U.S. Senator Ron Wyden just couldn’t say it strongly enough.

Though millions in federal timber aid is headed to South Coast counties, don’t count on it to last. There won’t be another rural Oregon bailout in four years — so the South Coast must treat the money as a bridge to the future.

“We gotta use this next four years differently,” Wyden said Monday afternoon in a meeting with The World’s editorial board.

The senator stopped in Coos Bay to discuss transportation issues with Oregon International Port of Coos Bay staff, elected officials and industrial company managers. He also held a town hall meeting, where he was disturbed by an apparent expectation of perpetual timber aid.

“There was some sense the delegation would do this forever,” he said.

He called on rural Oregon leaders to use the next four years to develop stronger local economies and new revenue sources for local government.

As for Wyden, now that the timber payments are secure for a while, he has new priorities to push. He said he wants to focus on his bipartisan Healthy Americans Act  and influencing energy issues as a member of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He’s also trying to line up Senate support for a bipartisan proposal to create federal bonds for transportation infrastructure.

The Democratic senator criticized the Bush administration for running up budget deficits in the past eight years. He predicted the administration, having diverted $70 million in salmon disaster relief into U.S. Census overruns, will resist replacing the money before President Bush leaves office.

“It’s not going to bother them in the least to get out the door in January and not spend the money,” he said.

Speaking of the election, Wyden urged support for Democratic candidates for president and Oregon’s other U.S. Senate seat. Wyden said he’s not one to bash the GOP, but he’s ready to close the book on the past eight years.

He expressed optimism about having Sen. Barack Obama as a cosigner on a bill to return energy project siting authority to the states. Letting states site liquefied natural gas facilities would bring order to a chaotic process, he said. Currently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves or rejects individual projects but doesn’t select one over another.

“It’s kind of like Dodge City before the marshals showed up,” he said.

There’s no chance of that legislation gaining traction without solid Democratic Party control of the Senate, he said.

Wyden promised some help for the Coos Bay port’s drive to acquire and restore the rail line between Eugene and the coast. Port spokesman Martin Callery said his agency wants a month’s extra time to finish writing a business plan.

The federal Surface Transportation Board is scheduled to decide in about a month whether the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad can abandon the line, or whether the port can acquire the track instead.

The senator committed to push the STB to postpone its decision until December.