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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2015)
NORTH COAST THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015 3A Electrical failure caused :DUUHQWRQWULSOH[¿UH The Daily Astorian Linh DePledge/For The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — The cause of a ¿re that damaged a Warrenton triplex July 13 has been changed, after further in- vestigation by the Warrenton Fire Department. An electrical failure in circuit wiring was found in the remains of the exterior wall and is believed to be the cause. The new information was discovered after the ¿re de- partment re-interviewed the occupant and the landlord, leading to investigators re- turning to the scene. Of¿cials originally at- tributed the ¿re to smoking debris found in a chair, which had been sitting against an ex- terior wall on the deck. The ¿re department now knows the occupant did not start the ¿re by smoking and it was not her fault. The ¿re department re- sponded to the ¿re at the tri- plex on the 92000 block of Hummingbird Drive. First ar- riving crews found heavy ¿re enveloping a large, covered deck on the second Àoor. The ¿re had also extended into the second Àoor apart- ment. Nearly half of the triplex was damaged from the ¿re, including smoke and water damage. Disaster action volunteers with the American Red Cross responded to triplex. This multi-family ¿re affected one adult and a pet. The Red Cross provided food, lodging, clothing, shoes, comfort kits and recovery in- formation. The MSV Fennica, a Finnish flagged icebreaker, passed through Astoria Friday on its way to a Portland shipyard for repairs. Half of Columbia River sockeye Activists protest icebreaker salmon dying due to hot water Vessel needed for offshore drilling By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press Associated Press PORTLAND — En- vironmental activists in Portland are protesting the arrival of the Fenni- ca, a vessel that Royal Dutch Shell PLC plans to use in its Arctic offshore drilling project after it’s repaired. The damaged ship, a 380-foot icebreaker, ar- rived at a Swan Island dry Linh DePledge/For The Daily Astorian dock about 3 a.m. Satur- day. The icebreaker is a The MSV Fennica picked up a U.S. Coast Guard escort key part of Shell’s explo- in Astoria. ration and spill-response plan off Alaska’s north- only drill the top sections Sierra Club’s Arctic cam- west coast. It protects of wells because the com- paign, said in a statement. Shell’s fleet from ice and pany doesn’t have criti- Environmentalists carries equipment that can cal emergency response worry the Arctic’s remote- stop gushing oil. equipment on site to cap ness and rugged condi- The Fennica was dam- a well in case of a leak. tions will hamper cleanup aged earlier this month in That equipment is aboard efforts in the event of a the Aleutian Islands when the Fennica. spill, risking devastation it struck an underwater The missing safe- of a fragile marine eco- obstruction, tearing a gash ty equipment is called a system. in its hull. capping stack, a roughly But proponents of arc- About 75 “kayaktiv- 30-foot-tall device that tic drilling say it can be ists” and other protesters can be lowered onto a conducted safely with in boats were on the wa- wellhead to stop gushing existing technologies and ter Saturday afternoon, oil after a blowout or con- that future production will near where the Fennica is nect to hoses to direct oil help sustain the country’s docked, holding a peace- to vessels on the surface. energy needs and limit re- ful on-the-water rally The Interior Depart- liance on imports. against arctic offshore ment’s Bureau of Safety Shell spokeswoman drilling, activist Mia Re- and Environmental En- Kelly op de Weegh said back said. No arrests have forcement said in a state- by email earlier this week been made. ment that Shell could that receipt of the drilling Environmental groups submit an amended appli- permits signals the end of had wanted the Obama cation for deeper drilling the permitting process, administration to reject when the capping stack and drilling will begin permits sought by Shell can be deployed within 24 when the area is clear of to drill in the Chukchi Sea hours. sea ice. Both of Shell’s because of the absence of “President Obama ig- drill rigs are on their way the icebreaker. nored the will of the peo- to the Chukchi sea. But earlier this week, ple earlier this week when The U.S. Geological the federal government he undercut his climate Survey estimates the Arc- gave Shell approval to be- legacy and gave condi- tic offshore reserves in gin limited exploratory oil tional approval to Shell the Chukchi and Beaufort drilling in Chukchi Sea, to drill in the Arctic,” seas at 26 billion barrels with conditions. Shell can Dan Ritzman, director of of recoverable oil. BOISE — More than a quarter million sockeye salm- on returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dy- ing in the Columbia River and its tributaries due to warming water temperatures. Federal and state ¿sheries biologists say the warm wa- ter is lethal for the cold-water species and is wiping out at least half of this year’s return of 500,000 ¿sh. “We had a really big mi- gration of sockeye,” said Ritchie Graves of the Nation- al Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The thing that really hurts is we’re go- ing to lose a majority of those ¿sh.” He said up to 80 percent of the population could ultimate- ly perish. Elsewhere in the region, state ¿sheries biologists in Oregon say more than 100 spring Chinook died earlier this month in the Middle Fork of the John Day River when water temperatures hit the mid-70s. Oregon and Wash- ington state have both enact- ed sport ¿shing closures due to warm water, and sturgeon ¿shing in the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam has been halted after some of the large, bottom dwelling ¿sh started turning up dead. Efforts by management teams to cool Àows below 70 degrees by releasing cold wa- ter from selected reservoirs are continuing in an attempt to prevent similar ¿sh kills among Chinook salmon and steelhead, which migrate later in the summer from the Pacif- ic Ocean. The ¿sh become stressed at temperatures above 68 de- grees and stop migrating at 74 degrees. Much of the basin is at or over 70 degrees due to a combination that experts at- tribute to drought and record heat in June. “The tributaries are run- ning hot,” Graves said. “A lot of those are in the 76-degree range.” In Idaho, an emergency declaration earlier this month allowed state ¿sheries man- agers to capture endangered Snake River sockeye destined for central Idaho and take them to a hatchery to recover in cool- er water. Of the 4,000 ¿sh that passed Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, less than a fourth made it to Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. An average year is 70 percent. “Right now it’s grim for adult sockeye,” said Russ Kiefer of the Idaho Depart- ment of Fish and Game. He said sockeye will often pull into tributary rivers in search of cooler water, but aren’t ¿nding much relief. “They’re running out of energy reserves, and we’re getting a lot of reports of ¿sh dead and dying,” he said. Thirteen species of salmon and steelhead are listed as en- dangered or threatened in the Columbia River basin. Don Campton of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said ¿sh congregating in con¿ned areas trying to ¿nd cool water makes them a target for patho- gens. “When temperatures get warm, it does stress the ¿sh out and they become suscepti- ble to disease,” he said. Graves said that this year’s Àow in the Columbia River is among the lowest in the last 60 years. But he said the sys- tem has experienced similar low Àows without the lethal water temperatures. He said the difference this year has been prolonged hot tempera- tures, sometimes more than 100 degrees, in the interior part of the basin. “The Àow is abnormally low, but on top of that we’ve had superhot temperatures for a really long time,” he said. Police plan extra pedestrian safety enforcement The Daily Astorian The Astoria Police De- partment will have extra officers on duty Friday for a pedestrian safety enforce- ment program. The program is in con- junction with Oregon Im- pact, a group that provides educational experiences to end impaired and distracted driving. It will focus on driv- ers that fail to yield to an officer who is acting as a pedestrian, crossing at marked and unmarked crosswalks. In addition, the officer will be watching for vehi- cles that pass another vehi- cle that stopped for a pedes- trian in a crosswalk. Officers will be enforc- ing other traffic violations seen during the enforce- ment. The fine for failing to stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian or for passing a vehicle that is stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian is $260. The goal of the enforce- ment is to increase the safe- ty of all pedestrians and drivers in and around the city, according to the police. The project is paid for with grant money awarded to the Astoria Police Department by Oregon Impact. For questions about the project, contact Sgt. Brian Aydt at the Astoria Police Department or by phone at 503-325-4411. Q&A: A look at Shell Oil and Arctic offshore drilling operations By DAN JOLING Associated Press ANCHORAGE — Shell Oil drill vessels are heading to the Arctic. But they will not be permit- ted to drill into petroleum-bear- ing rock until a key piece of blowout response equipment, a capping stack, is on site. The capping stack is car- ried on the icebreaker Fennica, which arrived early Saturday for repairs in Portland, Oregon. Arctic offshore drilling op- ponents plan to demonstrate while the Fennica is in port. What’s at stake? Royal Dutch Shell and oth- er companies want to tap into U.S. Arctic offshore reserves that the U.S. Geological Sur- vey estimates at 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of nat- ural gas. Shell has invested upward of $7 billion in Arctic offshore investment. During the 2015 summer open water season, it hopes to drill two wells to be- gin determining whether there are commercial quantities of oil at its Burger Prospect about 70 miles off the coast in the Chukchi Sea. Offshore Alaska offers some of the most proli¿c, undeveloped hydrocarbon ba- sins in the world, potentially increasing domestic supply by over 1 million new barrels of oil per day, according to Shell. Why are conservation groups opposed? Environmental groups contend oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a major spill in ocean that ranges from open to fro- zen to slushy, putting the Arc- tic’s rich marine life at stake. The drill sites are more than 1,000 miles from the nearest Coast Guard base. The northern Alaska coastline lacks deep-water ports, major airports and basic infrastruc- ture such as hotel accommo- dations for spill responders. Critics also say opening a new, vast fossil fuel ¿eld will delay a transition to renew- able energy and add to a glob- al warming problem that has hit the Arctic hard by reducing sea ice, a habitat critical to po- W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 lar bears and walrus. Is exploratory drilling safe? Exploratory wells will be drilled in water 130 to 140 feet deep — far different from the 5,000-foot water depth of the well in the Gulf of Mex- ico’s Deepwater Horizon ex- plosion and blowout in April 2010. Shell expects to drill wells under a fraction of the pressure of the well in that disaster. Shell says its Àotilla of about 30 vessels will have ev- erything on hand to respond in the “unlikely” event of a blowout. Drilling foes say Shell’s performance in 2012, the last time it sailed north, is evi- dence of what can go wrong. One rig was separated from its tow vessel and ran aground off Kodiak. The other was ¿ned $12.1 million for break- ing maritime law. What is being repaired in Portland? The Fennica is a Finnish icebreaker. The vessel’s hull received a gash roughly 3-feet long and a half-inch wide July 3 as it departed Dutch Har- bor, Alaska. Shell considered a temporary ¿x in Alaska but decided to make a permanent ¿x at Portland’s Vigor ship- yard. The vessel’s primary pur- pose is to carry a capping stack, a roughly 30-foot piece of gear that in a blowout can form a metal-to-metal con- tact on a wellhead. The cap- ping stack is designed to shut off oil like a giant spigot or connect to hoses to direct oil to vessels on the surface. It would be maneuvered into place by an A-frame winch on the Fennica and underwater remote-operated vehicles. Shell also will have a blowout preventer on the ocean bottom that could seal Fre e as Est F ima t t es ll Ca ime yt n A • Residential • Commercial •Cedar Roof Treatments • Interior & Exterior Over 20 years local experience 503-440-2169 Jeff Hale, Contractor LICENSED BONDED INSURED CCB#179131 a well with shear arms; drill- ing mud to plug a blowout; a second rig to drill a relief well; and a vessel carrying a containment dome that could funnel leaking crude to ves- sels on the surface. What can Shell do without the capping stack? Oil-bearing rock is 8,000 feet below the ocean bottom. Shell received conditional approval Wednesday to drill above it. Top-hole work begins with a mud-line cellar, an excava- tion to house the blowout pre- venter beneath the ocean Àoor, where it can’t be scraped by the bottom of a passing ice- berg. Top-hole work also in- volves drilling to about 1,300 feet and setting a foundation for the well to grow in depth. Shell can apply to drill into oil-bearing rock when the Fennica is repaired and in the Chukchi Sea. Shell expects that to happen by mid to late August. Phil the Pelica n is co m in g to Ca n n o n Bea ch! H I RI NG NOW K itchen & Restaurant M anagers S ta rt tra in in g NO W in Pa cific City a n d op en ou r n ew Brew Pu b in Ca n n on Bea ch in 2016. Com p etitive W a g es , 401K, Ben efits , Va ca tion Pelica n Brew in g Co m pa n y Pa cific City, O rego n 503- 965- 7779 ext. 307 w w w.you rlittlebea chtow n .com / jobs em p loym en t@ p elica n brew in g .com
