THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2016
Business & Ag
Students, commissioner
discuss Lime Plant cleanup
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
County Commissioner
Bill Harvey and the “En-
vironmental Sciences;
Brownfields in Baker”
class at Baker Techni-
cal Institute held an open
house at the VFW Hall in
Huntington on Friday, June
3rd at 3:00 p.m.
The purpose of the open
house was to update people
on the plans for Lime and
what steps must be taken
as well as where the proj-
ect is now.
The Baker Technical
Institute, a nonprofit divi-
sion of Baker High School
district, has partnered with
Baker County and North-
east Oregon Economic
Development District
(NEOEDD) to clean up
and ready for new develop-
ment the old Cement Plant
at Lime, OR.
Brownfield cleanup is
broken up into the follow-
ing stages: 1 find site, 2
Do a phase 1 Historic data
survey, 3 Do a phase 2
sampling & testing report,
4 create an analysis of the
site, 5 hire a brownfield
consulting firm to cleanup
the site, 6 make a decon-
struction plan, 7 evacu-
ation & deconstruction,
8 receive a letter of no
further action needed.
This is the second
brownfield zone this class
has tackled and they are
currently at step 6 having
just finished the hiring pro-
cess for the cleanup team.
Meagan Alameda, the
class teacher, told those
present, “This class was
started because the school
district was donated some
land that turned out to
be contaminated, was a
‘brownfield.’”
She went on to explain
that it took them about
three years to complete the
cleanup process on that
Friday, June 3, 2016 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady compared to week
ago prices in a very limited test. Many hay produc-
ers are sold out for the year. New crop hay is grow-
ing and will be harvested in the upcoming weeks.
No new sales confirmed for this week. Last week:
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa/Ochard Mix —Small Square Premium
20 165.00-165.00 165.00
The week before last:
Alfalfa — Mid Square Good
150 190.00-190.00 190.00
Alfalfa — Small Square Premium
23 170.00-170.00 170.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 236
Eileen Driver/ The Baker County Press
Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey and a group of students from BTI
discuss brownfields.
land and expect it to take
approximately the same
to cleanup Lime. With the
help of their partner groups
they have received grants
to pay for the project.
County Commissioner
Bill Harvey explained to
those present that he feels
that Lime has a lot to offer
in enticing a new manufac-
turing plant and jobs to the
area such as water rights
from the river, it’s own
well, electricity and gas
on site as well as access to
the railroad tracks running
through it. The railroad
is especially pertinent as
there has started to be a
push toward shipping more
and more by rail as the
roads become older and
more crowded.
Mike Stevens the
engineer for the project,
who specializes in bio-
hazard and cleanup, told
the assembly, “We were
surprised at how little
chemical cleanup Lime
actually needs.”
Found at the site were
pockets of asbestos and
lead paint in the buildings
and isolated oil dump ar-
eas. 80-plus samples where
taken due to concerns of
mercury contamination
but minimal amounts were
found.
Most of the concrete
from the buildings will
be crushed and used to
fill in the tunnels in the
area and to fill in dips and
pits in order to level out
the landscape and make
it more appealing to new
businesses.
The students in the class
had just come from spend-
ing several hours at Lime
surveying and mapping
the area and were all very
interested in continuing to
follow the progress of the
Lime
Cleanup and learning
more about the economic
impact of brownfields
when they return to school
next fall. Even though
some admit they took the
class in the first place for
all the wrong reasons, they
have come to find this area
of study to be very interest-
ing and hope to pursue it
in the future beyond High
School.
Lime was incorporated
as a city in 1899 and a post
office was opened there at
that time.
The Acme Cement
Plaster Company opened a
plant there in 1916.
The Sun Portland Ce-
ment company bought the
plant in 1921 and merged
with the Oregon Portland
Cement Company in 1926.
1940 saw a total popula-
tion at Lime to 18 but by
1960 they were producing
1,200,000 barrels a year at
the plant.
The post office was
closed in 1964 and as the
Lime deposits started to
be depleted they were
shipped in from Durkee
where a new plant was
built in 1979 and the Lime
Plant was shut down and
abandoned in 1980. Ash
Grove Cement Company
purchased the Durkee Plant
in 1983.
Medical Springs Rural Fire
Protection District awarded grant
Northwest Farm Credit
Services is proud to award
Medical Springs Rural
Fire Protection District in
Baker City, Ore., a $3,500
Northwest FCS Rural
Community Grant.
“Medical Springs Rural
Fire Protection District
and the Medical Springs
community thank North-
west Farm Credit Services
for its grant to help fund a
new tender for our depart-
ment,” said Judy Whitley,
Secretary/Treasurer. “This
mobile water supply will
greatly improve our fire
response capability not
only for our district, but
for our mutual aid partners
throughout Baker and
Union Counties. Thank
you Northwest FCS!”
Northwest FCS is com-
mitted to helping rural
communities succeed.
During the first rural grant
cycle of 2016, more than
$99,000 was awarded.
Since the program’s incep-
tion in 2007, the company
has presented 527 rural
grants totaling more than
$1,047,000.
The next rural grant
deadline is Oct. 1, 2016.
If you think your rural
project may be eligible
— Weekly Hay Report —
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 146.00 - 169.00 Top 176.00
500-600# Bulk 141.00 - 161.00 Top 167.00
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 136.00 - 158.00 Top 159.00
500-600# Bulk 121.00 - 136.00 Top 137.00
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 135.00 - 146.00 Top 148.00
700-800# Bulk 124.00 - 138.00 Top 139.00
800-900# Bulk 111.00 - 123.00 Top 124.00
900-1,000# Bulk 99.00 - 113.00 Top 117.50
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 123.00 - 136.00 Top 140.00
700-800# Bulk 108.00 - 125.00 Top 127.00
800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 53.00 - 63.00
Butcher Cows 64.00 - 74.00
Butcher Bulls 68.00 - 79.00
Pairs Yng. 1250.00 - 1525.00
Hfretts. 83.00 - 96.00
Stock Cows Young - N/A
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon
Currently the local log market is flooded with
fire salvage logs. The log buyer for Malheur
Lumber Co. stated they have all the logs they
need under contract and are not accepting any
new purchases. BCC/LLC of La Grande has
receive so many burned fire salvage logs they
are no longer accepting logs at the La Grande
log yard. Any additional pine logs have to be
delivered to the Elgin Log yard cut in plywood
lengths and to a 8 inch top. For these pine
logs cut in plywood lengths, BCC is offering
$280.00/mbf. They are also paying $410.00/
mbf for Doug Fir & Western Larch. For White
Fir they are offing $310.00/mbf. At the Pilot
Rock Saw Mill BCC is offing $360.00/mbf for a
12 to 15 inch top, for 16 to 19 inch top $400.00/
mbf & offing $425.00/mbf for 20 inch plus top
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,266.10
Silver: $17.10
Platinum: $1011.65
Palladium: $564.75
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Submitted Photo.
L-R: Board Chair Jerry Baxter, Secretary/Treasurer Judy Whitley, and North-
west FCS Relationship Manager Mark Coomer
for a grant, visit north-
westfcs.com/Stewardship/
Rural-Communities for
more information and an
application.
Northwest FCS is a $10.3
billion financial coopera-
tive providing financing
and related services to
farmers, ranchers, agri-
businesses, commercial
fishermen, timber produc-
ers, rural homeowners and
crop insurance custom-
ers in Montana, Idaho,
Oregon, Washington and
Alaska.
Northwest FCS is a
member of the nationwide
Farm Credit System that
supports agriculture and
rural communities with
reliable, consistent credit
and financial services. For
more information, go to
northwestfcs.com
Corn: $431.25/bu/USD
Wheat: $519.10/bu/USD
Soybeans: $1150.25/bu/USD
Oats: $205.25 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $11.53/cwt/USD
Canola: $529.10 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $118.73/lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $147.38/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $87.33/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com