barring the removal of the helicopter. Read more on OPB, the Lincoln Chronicle, or the Oregonian.

Between 2014 and 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter based in Newport was responsible for the rescue of approximately 500 people, including 30 commercial fishermen whose lives were saved at sea, according to court records. In 2015, I passed an Oregon resolution supporting air rescue in Newport. Concerns persist that relocating to North Bend will increase response times and put lives further at risk.

The temporary ruling is good news and a great relief to our coastal communities. Fishermen will be safer – at least temporarily. I look forward to the final decision in these lawsuits.

The Coast Guard is in the Courts, and the ICE facility is in the shadows.

A federal contractor representing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Oregon officials last week that they are preparing an analysis of an unspecified project that could have environmental ramifications for the coastal city of Newport. The message offers the clearest indication yet that an immigration detention center could be coming to Lincoln County.

Under federal law dating back to 1972, whenever a federal agency wants to act in a coastal zone in Oregon, it must wait at least 90 days before the project can break ground. During that time, Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) conducts a 60-day review to determine how that activity would impact the coast, as well as a 30-day public comment period. Notable recent uses of the program have been offshore wind energy and the canceled Jordan Cove Energy Project, which would have added a liquified natural gas export facility near Coos Bay.

Inquiries from the media, local government, and legislators have gone unanswered. I told the Capital Chronicle, “All we know is that they are making inquiries about a proposed action in Newport and making sure it’s consistent with Coastal Zone Management Act requirements. I just take that as one more piece of evidence that this proposed action is far from over.”

At the same time, motels along the central coast are being contacted by a federal housing contractor seeking prices and availability for up to 200 rooms for a year to “accommodate personnel” beginning as soon as December 15.

We’ve seen similar inquiries for the delivery of large volumes of drinking water, the disposal of thousands of gallons of human waste daily, and online ads for detention agents, bus drivers, and medical personnel with ICE experience – all to be employed in Newport. I remained troubled that honest and transparent details have not been forthcoming. Good government does not hide in the shadows.

I have been pleased to help bring our local story to a national audience – first on MS Now and last week in the New York Times.

As I said, the situation and the almost universal resistance to an ICE facility here continue to evolve.

Photos from the New York Times.

On a brighter note, Susie and I ate too much and laughed just enough for Thanksgiving.

Friday evening, Mayor Wahlke and I were asked to count down the lighting of Lincoln City’s holiday tree. It was a joyful event, and I reminded the happy crowd that, whatever you celebrate this season, to do so with gusto, the warm embrace of family and friends, and consideration of our less fortunate neighbors.

The coming week will be busy with virtual budget meetings on Monday and Thursday, a podcast interview on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Yachats, the Town Hall with Treasurer Steiner on Wednesday, a presentation to the Oregon Lodging Association on Thursday, and a meeting about Veteran housing on Friday.

Susie and I are taking some personal time over the weekend, and then on Monday, I will be in Portland for the Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit.

Someone said to me yesterday that there is no rest for the wicked. I replied with a smile that good people are too busy, too!