Of environmental concern
By Catherine Siegner
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board has identified the parties which will
be allowed to take part in a special pre
hearing conference in Portland August 14,
to determine whether the Trojan plant
should be restarted.
In a written order issued Thursday, the
Board named the Columbia Environmental
Council, the Coalition for Safe Power and
Stephen Willingham of Portland as parties
to the proceedings
Three other petitioners, David McCoy, C.
Gail Parson and Nina Bell must participate
as one party, the order said.
The hearing will also address modifica
tions planned for Trojan's control building.
The building's walls were found to not meet
federal specifications for withstanding earth
quakes, after an inspection last March.
A $20,500 fine has been levied against
Portland General Electric Co. by the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
the exposure of two workers at the Trojan
plant to excessive amounts of radiation.
On April 5, one worker at Trojan received
27.3 rems and and another received 17.1
rems while they were looking for a source of
radiation within the plant.
Federal regulations limit accumulative
radiation exposure to 3 rems in a three
month period. The exposures at Trojan are
the highest ever received by any U.S. nu
clear plant worker, according to the NRC.
In a letter to PGE. Ernst Volgenau, direc
tor of the NRC’s office of inspection and
enforcement, said, "The apparent items of
noncompliance (with NRC regulations) as
sociated with the incident, when viewed in
conjunction with other events and items of
noncompliance which have occurred since
the Trojan plant was licensed for operation,
also raise serious concerns about your abil
ity to appropriately identify, evaluate and
correct problems."
The State Board of Forestry will hold a
public hearing in Salem Thursday and Fri
day to consider two proposals for regulating
the aerial use of herbicides in Oregon.
One proposal from Governor Straub's of
fice would set up 200-foot buffer strips
around major streams or open water when
herbicides containing dioxin (2,4,5-T and
Silvex) are aerially applied.
The other proposal, submitted by the
Oregon Environmental Council, would pro
vide for notification to all persons living
within one mile of the spray area at least 21
days prior to spraying, and to all owners of
municipal water supplies within fifty miles
downstream of the spray area, among other
provisions.
Interested persons may present tes
timony on the proposals at the hearing, but
testimony will be limited to five minutes, and
should also be presented in written form.
The hearings will be held at the office of
e
the State Forester, 2600 State Street,
Salem, and will begin at 9 a.m.
Private owners of less than 5,000 acres
of forest land may now reserve Douglas fir
and hybrid poplar seedlings for next
winter’s planting from the Oregon State
Department of Forestry.
About four and a half million seedlings
are available. Prices are determined annu
ally, although estimates are $60 per
thousand for Douglas fir, and $89 per
thousand for hybrid poplar. There are
minimum orders of 400 seedlings for the fir
and 100 seedlings for the poplar.
More information may be obtained from
the Public Affairs office at the State
Forester's headquarters, 2600 State
Street, Salem, Oregon 97310.
The Department of Land Conservation
and Development will hold a State Citizen
Involvement Advisory Committee meeting
Friday, August 4, at the State Library in
Salem.
The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. and
will be in the basement conference room.
Atiyeh blasts tax relief
program; wants budget cut
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
A property tax relief program
announced by Governor Bob
Straub Thursday is a dangerous
proposal, Victor Atiyeh, Republi
can nominee for governor, said
Friday.
Straub s proposal, which would
provide property tax relief by re
turning the state's $200 million
budget surplus to the taxpayers, is
“faulty fiscal management,"
Atiyeh said.
Straub told reporters in Portland
that in the face of the property tax
limitation proposed by Oregon's
ballot Measure 6. his tax relief
program would have less "devas
tating effects. “
By returning the surplus and
limiting taxes on private homes to
one and one-half percent above
the 1975 assessed value of the
property. Straub hopes to make
the relief more fair" than that of
fered by Measure 6.
But Straub's idea is "danger
ous" because it is based on a sur
plus that is constantly changing,
Atiyeh said.
“It's very dangerous to hold out
property tax relief to Oregonians
based on the present surplus."
Atiyeh told reporters. The surplus
may not always be there.
Atiyeh. who has yet to take a
stand on Measure 6. said he
favors a different form of property
tax relief. A budget cut to govern
ment would be the best way to
proceed, he said
Atiyeh outlined a plan to cut
government spending by 10 per
cent as tax relief to be im
plemented if he is elected gover
nor. That cut will be uniform to all
areas of government and will even
tually improve the state's opera
tion while giving relief to the tax
payers.
The taxpayers are using Meas
ure 6 as a message to state gov
ernment. he said. That message
is spend less and lower taxes.
Atiyeh, who, according to a poll
taken by GMA Research for
KATU-TV and KXL radio in Port
land. leads Straub by nearly 20
percentage points, added that the
poll is an indication of the people's
confidence in his abilities as a
possible governor.
The poll, which showed Atiyeh
with 49.9 percent of voter support
to 30.8 percent for Straub, and
19.7 percent undecided, was the
lowest dip in popularity for Straub.
Atiyeh says that dip was because
people are beginning to turn to
him for leadership.
“I know what's going on in our
campaign headquarters, we are
way advanced in volunteers,"
Atiyeh said. There is no way
Straub can catch up in volun
teers."
"The fact that I'm a challenger
and he's a sitting governor and
that I’m leading him by 20 percent
in the metropolitan area has got to
be devastating."
The trend Atiyeh sees because
of the poll is that Straub's support
is dropping and his is rising. Even
tually, the 20 percent undecided
will vote for him, he predicted.
“I believed honestly that I was
what Oregonians wanted in 1974,
but that was a bad year for Repub
licans all around," Atiyeh said.
“Now this poll shows that I have a
wide base of support behind me."
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