WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
New rules still
let electric
companies
decide when
to kill power
Claire Withycombe
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Dave Evans in 2020 gets his boat on the water with his two dogs at Mongold Boat Ramp at Detroit Lake.
ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Water levels are up
Detroit Lake reaches ‘full pool’
for first time since 2020
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
D
etroit Lake reached its “full pool” water level last week for the first time in two
years, although it’s slightly less water than people will remember from previous
years.h The popular reservoir east of Salem was 1,560 feet above sea level as of
Friday, which is just above the water level that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
now considers “full” or “full pool.”h The mark is good news for those who love recreation at
Detroit Lake, which stayed well below normal levels during last year’s drought-plagued spring
and summer and hasn’t been considered “full” since the summer of 2020.h With above-aver-
age snowpack in the mountains and a rainy pattern projected through May, Detroit Lake
should stay in good shape throughout the summer, Corps officials said.
“As it stands right now, all of the boat ramps will be
accessible going into Memorial Day and for most of
the summer,” Corps spokesman Chris Gaylord said.
“We should stay fairly full. We’ll face some uncertain-
ty going into Labor Day as to whether boat ramps will
all be accessible.
“May will give us a better picture.”
The reservoir will have less water overall following
measures taken by the Corps last year to reduce pres-
sure on Detroit Dam’s spillway gates in the event of a
large Cascadia or local earthquake.
Previously, each spring, Detroit Lake was man-
aged to reach a “full pool” level of 1,563.5 feet above
sea level. Under the new plan, the reservoir will be
filled and kept at 1,558.5 feet.
The likelihood of the type of earthquake that could
damage Detroit Dam to the point of an “uncontrolled
release” is small — maybe 1 in 10,000 — but the poten-
tial calamity meant an adjustment was needed.
“The chances of a breach right now is very, very
low. Around 0.01 percent,” said Ross Hiner, dam safe-
ty program manager for the Corps, who said the De-
troit decision followed a recently-completed safety
assessment. “But we want to move it even lower.”
Five feet might not seem like much of a difference,
but it’s enough to reduce stress on dam spillway
gates and reduce the chances of a breach by 10 per-
cent during an extremely large Cascadia or local
earthquake, Hiner said.
The lower water level is likely to stay in place for
two to five years while the Corps studies the risks fur-
ther and evaluates long-term measures.
By starting at a “full pool” that is lower than in the
past, the lake can drop below dock levels sooner in
the season than previously. Research has shown that
low water years can bring up to $11 million in negative
economic impact to Detroit and the Santiam Canyon,
according to a study by Oregon State University. And
See LAKE, Page 2A
Indian boarding schools left
painful legacy, report says
Debra Utacia Krol and Dianne Lugo
Arizona Republic | USA TODAY NETWORK
The languages, cultures and history of Native
American tribes were “targeted for destruction” by
federal Indian boarding schools, Interior Secretary
Deb Haaland said Wednesday, and some of the chil-
dren who attended those schools never made it
home.
Haaland, whose grandparents were taken to
boarding schools at the age of 8, said her agency had
begun the work of chronicling the worst of the abuses
and trying to find out what happened to the students
who were lost in the system, an attempt to “honor our
trust obligations to Indigenous communities.”
The secretary made her remarks as the Interior
Department released its first report on Indian board-
ing schools and their impacts on Native peoples
throughout the United States.
Chemawa Indian School in Salem is one of the four
off-reservation boarding schools the federal govern-
ment currently runs. At more than 140 years old, it is
the oldest continuously operated and federally run
Indian boarding school in the United States. Today,
Chemawa has more than 300 students enrolled but
Students in an art class at Phoenix Indian School,
June 1900. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
ADMINISTRATION
at least 30,000 children attended the school in Che-
mawa’s first 96 years alone.
The report is the first step in the Federal Indian
See LEGACY, Page 2A
Vol. 141, No. 22
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QEAJAB-07403y
In Oregon, power companies will still decide wheth-
er to shut off power if there’s a high risk of wildfires.
But new state rules will now require large utilities
owned by investors to publicize certain details in ad-
vance about a shutoff, like when it will start and how
long it’s expected to last, and to provide status updates
every 24 hours.
Oregon’s Public Utility Commission issued new
rules saying power companies have to inform “critical
facilities” like communications facilities and local
public safety “partners” like local emergency man-
agers of the day, time and estimated length of a shut-
off.
The utilities also have to inform customers about
shutoffs through “multiple media platforms to maxi-
mize customer outreach” and have prominent links on
their websites to information about the shutoff and the
area where the shutoff is happening.
The utilities can contact customers through phone
or email if it doesn’t disrupt emergency alerts and
through those messages should convey when the
shutoff will start, how long it will last and a way for
customers to contact the company 24 hours a day.
The issue was amplified during the Labor Day wild-
fires of 2020 when about a million acres of Oregon
were torched, including in the Santiam Canyon east of
Salem.
Some utilities, including Portland General Electric,
Lane Electric and Consumers Power, chose to shut off
power as winds kicked up, but others, like Pacific Pow-
er, did not.
A massive lawsuit has been filed against Pacificorp
and Pacific Power, which is owned by Pacificorp, for
$1.6 billion, alleging the companies left the power lines
energized despite knowing a massive wind event was
forecast for Labor Day weekend, in the context of a dry
year, and that the wind could cause trees and other de-
bris to hit power lines and start fires.
“This devastation could have been avoided if De-
fendants had turned off the power surging through
their power lines,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, Pacif-
iCorp and Pacific Power prioritized dollars over liveli-
hoods and lives.”
Oregon’s Public Utility Commission, which regu-
lates large power companies that are owned by inves-
tors, isn’t involved in decisions about whether to shut
off power. And that is unlikely to change.
“The utilities know their system, they have the data
on their system and they make the determination
based on the data they have,” Kandi Young, a spokes-
See SHUTOFF, Page 2A
Oregon rules to
protect outdoor
workers from heat,
wildfire smoke
Virginia Barreda
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon’s workplace safety agency Oregon OSHA
has adopted new rules to protect workers from exces-
sive heat and wildfire smoke.
The agency’s heat rule requires employers provide
workers access to shade, cool water, breaks and train-
ing. It kicks in when the heat index passes 80 degrees
and adds additional oversights when the heat index
reaches 90 degrees. The wildfire smoke rule com-
mands employees to address workers’ exposure to
smoke and unhealthy air by monitoring air quality and
providing training to employees.
The heat rules take effect June 15; the wildfire rules
July 1. Both rules are the most protective of their kind
in the country, OSHA officials said in a release Mon-
day, and reflect the need to strengthen protections in
the workplace while “focusing on the needs of Ore-
gon’s most vulnerable communities.”
Both rules encompass initial protective measures
for workers who rely on employer-provided housing,
including as part of farm operations.
The rules were proposed in February following a de-
velopment process that included worker and commu-
nity stakeholder listening sessions, input rule adviso-
ry committees, and employer and labor stakeholders,
OSHA officials said.
They build on temporary emergency requirements
that were adopted last year following a historic heat
wave and the death of one agricultural worker.
“With these new rules from Oregon OSHA, I am
proud that Oregon will be a national model for heat
and wildfire smoke protections for all workers, regard-
less of income level, occupation, or immigration sta-
tus,” Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement.
See HEAT, Page 2A