2A | WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 Phone: 503-399-6773 Fax: 503-399-6706 Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Staff News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Westsmb@gannett.com Deadlines The Covanta Marion municipal waste incinerator facility in Brooks. DAVID DAVIS AND KELLY JORDAN/STATESMAN JOURNAL Burns Continued from Page 1A part of a coalition of 14 organizations, called Clean Air Now, advocating for the county to stop burning garbage. County Commissioner Kevin Camer- on said the incinerator provides an im- portant service to companies like Nike and Nordstrom that have zero-waste policies. “We all know why they don’t want to go to landfills,” Cameron said. “That’s one of the reasons we support the waste-to-energy facility.” As for trucking waste long distances, he said, that’s just typical practice in the waste management industry. The county’s other two elected com- missioners, Colm Willis and Danielle Bethell, did not respond to interview re- quests. Covanta officials said the waste helps pay for the facility’s operation and maintenance. Without it, fees would be higher for the county’s waste haulers, Regan said. Those fees impact customer garbage rates. “The facility is a very important re- News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips gional asset for waste that must be (in- cinerated) for destruction,” he said. “The supplemental waste program also serves many businesses that do not want to use landfills for sustaina- bility and end-of-product-life liability reasons.” The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6602 Legal: call 503-399-6789 Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 To Place an Ad Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. Decades of controversy USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Covanta Marion is Oregon’s only municipal waste incinerator and, with the exception of one in Spokane, the only one in the Northwest. It’s a subsidiary of New Jersey- based Covanta Energy Corp., which operates about 40 incinerators nation- wide. Many of those incinerators offer industrial, medical and hazardous waste disposal services. The Brooks facility burns about 176,000 tons of waste per year, gener- ating up to 13 megawatts of energy. That’s enough to power about 6,000 homes. Neighbors and environmental groups have long worried about the composition of the materials burned there. They say the state doesn’t re- Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. See BURNS, Page 3A Meek fire at north Tahoe on June 9, 2021. PROVIDED/ NORTH TAHOE FIRE Smoke Continued from Page 1A During the summer, the metabolism of the lake increases and organisms that live in and on the lake thrive. But with reduced light reaching the lake due to the smoke and ash, the amount of food available to the lake’s fish, birds and other wildlife was altered. “Humans breathe in and breathe out. That’s metabolism. Lakes do the same thing. In the summer they create the base of the food web,” Chandra said. “All of a sudden, smoke affects our lungs the same way. We cough. We can’t breathe. We were curious how a lake’s breathing would stop when light was turned off. The lake is breathing, and the lake requires light.” The smoke and ash fertilize the lake, according to Sadro. This can cause al- gae blooms that impact lake clarity, drive fish deeper into the lakes and po- tentially causing fish die-offs from a lack of oxygen. That could have implications for mountain lakes as wildfires continue to grow in size and frequency across the West. “Connecting wildfire smoke impacts to the water quality in aquatic ecosys- tems is of urgent relevance as the fre- quency and severity of fires increase in California,” Sadro said. At the time, 2018 was the largest wildfire season on record for California, when 1.9 million acres burned. Then, in 2020, a new record was set when near- ly 4.4 million acres burned. A total of 10.1 million acres burned that year across the United States. “We’ve had drought in the past, we’ve had fire in the past, but the in- creases of fire in North America are go- ing up. The California forests are really brittle,” Chandra said. “We are all glob- ally implicated in this issue.” Amy Alonzo covers the outdoors, rec- reation and environment for Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Reach her at aalon- zo@gannett.com or (775) 741-8588. Here’s how you can support ongoing coverage and local journalism. Smoky skies obscure Castle Lake. Scientists have sensors in the lake, measuring anything they can – light, plankton, fish. PROVIDED BY UNIV ERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO Carly Blue Myers of Silverton puts together a charcuterie board and other items, part of the activities involve d in her event catering business, The Blue Pomegranate. GEOFF PARKS/SPECIAL FOR THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Caterer Continued from Page 1A In the short time since, she has ca- tered nine events and she is booked every weekend for the summer — her way of counting the business a suc- cess. The hospitality focus is apparent in some of her online marketing. She urges clients to “Be a guest at your own dinner party. By coming up with your dream menu together, I can come into your kitchen and make it a reality while you mingle with your guests.” Services include themed events with names like “Romantic Garden Party,” “Roaring ’20s,” and “A Night in Istanbul,” interactive classes like pas- ta making and sourdough bread mak- ing, and catered celebrations such as weddings, baby showers and anniver- saries. She has garnered good reviews for her work in the short time she has been in business. Comments are spe- cific and complimentary: “It was a high class dining experience in the comfort of our own home,” is an exam- ple. The themed nights are some of her favorites, she said, as it allows her to showcase the knowledge she has gained from her travels and introduce others to exotic cuisines. “I want you to feel like you are on a candlelit rooftop in Tuscany or a bus- tling cafe in Istanbul,” she says on her website. That includes appropriate music and other notes of place-specif- ic ambiance. She plans to expand her collection of kitchen tools (such as a food proces- sor and new knives) to make the time- Carly Blue Myers of Silverton shows off a charcuterie board, part of her event catering business called The Blue Pomegranate. GEOFF PARKS/SPECIAL FOR THE STATESMAN JOURNAL intensive prep and organizational tasks flow more smoothly, but is generally happy with the way her nascent busi- ness is maturing. “I love the fresh, bold, exciting food of the Middle East and the Mediterra- nean,” she said, “and I love introducing those flavors to people here who might not have been able to travel, especially during this pandemic. “I want it to look good, I want it to sound good, I want it to smell good and I want it to taste good,” Myers said. “It’s all about the senses.” Freelance writer/photographer Geoff Parks is based in Salem. Do you have Sil- verton story ideas? Email him at geoff- parks@gmail.com.