FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022
COUNTY
Continued from Page A1
renovations of its sewer
system.
“That will really kick-
start their program,” he said.
The fairgrounds are in
dire need of a new sewer
line connection, which
would allow sewage to run
from the facilities to the
city of La Grande’s system.
The fairgrounds facilities
have been without func-
tioning restrooms since its
septic tank went out several
years ago, creating prob-
lems in costs associated
with rentable portable toi-
lets and the overall capacity
to host events.
The project, which
would run a line across
Interstate 84 and the
Grande Ronde River via the
Second Street overpass, is
estimated to cost approx-
imately $2 million. The
Union County Fairgrounds
received approximately
$270,000 in state funding
earlier in the year, but still
faced a large defi cit.
Anderes was also happy
that Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity received $4 million for
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Mike Gibson screws the lid on a spent container of aviation fuel at the
La Grande/Union County Airport on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Union
County offi cials were disappointed that House Bill 4154, which would
have provided $400,000 to the Union County Airport to expand its
fuel storage capacity, was unsuccessful during the 2022 legislative
short session, which ended March 4.
the restoration of the uni-
versity’s grand staircase on
the north side of Inlow Hall,
which has been closed for
more than a decade because
of its deteriorating condition.
Anderes said that res-
toration of the staircase,
built in the late 1920s,
would make the connec-
tion between EOU and the
La Grande community even
stronger.
“It will be a physical
bridge between Eastern and
GAS
Continued from Page A1
to offl oad their oil shipments. In the
U.S., thousands of oil workers were
laid off , and the number of active
drilling rigs plummeted from 700 in
January 2020 to approximately 200
rigs according to reporting by The
New York Times.
Prices for gas in spring 2020
went down drastically, with gas
prices falling below $2 a gallon
nationally for the fi rst time in
decades.
“In the spring of 2020 it was
incredible; we saw demand for
oil and gas fall to dramatically
low levels that we hadn’t seen
since the 1960s,” Dodds said.
“And now here we are, two years
later, and people are returning to
their normal routines, going back
to work, going back to school.
We are consuming more gas
around the globe, but the pro-
duction is not back where it was
the community,” he said.
Anderes also said he
would like the staircase’s
renovation to lead to a
revival of traditional cer-
emonies like Evensong at
EOU. Evensong was an
event held on the EOU
staircase that honored stu-
dents for outstanding aca-
demic achievement until
it was discontinued in the
early 1970s.
On the other side of
the ledger, Anderes said
pre-pandemic. Production hasn’t
kept up, so that’s the main driver
of higher prices.”
As the price of gas rises, man-
ufacturing businesses are faced
with the tough choice of having to
increase prices to off set transpor-
tation costs. Patrick Raimondo,
plant manager for Behlen Country,
Baker City, said the company is
waiting for a few weeks to decide
how to handle the cost increases.
“As of right now we’re holding
off on doing any surcharges for
our customers,” Raimondo said.
“As these prices increase, it is
going to aff ect us down the road,
just from the additional costs.
We’re just trying to see how
it goes over the next couple of
weeks and having conversations
and open communications with
our customers just to make sure
we’re all on the same page.”
A global economy
The U.S. has continued to
bring oil rigs back online. By
THE OBSERVER — A7
he was discouraged to
see that House Bill 4154,
which would have provided
$400,000 to the Union
County Airport to expand
its fuel storage capacity,
was unsuccessful.
The added capacity, he
said, is needed for aircraft
being used to fi ght wild-
fi res. Anderes said having
additional storage capacity
would mean aircraft crews
would never have to wait
for fuel to arrive before
making their next fl ight
while combating a wildfi re.
Anderes said that more
storage capacity is needed
now in part because an
increasing number of the air-
craft used to fi ght wildfi re
are jets that use more fuel.
The $400,000 HB 4154
would have provided would
have paid for the purchase
of a 10,000-gallon Jet-A
fuel tank and a 5,000-gallon
fuel truck, according to
Union County Public Works
Director Doug Wright. The
vehicle would have been
used to transport fuel to
aircraft.
“It would have been a
great thing for the region,”
said Commissioner Matt
Scarfo.
January 2021, 374 rotary rigs
were operating in the United
States, according to the EIA.
By Dec. 31, 2021, in response
to rising prices, that number
rose to 586. That’s still a far
cry from the 700 rigs operating
pre-pandemic.
In Russia, ongoing sanctions
have locked the country out of
foreign banks and goods and
have caused the Russian ruble to
plummet to nearly half its value
at the beginning of February
2022.
According to J.P. Morgan,
almost 70% of Russian oil is
struggling to fi nd buyers even
though it is being off ered at a
record $20-per-barrel discount in
comparison to national oil sup-
pliers, as of March 8.
“What happens halfway
around the world can and does
also have an impact on oil
prices,” Dodds said. “There’s
much more at play than just
what’s happening in the U.S.”
Beverage said the legis-
lation that would have pro-
vided the money for the
increased fuel capacity was
doing well before it got into
the Legislature’s Ways and
Means Committee where it
died. She suspects that pol-
itics, not lack of support,
may have been the reason
the legislation did not pass
out of the Joint Ways and
Means Committee.
“It was very frustrating,”
Beverage said. “It would
have helped all of Eastern
Oregon.”
Beverage was also dis-
heartened by the outcome
of House Bill 4127. The
bill would have increased
by $1 million the amount
of funding the state pro-
vides to ranchers to com-
pensate them for livestock
lost to wolf attacks and
pay for nonlethal means of
keeping wolves away from
livestock.
The state already com-
pensates ranchers for live-
stock lost to wolves, but
Beverage said it is not
enough. She said Union
County always receives
more applications for com-
pensation for wolf depre-
dation than it can provide.
She also noted the number
of livestock local ranchers
are losing to wolves is
increasing. She pointed out
that Union County paid
$14,000 to ranchers for live-
stock losses due to wolf
attacks in 2020 and $30,000
for losses in 2021.
Beverage believes the
wolf bill failed because leg-
islators in Western Oregon
do not appreciate the
impact that wolves have on
ranchers in Eastern Oregon.
“We need to educate
people about where food
comes from,” she said.
“They do not know how
much hard work goes into
bringing food to us.”
Scarfo agreed with
Beverage.
“It seems like our wolf
problem is getting worse,”
he said. The bill not passing
“was very disappointing.”
Overall, however,
Anderes said the legisla-
tive session went better
for Northeastern Oregon
than it had in recent years,
in terms of being recog-
nized by legislators on the
western side of the state.
“I think they took more
of an interest in our needs
and wants,” he said.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Diane Miller replaces a diesel fuel pump nozzle at a Chevron gas station on Island
Avenue, La Grande, on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Miller paid more than $140 to
fi ll up half a tank, and she said it was the highest price for diesel she’s seen on her
three-week trip from Washington to Arizona and back.
March
26-27
Saturday 9:00 am–5:00 pm
Sunday
9:00 am–3:00 pm
DESCHUTES COUNT Y
FAIR & EXPO CENTER
REDMOND
•
OREGON
PRESENTED BY
Leon Werdinger/Wallowa Land Trust
A photo from the Wallowa Land Trust shows a Wallowa County farm. As part of the supplemental budget
approved in the 2022 short session, lawmakers invested $5 million in the Oregon Agricultural Heritage
Program, which is tasked with preserving farmland.
FARMLAND
Continued from Page A1
is set up on the front end to
ensure we’re keeping those
properties whole.”
With such easements
and rights, property
owners retain ownership
of their land but agree to
conditions that allow for
preservation.
In 1973, according to
a report by the American
Farmland Trust, Oregon
became the fourth state to
embrace land use planning.
The Oregon Land Conser-
vation and Development
Commission, born from
that legislation, adopted
statewide land use plan-
ning goals, which it uses to
review local plans to ensure
they are consistent with
those goals.
“We are lucky in the
state of Oregon that we
have strong land use laws,”
Beamer said. “But despite
that, we are losing agricul-
tural land at a rapid rate.”
One example: Columbia
County commissioners are
considering siting a bio-
diesel plant on more than
800 acres at Port Westland,
an area that’s currently
home to 40 farms, including
two blueberry farms, a
mint farm and a grass-fed
cattle operation. The plan
has sparked strong local
opposition.
Besides losing land to
residential and industrial
development, some proper-
ties have been split and sold
to newcomers who want a
hobby ranch or farm — not
a viable operation, Beamer
said. According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
Oregon lost nearly 440,000
acres of farmland to devel-
opment between 2007 and
2017, the most recent data
available.
That’s much larger than
the entire Portland area
and greater than all of Ore-
gon’s 10 largest cities put
together, according to the
Coalition of Oregon Land
Trusts.
The number of mid-
sized farms – between 50
and 1,999 acres — also
has diminished. The most
recent data show that
Oregon had more than
35,000 farms in 2012 on
nearly 16.3 million acres.
The number of farms grew
to nearly 38,000 fi ve years
later but their holdings
dropped to 15.9 million
acres.
“The amount of farm-
land lost in Oregon keeps
growing,” Beamer said.
“It’s a disturbing trend.”
She called the funding
of the heritage plan a “huge
victory.”
The money is part of the
current two-year budget
cycle, which stretches to
July 1, 2023. She suspects
there will be more demand
than funds.
The money will compen-
sate farmers and ranchers
for voluntarily protecting
their land and its natural
resources, keeping the prop-
erty intact. The heritage
program also will pay land-
owners for implementing
soil and water conserva-
tion practices that enhance
existing habitat.
In addition, the program
will help landowners pass
their land to the next gener-
ation and it will work with
organizations involved in
land conservation.
Federal data show that
Oregon’s farmers are get-
ting older, with an average
age of 60 years in 2017, up a
half a year from 2012.
5 Buck Breakfast
SAT. MORNING 8–10
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KIDS’ ZONE
PROJECTS AND FUN ACTIVITIES
ALL THINGS AGRICULTURE
Clint Johnson Working
Dog Demonstrations
SAT. 11–NOON • SUN. 10–11
Early Day Gas Engine
and Tractor Display
with Demonstrations