OREGON
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
Oregon wildfi res are worsening
Fire prevention doesn’t
look like a top priority for
governor candidates
By APRIL EHRLICH
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Observer
The readerboard at the La Grande Mobil, 408 Adams Ave., shows the
price of gasoline at $4.73 per gallon on Thursday, May 12, 2022.
Gas prices reach
new record highs
across Oregon
By ELLIOT NIUS
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — Gas
prices across Oregon set
new records Tuesday, May
10, following a surge in the
price of oil.
After several weeks hov-
ering near record highs set
in March, the average price
for a gallon of regular in
Oregon jumped to $4.85,
according to AAA, up 16
cents from the week prior.
Average prices in Union
County are up to $4.70,
up from $4.67 last week.
Wallowa County saw an
increase to $4.87, up 5
cents from a week ago.
Drivers in the Port-
land area were paying even
more — $4.92 a gallon, up
15 cents from a week ago.
The national average was
$4.37, up 17 cents.
Price have spiked along
with the cost of a barrel of
crude oil, now $110. The
price of crude accounts for
more than half the cost of
fi lling up a tank with gas or
diesel, said AAA Oregon/
Idaho spokesperson Marie
Dodds. The other biggest
factors are refi ning the oil
into fuel, distribution, mar-
keting and taxes.
“Unfortunately, these
high pump prices are not
likely to ease anytime
soon,” she said.
Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine has pushed oil
prices higher. The United
States and several other
nation banned the import of
Russian oil as punishment
for the war, though Russian
imports accounted for only
a small fraction of the U.S.
fuel supply.
New restrictions from
the European Union,
which is most dependent
on Russia for oil and fuel,
may ratchet up pressure
on Moscow. But it will
also squeeze the global oil
supply, keeping prices at
the pump high.
The United States is
the world’s leading oil
producer, but production
plummeted early in the
pandemic and has been
slow to rebound. That’s in
part, executives have said,
because oil companies are
reluctant to ramp up costly
new operations to meet
what could be a temporary
surge in demand. In the
meantime, the largest U.S.
oil companies are enjoying
record profi ts.
Rising fuel costs are hit-
ting consumers directly
in the pocketbook, but the
sustained upward trend is
pushing up other everyday
costs, including the price of
groceries and other goods.
At a time when unemploy-
ment is low and wages are
climbing, gas prices and
other infl ationary pressures
are contributing to a sense
of economic angst.
Oregon gas remains the
fi fth priciest among U.S.
states behind California,
Hawaii, Nevada and Wash-
ington. Oregon’s 16-cent
jump in the price per gallon
was the highest on the West
Coast this week.
Prior to this year,
Oregon gas prices had
peaked in the summer of
2008 at $4.29 a gallon,
which would be about $5.65
today after accounting for
infl ation. The previous
nationwide high-water
mark, also set in 2008, was
$4.27, or $5.63 in today’s
dollars.
The state’s most expen-
sive gas is in Curry County
($5.07 a gallon), Harney
County ($5.06) and Jose-
phine County ($5.04).
State labor offi cials off er
nearly $19 million for
workforce training grants
By LYNNE TERRY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — State offi -
cials have nearly $19 mil-
lion to spend on training
Oregonians to work in con-
struction, health care and
manufacturing.
Earlier this month, the
state Bureau of Labor and
Industries opened the bid-
ding process for training
and apprenticeship pro-
grams for underserved com-
munities, including women,
people of color, rural res-
idents, low-income resi-
dents, people with disabili-
ties, tribal communities and
veterans.
The money is part of
Gov. Kate Brown’s $100
million Future Ready
Oregon plan that was passed
by the state Legislature
in February and aims to
stem Oregon’s workforce
shortage and bolster the
economy while training res-
idents for careers.
Labor Commissioner
Val Hoyle said the money
will be used for training and
apprenticeship programs in
manufacturing and health
care and to expand training
APPLY FOR A GRANT
For more information, go here.
For small grants, read this.
Check this webpage to apply.
and support in the construc-
tion industry to help partic-
ipants become certifi ed in a
trade.
The Bureau of Labor
and Industries will approve
applications worth up to
$1.25 million as part of its
large grant program. Those
will be limited to $6 million
in this fi rst round. Grants up
to $10,000 are open to com-
munity organizations, tribal
communities, organizations
that serve underserved pop-
ulations and existing pro-
grams. Applicants have until
June 2 at 5 p.m. to submit
their proposals in this fi rst
round. Two other rounds
will be held later in the year.
The Oregon State
Apprenticeship and Training
Council will approve the
program elements and will
announce the awards during
a public meeting, according
to Amanda Kraus, an
agency spokeswoman said.
SALEM — A massive wildfi re in
Oregon last summer burned across
hundreds of thousands of acres in what
became the country’s largest wildfi re
at the time. The year before that, thou-
sands of homes were decimated by
multiple wildfi res across the state over
Labor Day Weekend.
Oregon wildfi res have become
increasingly catastrophic every year,
and scientists say they’re only going to
get worse.
But you wouldn’t know it by fol-
lowing the state’s gubernatorial
primary.
Few governor candidates list wild-
fi res among their top priorities. Even
former House Republican Leader
Christine Drazan, one of the more
prominent GOP candidates, doesn’t
mention wildfi res among a long list of
issues she’d tackle if elected. Drazan
grew up in Klamath County, where the
410,000 acre Bootleg Fire destroyed
more than 160 homes last year.
OPB invited governor candidates
to answer a questionnaire laying out
where they stand on the issues voters
say are most important to them. Of the
responses, just Curry County Com-
missioner Court Boice made a point
of discussing wildfi res. Among what
he considers the state’s top challenges,
the Republican writes only: “CAT-
ASTROPHIC FIRE DANGER —
RISKS.” But he doesn’t consider him-
self a serious contender.
Democratic candidates Tina Kotek
and Tobias Read list wildfi res among
their overarching concerns about cli-
mate change, which both say they plan
to address through investments in
renewable energy — a key appeal to
voters in metropolitan areas.
But wildfi res appear to be a specifi c
Chris Tuite/Contributed Photo, File
Talent Mobile Estates 81 was gutted during the Almeda Fire and sprayed with colorful fi re
retardant.
concern to Oregon voters. OPB com-
missioned DHM Research to survey
potential Oregon voters about the
issues they are most concerned about.
Of the 600 people surveyed, 61% said
they believed forest fi res were a “very
serious” issue.
How serious an issue are forest
fi res in Oregon?
Source: DHM Research survey of
Oregonians commissioned by OPB,
overall margin of error 4%
For Rep. Pam Marsh, a Democrat
in Ashland (who isn’t running for gov-
ernor), the topic of wildfi res is all-en-
compassing. Her region has suff ered
through year after year of choking
wildfi re smoke, to the extent that its
tourism economy now adapts its peak
summer schedule to when the air is
safe to breathe.
In 2020, the massive Almeda Fire
decimated about 2,600 homes across
the Rogue Valley overnight, triggering
a national disaster declaration. Many
of those homes belonged to low-in-
come families, some of whom are still
living in disaster trailers and strug-
gling through a complex bureaucratic
process for getting federal aid.
Marsh said that unless you’re living
with the risk of wildfi re and the reality
of fi re impacts, it’s diffi cult to have a
deep understanding of the issue.
“If you haven’t been immersed in
that world, likely you’re still thinking
about this as a single-dimensional
problem and not understanding all the
parts that have to be addressed in order
to keep communities as protected as
possible,” Marsh said.
How much do you think forest
management practices have contrib-
uted to severe wildfi res in Oregon?
For her and most wildfi re experts, the
key to addressing dangerous wildfi res is
through evidence-based forest manage-
ment practices. That could include thin-
ning forests, encouraging a diverse eco-
system to thrive, and even using fi re as a
tool to manage overgrowth.
“Where a whole lot of the solid sci-
ence comes down to is, making sure
that forests that are overgrown have
some thinning and that we really take
care of the undergrowth using pre-
scriptive burning,” Marsh said. “It’s
pretty clear that one or the other isn’t
good enough.”
HIV isn’t
just a big city issue.
More than half of Oregonians with HIV
live outside of Portland, often in suburbs and
small towns like this one.
Good neighbors chip in to get the job done. And we’ve got
work to do on HIV prevention. People in rural Oregon are
more likely to get a late-stage diagnosis, and a lack of HIV
treatment may harm your health, or your partner’s. Detected
early, HIV is more easily managed and you can live a long,
healthy life. Getting tested is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Learn more and find free testing at endhivoregon.org