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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 2016)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2016 Business & Ag Students, commissioner discuss Lime Plant cleanup BY EILEEN DRIVER Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com County Commissioner Bill Harvey and the “En- vironmental Sciences; Brownfields in Baker” class at Baker Techni- cal Institute held an open house at the VFW Hall in Huntington on Friday, June 3rd at 3:00 p.m. The purpose of the open house was to update people on the plans for Lime and what steps must be taken as well as where the proj- ect is now. The Baker Technical Institute, a nonprofit divi- sion of Baker High School district, has partnered with Baker County and North- east Oregon Economic Development District (NEOEDD) to clean up and ready for new develop- ment the old Cement Plant at Lime, OR. Brownfield cleanup is broken up into the follow- ing stages: 1 find site, 2 Do a phase 1 Historic data survey, 3 Do a phase 2 sampling & testing report, 4 create an analysis of the site, 5 hire a brownfield consulting firm to cleanup the site, 6 make a decon- struction plan, 7 evacu- ation & deconstruction, 8 receive a letter of no further action needed. This is the second brownfield zone this class has tackled and they are currently at step 6 having just finished the hiring pro- cess for the cleanup team. Meagan Alameda, the class teacher, told those present, “This class was started because the school district was donated some land that turned out to be contaminated, was a ‘brownfield.’” She went on to explain that it took them about three years to complete the cleanup process on that Friday, June 3, 2016 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady compared to week ago prices in a very limited test. Many hay produc- ers are sold out for the year. New crop hay is grow- ing and will be harvested in the upcoming weeks. No new sales confirmed for this week. Last week: Tons Price Range Wtd Avg Alfalfa/Ochard Mix —Small Square Premium 20 165.00-165.00 165.00 The week before last: Alfalfa — Mid Square Good 150 190.00-190.00 190.00 Alfalfa — Small Square Premium 23 170.00-170.00 170.00 USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 236 Eileen Driver/ The Baker County Press Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey and a group of students from BTI discuss brownfields. land and expect it to take approximately the same to cleanup Lime. With the help of their partner groups they have received grants to pay for the project. County Commissioner Bill Harvey explained to those present that he feels that Lime has a lot to offer in enticing a new manufac- turing plant and jobs to the area such as water rights from the river, it’s own well, electricity and gas on site as well as access to the railroad tracks running through it. The railroad is especially pertinent as there has started to be a push toward shipping more and more by rail as the roads become older and more crowded. Mike Stevens the engineer for the project, who specializes in bio- hazard and cleanup, told the assembly, “We were surprised at how little chemical cleanup Lime actually needs.” Found at the site were pockets of asbestos and lead paint in the buildings and isolated oil dump ar- eas. 80-plus samples where taken due to concerns of mercury contamination but minimal amounts were found. Most of the concrete from the buildings will be crushed and used to fill in the tunnels in the area and to fill in dips and pits in order to level out the landscape and make it more appealing to new businesses. The students in the class had just come from spend- ing several hours at Lime surveying and mapping the area and were all very interested in continuing to follow the progress of the Lime Cleanup and learning more about the economic impact of brownfields when they return to school next fall. Even though some admit they took the class in the first place for all the wrong reasons, they have come to find this area of study to be very interest- ing and hope to pursue it in the future beyond High School. Lime was incorporated as a city in 1899 and a post office was opened there at that time. The Acme Cement Plaster Company opened a plant there in 1916. The Sun Portland Ce- ment company bought the plant in 1921 and merged with the Oregon Portland Cement Company in 1926. 1940 saw a total popula- tion at Lime to 18 but by 1960 they were producing 1,200,000 barrels a year at the plant. The post office was closed in 1964 and as the Lime deposits started to be depleted they were shipped in from Durkee where a new plant was built in 1979 and the Lime Plant was shut down and abandoned in 1980. Ash Grove Cement Company purchased the Durkee Plant in 1983. Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District awarded grant Northwest Farm Credit Services is proud to award Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District in Baker City, Ore., a $3,500 Northwest FCS Rural Community Grant. “Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District and the Medical Springs community thank North- west Farm Credit Services for its grant to help fund a new tender for our depart- ment,” said Judy Whitley, Secretary/Treasurer. “This mobile water supply will greatly improve our fire response capability not only for our district, but for our mutual aid partners throughout Baker and Union Counties. Thank you Northwest FCS!” Northwest FCS is com- mitted to helping rural communities succeed. During the first rural grant cycle of 2016, more than $99,000 was awarded. Since the program’s incep- tion in 2007, the company has presented 527 rural grants totaling more than $1,047,000. The next rural grant deadline is Oct. 1, 2016. If you think your rural project may be eligible — Weekly Hay Report — Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A 400-500# Bulk 146.00 - 169.00 Top 176.00 500-600# Bulk 141.00 - 161.00 Top 167.00 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A 400-500# Bulk 136.00 - 158.00 Top 159.00 500-600# Bulk 121.00 - 136.00 Top 137.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 135.00 - 146.00 Top 148.00 700-800# Bulk 124.00 - 138.00 Top 139.00 800-900# Bulk 111.00 - 123.00 Top 124.00 900-1,000# Bulk 99.00 - 113.00 Top 117.50 Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 123.00 - 136.00 Top 140.00 700-800# Bulk 108.00 - 125.00 Top 127.00 800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Thin Shelly Cows 53.00 - 63.00 Butcher Cows 64.00 - 74.00 Butcher Bulls 68.00 - 79.00 Pairs Yng. 1250.00 - 1525.00 Hfretts. 83.00 - 96.00 Stock Cows Young - N/A ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon Currently the local log market is flooded with fire salvage logs. The log buyer for Malheur Lumber Co. stated they have all the logs they need under contract and are not accepting any new purchases. BCC/LLC of La Grande has receive so many burned fire salvage logs they are no longer accepting logs at the La Grande log yard. Any additional pine logs have to be delivered to the Elgin Log yard cut in plywood lengths and to a 8 inch top. For these pine logs cut in plywood lengths, BCC is offering $280.00/mbf. They are also paying $410.00/ mbf for Doug Fir & Western Larch. For White Fir they are offing $310.00/mbf. At the Pilot Rock Saw Mill BCC is offing $360.00/mbf for a 12 to 15 inch top, for 16 to 19 inch top $400.00/ mbf & offing $425.00/mbf for 20 inch plus top Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1,266.10 Silver: $17.10 Platinum: $1011.65 Palladium: $564.75 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Submitted Photo. L-R: Board Chair Jerry Baxter, Secretary/Treasurer Judy Whitley, and North- west FCS Relationship Manager Mark Coomer for a grant, visit north- westfcs.com/Stewardship/ Rural-Communities for more information and an application. Northwest FCS is a $10.3 billion financial coopera- tive providing financing and related services to farmers, ranchers, agri- businesses, commercial fishermen, timber produc- ers, rural homeowners and crop insurance custom- ers in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Northwest FCS is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System that supports agriculture and rural communities with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. For more information, go to northwestfcs.com Corn: $431.25/bu/USD Wheat: $519.10/bu/USD Soybeans: $1150.25/bu/USD Oats: $205.25 bu/USD Rough Rice: $11.53/cwt/USD Canola: $529.10 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $118.73/lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $147.38/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $87.33/lb./USD Bloomberg.com