Umpqua Bank Eco-Banking Division

In February, Salem Monthly reported on Umpqua Bank’s new GreenStreet lending program, which offers financing options designed to help small businesses and homeowners invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Umpqua Bank recently took another step toward supporting sustainability by creating a new eco-banking division. The goals of the division are to reduce energy and resource consumption within the communities while serving and supporting businesses committed to becoming more environmentally sustainable.

Umpqua promoted vice president Dan Weldon, one of the few senior lending specialists in the nation who is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional, to eco-banking manager. Weldon will lead the development, delivery, and tracking of Umpqua Bank’s energy loan and deposit programs, including the GreenStreet lending program.

“With this new division and position, we are working aggressively to make it easier for consumers and businesses to fund environmentally sustainable projects,” said Ray Davis, president and CEO of Umpqua Bank. “Dan’s singular skill-set allows Umpqua Bank to be a catalyst for sustainable lending in Portland and throughout the West coast.”

Weldon earned his LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council(USGBC) in 2007. He is also a member of Cascadia Green Building Council and was a participant in the 2008 Cascadia GBC Green Broker conference and the Sustainable Forests Conference.

More Oregon cities eligible for USDA rural business and energy programs

Despite Oregon’s reputation as a growing state, rural Oregon is also expanding - at least as far as the United States Department of Agriculture-Rural Development (USDA-RD) is concerned.

USDA-RD officials reclassified the following Oregon communities from urban to rural making business and energy projects located in these areas eligible for assistance from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG), Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG), and Business & Industry (B&I) guaranteed loan programs: Wilsonville, Butteville, Boring, Pleasant Home (east of Gresham), Ashland, Jacksonville, White City, Coburg, and Turner.

The 2008 Farm Bill made the reclassification of these communities possible by giving the USDA more latitude in setting urban boundaries. Previously, USDA-RD was bound by the lines drawn by the US Census for its Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

These communities join many others that have always been considered rural for business and energy program purposes. See www.rurdev.usda.gov for a list of these areas and more information about the business and energy programs offered by the USDA-RD in Oregon is available.