Senators secure over $7 million for Central Oregon projects, from canal piping to groundwater tests and ‘floating solar’

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced recently that they secured more than $100 million in federal investments for 54 community projects across Oregon, including over $7 million for four in Central Oregon, from canal piping to groundwater testing and "floating solar" plans.

The funding was included in two Fiscal Year 2026 packages that cleared Congress and will support initiatives in nearly every county in the state.

The $102,692,000 in funding is dedicated to "community-initiated projects" that were identified through local feedback.

Both senators hold annual town halls in every Oregon county to ensure that regional needs inform the spending bills they advocate for in Washington, D.C.

The 54 projects were secured through the work of the Oregon congressional delegation. Sen. Merkley is the only member of Congress from Oregon to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee since Sen. Mark Hatfield.

Merkley joined the committee in 2013 and currently serves as the top Democrat on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee, a role that allows him to help set the state's priorities while funding bills are drafted.

Merkley emphasized that the projects are designed to address the specific requirements of the local areas that proposed them.

"Community-initiated projects are rooted in the fact that no one knows the unique needs of communities across Oregon like the folks living and working in them," Merkley said. "The communities identified top projects, and we fought for them."

Wyden also credited his frequent travel throughout the state for helping identify which projects required federal support.

"No-one knows what a local community needs more than the local community itself," Wyden said. "That's why I hold town halls and meetings in every nook and cranny of the state: to hear directly from Oregonians about their needs, and bring that back to D.C. to fight for these critical projects."

Wyden said he was gratified to work alongside Merkley and the rest of the delegation to help Oregon communities thrive.

CENTRAL OREGON (Klamath, Lake, Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, and Wheeler Counties)

• $2.373 million to the Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council for their closed basin watershed restoration and resilience project. These funds will be used to design and construct fish passage and conduct habitat restoration in the Goose Lake Watershed to improve fish passage, fish and bird habitat, and flood mitigation across five tributaries and eleven streams within the drought-prone watershed.
• $2 million to North Unit Irrigation District for its infrastructure modernization project. This effort is working to convert over 27 miles of open-ditch irrigation canals with gravity-pressured buried piping, which will significantly reduce water loss, improve water delivery reliability, and improve streamflow in the Deschutes River.
• $2 million to Arnold Irrigation District (AID) for their infrastructure modernization project. Funds will be used to complete the final phase of AID’s Infrastructure Resiliency and Modernization Project to pipe nearly 12 miles of the District’s main canal which will reduce overall water seepage and promote more efficient and sustainable irrigation across the District.
• $1.123 million to Oregon Institute of Technology for equipment for an advanced energy manufacturing initiative to develop cutting-edge research, education, and training in hydrogen production, solar and solar-thermal manufacturing technologies, and emerging battery tech at Oregon Tech’s Klamath Falls and Portland-Metro campuses.
• $1.014 million to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for their Crook County groundwater research project. These funds will be used to implement a surface and groundwater sampling program in Crook County to identify the scope and potential causes of groundwater contamination issues impacting the community's water.
• $1 million to the Ochoco Irrigation District for their floating solar project ,which will generate 900 kilowatts of power and benefit local agriculture, residential homes, and local industry.
• $648,000 to Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) for the construction of a new community center. Wheeler SWCD’s current facility is insufficient to support the public’s needs as the county’s leading natural resource agency. This new space will be a centrally located innovation hub for multi-agency accessibility to best support Wheeler County’s natural resources work while promoting intra-agency collaboration.
  
  STATEWIDE
• $2.5 million for the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal to support the statewide “Fire Adapted Oregon” initiative and implement community-based wildfire mitigation and defensible space projects throughout high wildfire risk communities in Oregon.
• $1 million to Oregon DEQ for their air quality improvement project, which will stand up grant programs across the state to enable communities to implement alternatives to the open burning of woody debris. This effort would reduce wood smoke emissions in communities by making preferred alternatives more accessible and improving the health of communities.