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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 Cost of renewable mandate *HQHWLFDOO\HQJLQHHUHG¿VK to ratepayers still unvetted labeling clears state House By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon law- makers are on track to pass a bill that would double the state’s renewable energy man- date before state utility regula- tors ¿nish vetting the potential cost to consumers. Lawmakers and Gov. Kate Brown instead relied so far on cost estimates by the utilities that helped to write the bill, which projected the legisla- tion would increase ratepayers’ bills by an average of roughly 1 percent annually. The situation adds to ques- tions about who is looking out for electricity consumers as the Legislature moves to pass the bill quickly during the short 35-day session. The governor did not respond on Wednesday morn- ing to questions about whether the cost of the bill mattered, and if she would sign the bill without cost vetting by state regulators. “The Governor’s Of¿ce has encouraged the (Public Util- ity Commission) to evaluate the bill and actively engage in the public process, which the (Public Utility Commission) pursued by providing testi- mony, crafting amendments, and holding its own public hearing,” Brown’s press sec- retary Chris Pair wrote in an email Wednesday morning. “We generally do not com- ment publicly on the gov- ernor’s position on a bill in advance of its passing both houses or her legal coun- sel’s review for legal suf¿- ciency and constitutionality that every bill receives. That said, the governor is commit- ted to policies that increase the availability of renewable energy and address issues around Oregonians’ invest- ment in electricity produced by coal and believes HB 4036 may be one way to make a meaningful impact.” Utilities helped craft bill Michael Dougherty, chief operating of¿cer of the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, said earlier this week the Pub- lic Utility Commission had not received enough information from Paci¿Corp and Portland General Electric, the two inves- tor owned utilities that helped craft the bill, to vet the utili- ties’ cost projections. Dougherty wrote in an email that Portland General Electric had provided only “piecemeal” information and Paci¿Corp had not pro- vided any of the information the Public Utility Commission requested. “Unfortunately, we have not received (what we consider) adequate data from the utilities to substantiate or refute the pro- jections (annual 1 percent to 1.5 percent increase in rates) pro- vided to the committee by the utilities,” Dougherty wrote in an email Tuesday morning. By Wednesday morning, Dough- erty said the commission had received more information from Portland General Electric but he had not yet ascertained what it was or how useful it might be. Ry Schwark, a spokesman for Paci¿Corp, disagreed and said much of the information the Public Utility Commission requested was available in pub- lic reports. “My understanding is we’ve given them everything they’ve asked for,” Schwark said. Steve Corson, a spokesman for Portland General Electric, said the utility’s ¿rst priority was to prepare for a presentation to the Public Utility Commission on the bill in late January. “And then turned to the data request,” Corson said. “The other thing I would observe just in general is data requests are not simple things.” Concerns about cost to consumers Public utility commission- ers raised concerns privately and at the meeting in late Jan- uary, in particular that the bill would be expensive for con- sumers but do little to reduce carbon emissions. The state House already voted 39-20 on Monday to pass House Bill 4036. Brown has said publicly that she is still considering whether to support the bill, but emails released by the state showed her administration worked behind the scenes to help the bill pass in the Legislature, The Orego- nian reported on Wednesday. House Bill 4036 would require Paci¿Corp and Port- land General Electric to use renewable power sources such as wind and solar to serve at least 50 percent of their cus- tomers’ energy demand in Oregon by 2040. The current state mandate is for 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. The bill would also require the investor-owned utilities to stop using coal to serve Ore- gon customers, but there are questions about how much the bill would actually do to impact the phase-out of coal power in Oregon. State Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Spring¿eld, originally requested the Public Utility Commission review House Bill 4036. Beyer did not respond to a question this week about whether he expects the com- mission to ¿nish vetting the leg- islation before it receives a vote in the Senate. It also remains to be seen whether the Senate will ask the Public Utility Commis- sion to provide its perspective on the bill, something lawmak- ers in the House did not do. “At the House Energy and Environment Committee, we were not requested to provide testimony,” Dougherty wrote in an email. A representa- tive was on hand, however, to answer questions. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Bill originally allowed local control over GMO crops By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Bureau SALEM — The state House Wednesday passed a measure requiring the label- ing of genetically engineered ¿sh. Supporters of the labeling requirement said it would allow consumers to choose conventional ¿sh if they had doubts about the health or environmental safety of bio- tech salmon, which the fed- eral government approved last year. The bill passed with a narrow 32-27 vote. “We deserve as con- sumers to have the choice where we put our money,” said state Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton. Genetically engineered salmon will likely be cheaper than wild-caught ¿sh from Oregon, so labeling will allow consumers to support their local industry, said Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene. “If they don’t understand the difference, they will just buy the ¿sh that is less expensive,” she said. Rep. John Davis, R-Wil- sonville, said the bill was premature because the United States isn’t import- ing biotech salmon from Canada until the Food and Drug Administration decides whether to require labeling. The Oregon ¿shing indus- try is also free to label its ¿sh as being wild-caught or non-genetically engineered, said Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Dallas. “There’s simply not a need for this to be done as a matter of state law,” he said. The bill was originally proposed as a means to give local governments in Oregon the power to regulate biotech crops. Biotech critics claim that local ordinances are neces- sary to prevent cross-polli- nation between transgenic, conventional and organic crops because the state and federal governments have failed to act on the issue. Opponents of the pro- posal argued that it would complicate farming across county lines, reduce crop options and put a strain on local governments that would have to enforce such ordinances. However, the origi- nal language of the bill was “gutted and stuffed” at the committee level with a label- ing requirement for geneti- cally engineered ¿sh. While the proposal to allow local restrictions on ‘I think they have a legitimate issue that needs to be solved. I hope the Department of Agriculture solves it or the Legislature does in the future.’ Rep. Paul Holvey D-Eugene biotech crops was removed from the bill, it may get resurrected in future legislation. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said he wishes problems could be worked out amicably, but farmers who fear cross-pol- lination from biotech crops don’t currently have a system to prevent economic losses. After the Legislature pre- empted local regulation of seeds — including biotech crops — in 2013, their con- cern hasn’t been addressed, he said. “I think they have a legit- imate issue that needs to be solved,” Holvey said during a previous committee hear- ing. “I hope the Department of Agriculture solves it or the Legislature does in the future.” Rep. Shemia Fagan, D-Clackamas, said she hopes the recent discussions in the Legislature will pressure the state Department of Agri- culture to come up with a solution. Fagan noted that heir- loom crop varieties cannot be replaced once they’re lost, so she hopes to give farmers some method to protect such cultivars. “There is some urgency to this issue,” she said. Nearman said it would be unfortunate if the current sys- tem of voluntary cooperation among farmers was replaced with a “bureaucratic solu- tion” for cross-pollination concerns. “They try to solve their problems by talking with each other and working with each other,” Nearman said. Rep. Susan McLain, D-Hills- boro, said she agreed that an ideal solution would allow all types of farmers to co-exist. “Let’s not pre-empt that possible pathway,” she said. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Marine mammal strandings concern experts By LYRA FONTAINE EO Media Group CANNON BEACH — The humpback whale stranded in Seaside in Janu- ary may have become entan- gled or struck by a boat, according to Debbie Duff- ield, a Portland State Uni- versity biology professor. More than 30 people gath- ered for a lecture, “Marine Mammals, the Marine Mam- mal Stranding Network and Marine Reserves,” last week at the Cannon Beach Library. The topic was particularly timely. In the past few weeks, a humpback whale washed ashore in Seaside, and a har- bor porpoise and two striped dolphins were found on the North Coast. Experts are still waiting on necropsy results for the whale to see whether it was infected or if it had an accident. The humpback has bruis- ing that could have been from entanglement or a boat strike, Duffield said. It also carried a fairly heavy par- asite load for a whale not more than 2 years old. The presentation — a partnership between Duff- ield and Keith Chandler, the Seaside Aquarium general manager — was part of Hay- stack Rock Awareness Pro- gram’s lecture series. The Oregon Marine Mam- mal Stranding Network, which Duffield and Chan- dler belong to, responds to mammal strandings from Tillamook to Long Beach, Washington. They see 149 stranded animals a year on average. The most common animals include California sea lions, harbor seals and Steller sea lions. Strandings allow researchers to evaluate oth- erwise inaccessible animals, and necropsies tell scientists vital physiological and bio- logical information. Marine mammals’ tissues are sam- pled and used for studies on ocean pollution, biotox- ins and other environmental changes. Once they evaluate a stranded animal, research- ers take samples back to the university to study it in a controlled area and test for infections. After they finish the necropsies, they might prepare the bones for stu- dents to piece together. “Every once in awhile we have species that, because of their charismatic value, are of great interest to every- body,” Duffield said. For example, a killer whale was stranded in Long Beach several years ago, drawing veterinaries, researchers and onlookers alike. Duffield also recalls when a Baird’s beaked whale came in live in Sea- side during a volleyball tournament. “Luckily, peo- ple weren’t around it when it started to die and thrash, because it could have killed somebody,” she said. Why do these animals appear on shores? Seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins and porpoises are primarily stranded due to human inter- action, such as gunshots, fisheries interaction and net entanglement. Bacterial dis- ease, cancer and infections also cause strandings. Sometimes the human-re- lated interactions are extreme. Duffield displayed a jarring photo of a Cali- fornia sea lion that had part of its face destroyed by an explosive device. She also showed a pic- ture of plastics and debris on the Seaside beach. Sea lions get entangled in plas- tic bands, but since they bite, it’s difficult for humans to help them remove bands and recover from wounds. In 2010, a dead whale stranded in Washington’s Puget Sound beach had 50 gal- lons of material in its stom- ach that was mostly algae, but also human debris, such as sweatpants, plastic bags, duct tape and towels. The Oregon Marine Mam- mal Stranding Network works to improve treatment and dis- entangle marine mammals from debris and ¿shery gear. Duf¿eld said that the ani- mals are resilient. Seals and sea lions often carry worms in their stomach that can form ulcers. “They just live with that,” she said. “Their para- site loads are tremendous.” The strandings may also point to larger forces at work. The El Niño climate pat- tern that’s increasing coastal temperatures, along with the warm “blob” of water in the north Pacific Ocean, affect the animals’ prey. “We’re at the apex of these changes that we can actually follow annually,” Duffield said. “It’s a fasci- nating change that we’re liv- ing through.” Daily Astorian/File Photo People stop to look at the dead humpback whale calf that washed ashore on the Seaside beach. Lyra Fontaine/EO Media Group Debbie Duffield of Portland State University discusses marine mammal strandings as part of a Haystack Rock Awareness Program series. Lyra Fontaine/EO Media Group Seaside Aquarium employees Mollie Schmidt and Tiffany Boothe with Debbie Duffield and Seaside Aquarium Gen- eral Manager Keith Chandler. Neal Maine/For EO Media Group Workmen move the humpback whale that washed ashore in Seaside. 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 Meatloaf Dinner with Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, Salad & Roll ala Dan Reed Friday Feb. 19 th 4 pm ‘til gone $ 8.00 6PM “Karaoke Dave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Cla t sop Post 12 1132 Exchange Street 325-5771 First Baptist Church A place where you feel like family...come home. Announcing Bible Study series titled “Believe” Led by Reverend Rob Sturdivant Is God Real? What do I Believe? Having doubts about God? You are not alone. Weekly classes start Sunday Feb 21 at 5:30pm-6:30pm $10 study guide, scholarships available Soup dinner provided at 5:00, class starts at 5:30 Location: First Baptist Church Astoria, 349 7th Street, across from County Court House Call (503) 325-1761 to sign up or questions
