TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
DAMS
Continued from Page 1A
presence, how those bene-
fi ts might be replaced if the
dams were removed and
how expensive it would be
to ensure they continued.
Ensuring that commu-
nities whose economies
depend upon the dams con-
tinue to prosper is critically
important, Simpson said.
Simpson’s congressional
website proposes a “con-
cept” that outlines some
advantages to planning dam
removal now, and also pro-
poses a timeline.
The advantages of plan-
ning dam breaching now, he
noted, include the presence
of Washington, Oregon and
Idaho legislators in senior
congressional positions, and
a potential multi-billion-
dollar federal infrastructure
and clean energy stimulus
package that could provide
funding for his estimated
$33.5 billion program.
Simpson’s outlined con-
cept includes developing
replacement power sources
such as small modular reac-
tors as well as increasing
transmission capacity. He
proposes the breaching of
all four dams be completed
by the summer/fall of 2031.
EOU
Continued from Page 1A
type of testing is especially
important when students
are returning to campus
from many different areas
after winter break, and may
have been unknowingly
exposed, or are already
infectious but are not
showing any symptoms.”
Carrie Brogoitti,
COVID-19 incident com-
mander at Union Coun-
ty’s public health authority,
the Center for Human
Development Inc., said the
organization has a long-
standing, positive relation-
ship with EOU that has
helped mitigate the spread
of COVID-19 locally.
“Of all the places in our
community where there
could be risk of spread or
potential outbreaks, EOU
has done a tremendous job
of being proactive,” Bro-
goitti said in the release.
“They have great plans in
place and have been swift
to act in isolating and quar-
antining COVID-19 cases
to limit or stop the spread in
our community. They have
really taken it seriously and
have worked really hard to
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Contributed Photo
Ice Harbor Dam on the Lower Snake River holds back Lake Sacajawea, a source of irri-
gation water for 47,000 acres of farmland. Idaho 2nd Congressional District Rep. Mike
Simpson is calling for a $33.5 billion program to remove this and the three other dams
on the Snake River.
As part of his concept,
Simpson also is calling
for providing a 35-year
extension on licenses for
all remaining large power
generating dams in the
Columbia basin, a 35-year
moratorium on fi sh pas-
sage-related lawsuits in the
Columbia basin, funding
for irrigation, agriculture
and other measures to sup-
port and bolster the regional
economy.
“I have found that
replacing the benefi ts of the
four Lower Snake River
dams would be very expen-
sive at a minimum of $33.5
billion,” he said. “How-
ever, this may prove to be
a bargain when compared
to what it may cost in out-
of-pocket dollars for fi sh
recovery and future costs
put on stakeholders. Despite
spending over $17 billion
on fi sh recovery efforts,
Idaho salmon and steelhead
numbers are not improving
and will continue to get
worse. Will we spend $20
billion more in the next 30
years only to have them go
extinct anyway? The worse
they get, the more we will
spend.”
Reaction to Simpson’s
“concept” has been mixed.
“These dams are the
beating heart of Eastern
Washington and provide
the entire Pacifi c Northwest
with clean, renewable, reli-
able and affordable energy,”
Eastern Washington Rep.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
said. “Spending more than
$33 billion to breach them
– with no guarantee that
doing so will restore salmon
populations – is a drastic,
fi scally irresponsible leap
to take. I look forward to
continued conversations
with my colleagues on the
importance of the Lower
limit the risk to their stu-
dents and the community.”
She said EOU helped
inform and coordinate
many aspects of the pan-
demic response, and the
university’s presence in La
Grande is not a primary
reason for the county’s
“extreme risk” status.
“Over the last year
we have seen COVID-19
activity and outbreaks
touch almost every area of
our community. In many
of these instances, to the
best of our knowledge, this
activity has been commu-
nity spread,” Brogoitti said.
“EOU has coordinated their
testing events with public
health and these testing
events have led to identifi -
cation of cases, quick treat-
ment, and immediate isola-
tion to prevent spread.”
EOU’s systems con-
tained a minor outbreak
in mid-January after stu-
dents who had tested neg-
ative began experiencing
symptoms, EOU reported.
Contact tracing found
no employees or shared
spaces were exposed. EOU
assigned each affected stu-
dent a caseworker to pro-
vide wrap-around ser-
vices. And a newly hired
COVID-19 response
nurse provided direct care
and consultation for the
students.
Wiggins said East-
ern’s COVID-19 case man-
agement team is there to
ensure students have the
support they need. The
response nurse is on the
team along with represen-
tatives from student affairs,
residence life, the student
health center and the ath-
letic department. This team
meets routinely to help
provide support to all stu-
dents who are in isolation or
quarantine.
Faculty also provided
remote-access resources for
students since the pandemic
began last spring. Adapting
in-class curriculum to suit
remote and hybrid courses
also allows students to
self-isolate or quarantine
if they are ill or potentially
exposed to the virus.
Evans said in the fall
she had two classes online
and four in person, but her
roommates that term were
taking all their courses all
online.
The fi rst week of classes
for winter term were all
online, she said, but now
she has three online and
two in person. Evans said
she fi nished her high school
classes all online, so she
and other freshmen are
used to this.
“I don’t mind online, but
I don’t feel I’m getting the
best education,” she said.
Face covering require-
ments, physical distancing
measures and daily health
checks also contributed to
the university’s ongoing
capacity to offer in-person
instruction. Free COVID-19
tests are available to stu-
dents experiencing
COVID-19 symptoms or
who have been in contact
with a positive case.
How well EOU is han-
dling the virus is not a big
topic of conversation with
Evans and her roommates,
she said, maybe because by
now students are getting
use to the circumstances.
Looking ahead to spring
term, Evans said she does
not see much change in the
mix of online and in-person
classes. She said two of
her classes for spring term
already are hybrids of
online and real class time.
“Hopefully in the fall,”
she said, “we’re back to
in-person, though.”
Learn more about EOU’s
When instructing his
wrestlers, Hislop will use
the power of storytelling
to convey messages to ath-
letes and salute previous
stars, such as recounting
how an earlier wrestler’s
technique vaulted him to
success.
“He keeps (the memo-
ries of) kids alive from the
past,” Osterloh said.
Hislop displays an
almost photographic
memory when recalling
what his and other school’s
wrestlers in this region
have accomplished over
the past decades.
“He’s an encyclopedia,”
Osterloh said.
Osterloh also credited
Hislop’s wife, Patty, with
having excellent recall of
this region’s wrestling his-
tory. He said when Doug
does not know something,
Patty almost always will.
Doug Hislop also draws
upon the expertise of
others. Osterloh said when
he has a point to share,
Hislop will note he was the
head coach at Enterprise
High School when it won
the 2002 state title.
Hislop does not know
how much longer he will
coach, but he said this
winter has been diffi cult
because he has not been
able to be involved in the
sport he loves due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have really missed
coaching,” he said.
COACH
Continued from Page 1A
cutting, in some cases, to
build connections.
Hislop is not only a
coach but a lifelong school
teacher and administrator.
Hislop was a teacher and
principal in the La Grande
School District for 33
years before serving as
the superintendent of the
Imbler School District in
2004. He took the reins of
the Imbler High School’s
wrestling program in
2007 and has continued
as its head coach since
then, even after retiring as
Imbler superintendent in
2014.
Imbler High had just
one athlete win a state
title in wrestling before
Hislop came. Since then,
four of its athletes have
won individual state
championships.
Hislop credited much
of the program’s success
to support from his wife,
Patty, and the work of
his assistant coaches Ron
Osterloh and Mike Camp-
bell and earlier assistants
Steve Anthony and Doug
Noyes.
Osterloh said Hislop is
Ronald Osterloh/Contributed Photo
The National Federation
of High School Sports
in January 2021 named
Imbler High School wres-
tling coach Doug Hislop the
National Coach of the Year
for wrestling.
adept at using stories to
inspire his wrestlers.
“He has thousands of
stories to tell,” Osterloh
said.
These tales help Hislop
draw athletes to his team.
“He has a magical
ability to attract wres-
tlers,” Osterloh said.
Snake River Dams and
solutions that will benefi t
all users of the Columbia
River System.”
Conservation organi-
zations and the Nez Perce
Tribe support Simpson’s
proposal.
“More than 1,000 miles
of clear, cold rivers and
perennial streams fl ow
out of Northeast Oregon
into the Lower Snake,”
said Christina de Villier of
the Greater Hells Canyon
Council in La Grande.
“That means that our com-
munities steward about
20% of the network of
waterways whose salmon
and steelhead fi sheries (an
important part of our cul-
ture and economy) are
impacted by the four Lower
Snake River dams. For that
reason alone, we have a
stake in what happens on
the lower Snake. It’s our
watershed.”
Nez Perce Tribe Execu-
tive Committee Chairman
Shannon F. Wheeler in a
statement Saturday, Feb. 6,
said, “We view restoring
the lower Snake River — a
living being to us, and one
that is injured — as urgent
and overdue. Congressman
Simpson, in focusing on
the facts and on a solu-
tion, speaks the truth —
that restoring salmon and
the lower Snake River can
also reunite and strengthen
regional communities and
economies. We will support
Congressman Simpson’s
initiative and we respect
the courage and vision he is
showing the region. This is
an opportunity for multiple
regional interests to align
with a better future for the
Northwest: river restoration
and salmon recovery; local
and regional economic
investment and infrastruc-
ture improvement; and
long-term legal resolution
and certainty,”
“It would be a tragedy,”
Simpson said, “if future
generations looked back
and wished our generation
of leaders and stakeholders
would have taken the time
to explore this opportu-
nity to develop our own
Northwest solution to pro-
tect stakeholders and save
salmon.”
For the full “concept”
proposal visit: simpson.
house.gov/salmon/.
La GRANDE
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