3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016
Amended energy bill lowers annual caps
A state Senate
committee voted
3-2 Monday to
pass version
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A bill to dou-
ble Oregon’s renewable energy
mandate is headed for a vote as
soon as Wednesday in the state
Senate, where it faces an uncer-
tain fate.
The Senate Committee on
Business and Transportation
voted 3-2 Monday afternoon
to pass an amended version of
the bill out of committee. State
Sen. Lee Beyer, the committee’s
chairman, wrote the amend-
ment in an attempt to address
concerns that the bill, which
was negotiated behind closed
doors by the state’s two inves-
tor-owned utilities, environmen-
tal groups, the renewable energy
industry and Citizens Utility
Board of Oregon, will be costly
to consumers and businesses.
Beyer, D-Springfield, said
the amendment strengthened
the role of the Public Utility
Commission in response to crit-
icism the earlier version would
have weakened commission
oversight.
Utilities objected to a pro-
vision in the amendment that
would lower the annual cost cap
for the renewable energy man-
date from 4 percent to 3 percent.
The existing renewable energy
mandate allows utilities to ask
the Public Utility Commission
to approve rate increases based
on costs incurred to meet the
law.
“I’m not sure why chang-
ing it advances the policy now,”
said Scott Bolton, a vice presi-
dent at PacifiCorp.
Ry Schwark, a spokesman
for PacifiCorp, said he expected
the bill might still undergo
changes. “Since this now will
likely need to go to conference,
much will depend upon what
comes out the other end of that
process,” Schwark wrote in an
email.
Beyer’s amendment also
expanded the types of energy
‘I’m not sure why
changing it advances
the policy now.’
Scott Bolton,
vice president at PacifiCorp
the utilities could use to meet the
renewables mandate to include
certain hydropower projects,
biomass and power plants that
burn municipal solid waste.
That provision did not appear to
be controversial.
Beyer was also trying to
shore up support for the bill
after news reports last week that
Gov. Kate Brown’s administra-
tion silenced state energy reg-
ulators who critiqued the bill,
and that those regulators had not
received enough information
from the utilities to vet cost pro-
jections for the bill.
“There was lots of con-
cerns expressed in the press
and everybody else about how
this bill got here and what it did
and whether the regulator was
left out or not,” Beyer said on
Monday.
Double existing
mandate
House Bill 4036 would
double Oregon’s existing man-
date to increase renewable
energy and require Portland
General Electric and Pacifi-
Corp to use renewable power
sources such as wind and
solar to serve at least 50 per-
cent of their customers’ energy
demand in Oregon by 2040, up
from the current state mandate
of 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 whether the
bill would actually do much to
impact the phase-out of coal
power in Oregon. Portland
General Electric has already
committed to close Oregon’s
only coal plant, in Boardman,
by 2020, and Beyer said the bill
would have a greater impact on
the types of power utilities use
to replace coal.
Beyer invited Susan Acker-
man, chairwoman of the Public
Utility Commission, to testify
before the committee on Mon-
day, something Senate Repub-
licans had called for last week.
Ackerman said the Public
Utility Commission had long
considered a carbon cap-and-
trade system to be the most
efficient way to reduce green-
house gas emissions. Lawmak-
ers introduced a bill to create a
cap-and-trade system this ses-
sion, although it seems to have
lost momentum and is cur-
rently assigned to the budget
writing Joint Committee on
Ways and Means.
Sap political capital
Ackerman said she was
concerned that if the renew-
able mandate bill passes, it
could use up the political cap-
ital that would be necessary to
pass cap-and-trade legislation.
Ackerman also used her
testimony Monday to respond
to a news report that Brown’s
administration had muzzled the
Public Utility Commission.
“That is simply not the
case,” Ackerman said.
Emails released by the Pub-
lic Utility Commission showed
Brown’s staff instructed the
agency earlier this year not to
go public with talking points
they had prepared listing con-
cerns about the bill, specifi-
cally that it would be expen-
sive to consumers but do little
to reduce carbon emissions.
PacifiCorp has estimated
the increased renewable energy
mandate would cause its rates
to increase by less than 1 per-
cent annually, although critics
have noted that estimate only
went through 2030. Portland
General Electric projected the
bill’s costs through 2040 and
estimated the legislation would
cause rates to rise by an aver-
age of 1.5 percent annually.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
Gun control bill heads to state Senate Knappa man killed
SALEM — A contentious
proposal to extend the waiting
period on gun purchases from
three to 10 days to allow more
time for background checks to
clear has passed its first major
hurdle in the state Legislature.
The controversy playing
out in Oregon over House Bill
4147, which now heads to the
state Senate after passing the
House on Monday, speaks to
the broader debate about gun
control among policymakers
in the wake of numerous mass
shootings across the nation in
recent years.
Initially, lawmakers sought
to use HB 4147 as a vehicle for
closing the so-called “Charles-
ton loophole.” The phrase refers
to a man accused of shoot-
ing people in a South Carolina
church in 2015 who was able
to purchase a weapon after the
three-day waiting period while
his background check was
pending.
The vast majority of back-
ground checks are completed
right away, allowing many gun
purchases to clear on the same
day. Under current Oregon law,
in those more rare instances
where background checks take
longer than three days, it’s up
to the sellers’ discretion to sell
the gun.
Lawmakers aimed to close
that loophole by requiring back-
ground checks to clear before
guns can be purchased, regard-
less of the length of time. But
after weeks of heated debate
and testimony from gun rights
advocates, HB 4147 was scaled
back to simply extend the wait-
ing period to 10 business days,
following similar wait times in
Astoria man pleads
guilty to hacking
celebrity emails
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — An
Astoria man who accessed
hundreds of email accounts
and stole explicit photos
of celebrities has pleaded
guilty to a felony hacking
charge in Los Angeles.
Andrew Helton faces up
to five years in prison after
pleading guilty to steal-
ing nude or explicit photos
from 13 people, including
some unidentified celebri-
ties. The plea was entered
Thursday.
Hundreds of stolen nude
images of stars including
Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett
Johansson and Mila Kunis
have been posted online in
recent years.
FBI
spokeswoman
Laura Eimiller says Hel-
ton’s is a separate case and
that none of the images he
stole are believed to have
leaked online.
Helton’s attorney Sha-
non L. Gray had no imme-
diate comment Friday.
Prosecutors say Hel-
ton’s “phishing” scheme
involved sending victims
emails they thought were
from Apple or Google. The
messages asked victims to
verify their email accounts
by clicking on a link that
took them to a phony web-
site, where Helton col-
lected their usernames and
passwords.
Prosecutors say Hel-
ton used the information to
access more than 360 email
accounts.
Helton, 29, is scheduled
to be sentenced June 2.
Hawaii, California and Wash-
ington, D.C.
“It doesn’t close the loop-
hole, but it makes it tight enough
to catch a few more people who
might exploit it ... It changes lit-
tle for lawful purchasers, but it
makes it a little harder for an
unlawful purchaser to obtain
a weapon,” state Rep. Lew
Frederick, a Democrat from
Portland, said before casting
his ‘yes’ vote Monday. “Our
thoughts and prayers are cold
comfort when innocent lives are
taken by someone with no busi-
ness having access to a weapon.
Our communities need help
preventing the next tragedy.”
The House was supposed to
cast that vote Friday — when
former Arizona Congress-
woman Gabrielle Giffords,
who was shot in the head in a
2011 shooting in Tucson, Ari-
zona, visited Portland to launch
Hanford site
cleanup may
be $107 billion
an anti-gun violence coalition.
However, the vote was delayed
amid concerns the bill didn’t
have support from Democrats,
who control the chamber.
When the decision came
down Monday, HB 4147
squeaked by on a 31-28 vote, a
narrow approval for the major-
ity party after three Demo-
crats sided with the Republican
minority in opposing the bill.
“Everyone wants to stop
violence,” said Rep. Sherrie
Sprenger, a Republican from
Scio and a former sheriff’s dep-
uty. “Sometimes in the pro-
cess and gut-wrenching drive to
solve a terrible, terrible things,
we want to bring another law
... just because we pass a law
doesn’t mean we’re going to get
the desired result.”
The bill now heads to the
Senate, where the lively debate
will likely continue.
in logging accident
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
A 47-year-old Knappa
man was killed Thursday in
a logging accident.
Tony Thorne was working
at a logging site off of U.S.
Highway 26 near Elsie when
a tree crushed him, according
to the Clatsop County Sher-
iff’s Office.
“It’s an extremely danger-
ous job,” Sheriff Tom Bergin
said.
Oregon
Occupational
Safety and Health Adminis-
tration opened an inspection
this week into the case.
Thorne was working for
O’Brien Timber Falling Inc.
based out of Warrenton.
Aaron Corvin, a spokes-
ANNUAL
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press
man for Oregon OSHA, said
the inspection could take
up to six months. Inspec-
tors generally collect evi-
dence from the scene, inter-
view witnesses and company
officials and review records
and procedures. The inspec-
tion could also examine any
equipment involved.
“This is standard proce-
dure,” Corvin said. “When
you have a workplace death,
we launch an investigation.”
Elsie-Vinemaple
Fire
Department assisted the
sheriff’s office at the scene
Thursday.
According to Thorne’s
Facebook page, he grew up
in Nehalem and attended
Neah-Kah-Nie High School
in Rockaway Beach.
33 YEARS
Associated Press
RICHLAND, Wash. — The
latest estimate is out to complete
the cleanup of the Hanford Nu-
clear Reservation.
The U.S. Department of En-
ergy says the remaining work
will cost $107.7 billion and be
largely completed by 2060.
Monday’s estimate was re-
leased by the Department of En-
ergy with its regulators, the En-
vironmental Protection Agency
and the state of Washington.
Hanford for decades made
plutonium for nuclear weapons
and the site is now engaged in the
cleanup of the radioactive waste.
February 25 th , 26 th , 27 th & 28 th the Lighthouse
Jazz Society will present the 33 rd Year of Jazz in
Seaside featuring twelve quality bands and one
guest artist, performing twenty seven hours of live
entertainment at tthree different venues in Seaside.
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors and volun-
teers that make this weekend a huge success. We are very grateful to the following Businesses and
Individuals for their continuing support - you make it happen.
Thank You!
Corporate Sponsors:
Lighthouse Jazz Society
City of Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee
Grand Band Sponsor:
Pig ‘N Pancake, Robert Feldman & Julia Mangold
Band Sponsors:
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
Music Sponsors:
Inn at Seaside, Eagle Financial Group, Seaside Aquarium, Seaside
Carousel Mall, River Inn at Seaside, Clatsop Distributing/Budweiser,
McMenamins, Inc, KBGE 94.9 FM
6
3
Beach House Vacation Rentals, Dennis Adrian, Fred Fisher,
In memory of Mary Jane Fisher, Sunset Empire Park & Recreation
Dist., Suzanne Elise, Avamere Seaside and Providence Elder Place
Patrons:
6
6
A Shore Motel, Sam’s Seaside Cafe, Rod & Beverly Grosso, Don & Pam
Gianotti, Clatsop Community Bank, Norma’s Seafood & Steak, Ward & Lois
Cook, Hillcrest Inn, Seaside Chamber of Commerce, Wilcox & Flegel, Jim &
Mary Foster, John Niemeyer & Joyce Evanyo, Dick & Tip Martin, Charles & Ruth
Johnson, Ernest & Joann Rivas, Don & Lois Larson, Susan Shinn & Chris Deits,
Donna Mary Dulcich & Richard Aebel, Knutsen Insurance, Jim & Doris Van Olst,
Barbara West, Robert Entringer, Robert Burch, & Vonne Anne Heninger, Peter
Ferrero, Dooger’s Seafood & Grill
Lodging Sponsors:
First Baptist Church
Ebb Tide Motel, Hi-Tide, Best Western Oceanview Resort, Shilo East, Shilo Inn
Oceanfront, Escape Lodging, Rivertide Suites, Ocean Front Motel, Seashore Resort
Announcing Bible Study series titled “Believe”
Led by Reverend Rob Sturdivant
Caffe Latte, Dooger’s Seafood and Grill, Reed & Hertig, Dundee’s Bar & Grill, Norma’s Seafood &
Steak, Pizza Harbor, Rascals, Seaside Food, Seaside Helicopter, Astoria Warehousing, Shilo Inn at
the Portland Airport, Pacific Way Bakery, United Grocers, Clean Sweep, Lazerquick
A place where you feel like family...come home.
Is God Real? What do I Believe?
Has God fallen off your radar?
Come kick the tires of this thing call Christianity!
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
In Kind Sponsors:
A big thank you to all that attend the Seaside Jazz Festival.
Thank you to the many volunteers who help make this
another great jazz festival in Seaside
www.jazzseaside.com
866-345-6257
A portion of this project was made possible by a grant
from Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee, funded by
room tax dollars. The website is: www.seasideor.com