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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 2022)
INSIDE EOU TRACK ATHLETE EARNS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN MEN’S HEPTATHLON | SPORTS, A9 March 12, 2022 WEEKEND EDITION $1.50 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME SUNDAY, MARCH 13 Don’t forget to turn clocks ahead one hour. ‘I’m thankful for what we received’ County leaders generally pleased with results from short session By DICK MASON Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group The Observer LA GRANDE — Mem- bers of the Union County Board of Commissioners are generally pleased with how the recently completed legislative session went, but all admit some aspects of it left them frustrated. More than $10 million in one-time funding for Union County projects was con- tained in House Bill 5202, which provided funding throughout the state. “It is always a battle for rural areas but I’m thankful for what we received,” Commissioner Beverage Donna Bev- erage said. Commis- sioner Paul Anderes also feels good overall about the short ses- Anderes sion, which concluded Friday, March 4. “It was a bit of a whirl- wind but I think it went Scarfo well overall,” he said. Among the things he was excited to see was $1 million being provided to the Union County Fair- grounds to help fund A personal vehicle fi lls up at a Chevron gas station on Island Avenue, La Grande, on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Gas and diesel prices have risen to record highs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Driving up gas prices Gas prices soar as Russian invasion in Ukraine continues By ALEX WITTWER EO Media Group L A GRANDE — Gas prices are soaring to record highs amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sparked by fears that NATO countries may begin enacting additional sanctions against Rus- sian crude oil. In the United States, President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil on Tuesday, March 8. Crude oil prices briefl y sky- rocketed to more than $130 on March 8, the highest it’s been since 2008, and nearly doubling since December. Oregon has seen gas prices rise to more than $4.50 a gallon, while some areas of Portland have sold gas as high as $6 a gallon. Diesel prices have risen above $5 a gallon. “I just came from Arizona, and this is the highest price I’ve seen for diesel,” said Diane Miller, a competitive barrel racer who was traveling home to Moses Lake, Washington, after a three-week trip to Arizona. Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group A sticker at a Sinclair gas station in Union makes light of the increasing gas prices on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Gas and diesel prices have risen to record highs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Geopolitical risk Miller paid more than $140 to fi ll up half a tank of diesel at the Chevron station in Island City on March 10. She said that she’s able to aff ord the increased costs at the pump, but she knows sev- eral people who aren’t. Miller said she will have to pay for more expensive diesel prices all summer as she competes in barrel racing competitions. “It’s defi nitely hard on America,” Miller said. “It’s a bad deal, and I don’t think it would be this way if Trump would have stayed in.” According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the geo- political risk related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contrib- uted to higher and more volatile crude oil prices. But Russia’s oil footprint on the U.S. market is minimal; less than 10% of the U.S. demand for oil is fi lled by Russian suppliers, or approxi- mately 600,000-800,000 bar- rels per day, according to J.P. Morgan. In comparison, the U.S. produces nearly 12 million barrels per day domestically, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufac- turers trade association. Still, the U.S. is a net importer of oil. It has left many at the pump wondering why exactly gas prices have risen so dramatically. “The U.S. does not get a lot of oil from Russia,” said Marie Dodds, director of government and public aff airs at AAA Oregon/ Idaho. “Only about {span}3% of our imported oil ({/span}{span}8% of our imported oil{/span}{span} and refi ned products) {/span}last year came from Russia, but Europe gets a lot of oil from Russia, roughly 25%, so any time you take a big chunk of supplies away, it sends prices higher. It’s basically supply and demand, as we learned back in economics 101. When you have a major global producer of oil, Russia, and its product is taken off the global markets, all of the sudden you have to look around and fi gure out where that oil is going to come from.” Two records, two years At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, oil prices fell to their lowest price in history, reaching negative values in April 2020. That spurred producers to cut output as oil tankers sat outside ports, unable See, Gas/Page A7 See, County/Page A7 Conservationists hail $5M investment in preserving farmland Move will fund program that was set up in 2017 but never received any funding By LYNNE TERRY Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregon was among the fi rst states to develop land use laws but that’s not stopped the con- version of farmland into hundreds of thousands of acres of housing and industrial sites over a decade. But an investment just approved by the Legislature could stem that trend by putting money into the pockets of farmers and ranchers to support their operations and allow them to keep the land in their family. As part of the supplemental budget approved in the short ses- sion, lawmakers invested $5 million in the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, which is tasked with pre- serving farmland. But since it was set up in 2017 under the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, a state agency that off ers grants to preserve waterways, wetlands and WEATHER INDEX Classified ......B2 Comics ...........B5 Crossword ....B2 Dear Abby ....B6 TUESDAY Horoscope ....B4 Local...............A2 Lottery ...........A2 Obituaries .....A5 Opinion .........A4 Outdoors ......B1 Sports ............A9 Sudoku ..........B5 natural areas, the heritage program has never been funded. Now the program has money to do its job — and at an opportune time. “Many of our farmers and ranchers are approaching retire- ment and looking to pass on their operations to the next generation,” said Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane. “This fund will help ensure Ore- gon’s farmlands stay in production, supporting clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, rural economies and our Oregon way of life.” The heritage program will buy conservation easements or devel- Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Sunday 36 LOW 45/33 A few showers Rain and drizzle opment rights from landowners, according to Kelley Beamer, exec- utive director of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts. She said that, in turn, will make it easier for the watershed board to preserve waterways. “It’s really easy for them to work with one landowner to manage that riparian area,” Beamer said. “But when a ranch is subdivided and broken into pieces and you’re dealing with 10 diff erent owners, it’s a lot harder to achieve that con- tiguous success. So this program See, Farmland/Page A7 CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 31 2 sections, 16 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. 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