Walden Pays Visit to Crook County

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., visited Crook County Saturday morning talking to a group at the OSU Open Campus Building in Prineville. The congressman shared some good news about legislation he has been pushing hard for.

Walden had good news on the Bowman Dam legislation that cleared out of the House Natural Resources Committee.

H.R. 2060, the Central Oregon Jobs and Water Security Act, would correct a boundary line for the Wild and Scenic portion of the Crooked River in order to allow a small-scale private hydropower facility at the base of Bowman Dam to be constructed.

The House majority leader told Walden he hopes to bring the bill to the House floor in the next couple weeks.

Walden says if the bill gets passed, that means more jobs plus new hydropower and water that are essential to the growth of data centers, like the ones being built in Prineville by Facebook and Apple.

While Walden was in the area, NewsChannel 21 asked him what he thought about President Obama’s recent comments supporting gay marriage.

“He can go and have that argument all he wants,” Walden said. “We are going to be focused on the failed policies of the Obama administration and really get the economy going again, get energy prices down where they are affordable and not hurting families like they are when you go to fill up.”

Walden says the real debate in the election this year won’t be about gay marriage but will revolve around jobs and the economy.

On Tuesday, Walden will find out who his Democratic challenger this fall will be, Joyce Segers or John Sweeney, in the May primary election.