12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
The new hydroelectric turbine will harness water flowing from Bear Creek Dam.
Dam: City of Astoria may try
similar project near Shively Park
to the city, then sell what was
needed back to city. Instead,
of the estimated high cost of the city is using the turbine to
getting the power from wind- cancel out the electric cost for
mills near Wickiup Ridge to the water treatment system and
the electric grid.
then selling the excess power
The City Council originally to the utility, a process known
approved the hydroelectric tur- as “reversing the meter.”
bine project last June but had
Jeff Harrington, a city en-
to consider the project again in gineer, said the pump-as-tur-
January because of a misun- bine functions like the oppo-
GHUVWDQGLQJ ZLWK 3DFL¿&RUS site of a traditional pump.
The utility — which operates
“So you plug your base-
DV 3DFL¿F 3RZHU LQ 2UHJRQ ment pump in the wall to
— had thought it was going to pump water out. This is the
purchase all the power gener- opposite process,” he said.
ated by the turbine, according “It’s taking the water coming
Continued from Page 1A
through the pump and gener-
ating electricity.”
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Corp’s Blue Sky program, the
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Authority.
The city, which has entered
into a 15-year power purchase
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replicate the project in the future
at a reservoir near Shively Park.
“It’s going to save the rate-
payers money,” Harrington said.
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hind the turbine, worked on a
similar project at Vernon Water
Tank in northeast Portland as
well as on hydroelectric proj-
ects in Washington state, Cal-
ifornia, Hawaii and Vermont.
Portland has also recently
partnered with Lucid Energy
on small hydroelectric tur-
bines inside a city water pipe-
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the power generated to Port-
land General Electric, with
the city’s water bureau receiv-
ing a share of the proceeds
that could help offset costs on
ratepayers.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
City Senior Engineering Technician Dean Zeisbrich
climbs into a vault containing the hydroelectric genera-
tor turbine. The 30-kilowatt turbine, located at the base of
Bear Creek Dam, is expected to generate about 154,645
kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.
Betsy: Johnson is a regular sponsor on 30 other bills
tee and was referred to Ways
and Means.
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Both pieces come out of
cy Management Agency WKH FKDQJHV WR ÀRRG FRQWURO
)(0$ VWDUWHG UHTXLULQJ polices following hurricanes
OHYHH FHUWL¿FDWLRQ DIWHU +XU- Sandy and Katrina; the aging
ULFDQH .DWULQD &HUWL¿FDWLRQ infrastructure, including dikes;
could cost the city of War- and the need to pick up where
renton $11 million. And, if the federal government left off
WKH\DUHQRWFHUWL¿HGLWFRXOG on paying for its repair. “This
cost the average homeowner is going to be an ongoing state
PRUH IRU ÀRRG LQVXU- responsibility for a long time.”
ance annually.
Waterfront buildings
SB 306 made it out of
Johnson introduced Sen-
the Senate Committee on
Business and Transportation ate Bill 11, which is in the
Wednesday, and now sits in Senate Committee on En-
the Joint Committee on Ways vironment and Natural Re-
and Means, where Johnson is sources, on behalf of Astoria
the co-vice-chairwoman. The developer and Pier 39 owner
bill is waiting to be woven )OR\G+ROFRP
into the mosaic of the budget,
The bill would exempt
Johnson, said along with its privately owned structures
sister legislation, House Bill on state-owned submerged
2436, which made it out of the and submersible lands that
House’s Rural Communities, were constructed prior to Jan.
Land Use and Water Commit- IURP OHDVH UHTXLUH-
Continued from Page 1A
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2ZQHUV RI EXLOGLQJV RYHU
state-owned navigable waters
often have to obtain leases from
the Department of State Lands,
which places its lease revenues
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“This is an opportunity
to exempt historic structures
where business owners have
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ments,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Holcom refer-
enced the long-running debate
between waterfront property
and building owners and the
DSL about how much they
should have to pay to the agen-
cy.
“The DSL has gone out
and tripled our lease fee about
midway through our proj-
ect,” said Holcom, who has
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Hanthorn Cannery since he
bought it in 2002 with other
Kitzhaber:7KHIRUPHU2UHJRQJRYHUQRU
maintains the couple did nothing wrong
Continued from Page 1A
An IRS spokesman said that
agency does not comment about
ongoing investigations.
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following a series of reports
about Hayes’ work for advo-
cacy groups with an interest in
2UHJRQ SXEOLF SROLF\ +H KDV
maintained the couple did noth-
ing wrong.
Jordan told the newspaper
he also wanted to elaborate on
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Police to investigate the dis-
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personal emails to a reporter, as
well as his reasons for putting
two workers from his agency
on administrative leave while a
separate internal investigation is
underway.
Jordan said the two were
not placed on leave in connec-
tion with the leak probe. Nor
were they punished for pre-
serving evidence, he said.
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wasn’t using the criminal probe
as a way to punish the email
leaker. He said his job is to pro-
tect the state’s records. Jordan
asked state police to investigate
because the agency has forensic
experts and because he had con-
cerns about the agency’s com-
puter security, he said.
The two workers were
placed on leave mainly to deal
with a situation he felt was “out
of control,” Jordan said, includ-
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computers and cell phones from
the governor’s staff as evidence
for the federal probe.
Jordan said he was at his
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agent and an IRS agent knocked
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for an hour, focusing on three
points.
Two were about Hayes’
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that’s one of her consulting cli-
ents. The agents asked about
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urged Jordan to hire a man con-
nected to Demos.
Jordan said he told the agents
he didn’t feel pressure to hire the
man and didn’t know then that
Hayes was being paid by Demos.
The agents also asked wheth-
HU .LW]KDEHU¶V HPDLOV ZHUH EH-
ing preserved. Jordan said they
were.
7KHQH[WGD\.LW]KDEHUDQ-
nounced to Jordan and other
senior staffers that he was re-
signing.
Jordan soon saw the two
agents again, when they climbed
out of their parked car in the
state capital of Salem and hand-
ed him a federal subpoena de-
manding email correspondence
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Hayes, and 15 employees — in-
cluding Jordan.
investors — he’s now the lone
partner. “When you’re trying
to renovate historic buildings
on the waterfront, and DSL
charges what they want, it
doesn’t do good for people
trying to renovate.”
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second seafood cannery, Pier
39 is one of the region’s old-
est waterfront structures, in-
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retail, lodging and museum
space for the Hanthorn Can-
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said he could get a lower DSL
lease rate by having his build-
ing on the National Historic
Registry, but the designation
would restrict his ability to
renovate it.
“My argument is you
shouldn’t have to be on the
federal registry,” Holcom
said, noting that his structure
has been listed with the state
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for upward of 50 years.
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soring 26 bills, Johnson is a
regular sponsor on 30 others.
)RUDIXOOOLVWRIELOOVDQGWKHLU
VWDWXVHVYLVLWWKH2UHJRQ/HJ-
islative Information System at
https://olis.leg.state.or.us
Among the other bills she
sponsors:
• Senate Bill 535 would
provide that public body
has no responsibility to post
warnings related to dangers
of the ocean, including but
not limited to tides, currents,
ocean life and collisions with
watercraft.
• Senate Bill 319 would re-
TXLUHSURSULHWDU\DXWKRUL]DWLRQ
from the Department of State
Lands to construct or operate
ocean renewable energy facil-
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UHTXLUHYHVVHOVZLWKHPSW\EDO-
last tanks to undergo saltwater
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sels enter waters of this state.
• House Bill 2209 would
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• Senate Bill 333 would
designate March 22 as Tom
McCall Day to commemorate
the late governor and encour-
age school districts to educate
children about his legacy.
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empt timber from city-owned
lands of limited acreage from
a prohibition against export of
unprocessed timber.
• House Bill 2989 would
permit someone 18 years of
age or older to operate mo-
torcycle without wearing an
approved motorcycle helmet,
if they have motor vehicle li-
ability insurance that provides
personal injury protection
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