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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2017)
State fines Port over stormwater 3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017 Agency will appeal penalties By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria has been assessed $69,319 in civil penalties by the state Department of Environmen- tal Quality for stormwater violations. Port Executive Director Jim Knight said the agency will appeal the penalties. The agency was fined $22,569 for not completing its Pier 3 stormwater treat- ment system by July 1, 2016. A separate fine with no mon- etary value was assessed for the Port not finishing a simi- lar treatment system at North Tongue Point by the same deadline. “DEQ appreciates your efforts to correct the treat- ment violations by install- ing the stormwater treatment measures after the deadline,” Sarah G. Wheeler, manager of the state’s Office of Com- pliance and Enforcement, wrote in a notice of the penal- ties. “DEQ considered these efforts when determining the amount of civil penalty.” Stormwater treatment The agency was required in August 2014 to build the systems to limit the amount of copper enter- ing the Columbia River. The Port’s environmental consul- tants, Maul Foster Alongi, designed a system to pump stormwater from through- out the central waterfront to a series of settling ponds and vegetated bioswales to leach out contaminants. Construc- tion started late last summer. Knight said the Port tech- nically finished its new Pier 3 stormwater treatment sys- tem in November. “The time Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian The state Department of Environmental Quality has fined the Port of Astoria over stormwater violations. frame between (July 1) and November, when we com- pleted construction, that’s the period of time they want to fine us for,” he said. Although construction largely finished in November, the agency has still not been able to make the system oper- ational. Heavy rains and cold weather over the winter have prevented seeding from tak- ing hold, washed out berms holding in stormwater and compacted soil in the system. The vegetated bioswale central to stormwater treat- ment is meant to leach out contaminants before water seeps into the soil to drains below for eventual release at the end of Pier 3. The Port is waiting for better weather to have the soil in the storm- water system tilled and reseeded. The Port also discovered during construction that fish waste was being pumped into the system from Bornstein Seafoods at the foot of Pier 1. The company has since rerouted its runoff to a sepa- rate outfall. Monitoring The Port was fined $46,750 for two separate stormwater monitoring vio- lations at North Tongue Point during the 2015-16 monitoring year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. The agency is required to mon- itor for benchmark pollut- ants four times a year, but in many cases only gathered three samples. The Port has previously violated stormwater moni- toring requirements in 2016, 2014 and 2013. Knight said part of the problem is that many of the outfalls where the Port mon- itors are hard to reach after heavy rains and during high tides. “I do think our ultimate solution is to change the way we access the outfalls, so that we’re not impacted by tidal action,” he said. He said the Port’s appeal of the two most recent fines will go out this or next week. In lieu of a fine, the Port can also perform a supple- mental environmental proj- ect to remedy civil penalties. Knight said the Port is plan- ning to help build a rain gar- den at Astoria Middle School to remedy the fines from last year. Bills would stave off opening of second women’s prison By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Several pro- posals in the Legislature would stave off the need to open an expensive second women’s prison in the midst of Oregon’s $1.6 billion revenue shortfall, according to initial projections. ‘What we do not want to have to do is open new pris- ons,” said state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward, D-Beaver- ton. “The last thing the state can afford to do is put more and more of our hard-earned dol- lars into prisons instead of edu- cation and health care and the human services that will pre- vent people from interacting with the criminal justice system in the first place.” Two bills to expand eligi- bility for the Family Sentenc- ing Alternative Pilot Program received widespread support from criminal justice reform- ers and law enforcement during legislative hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. Another bill to expand the length of an early release pro- gram from 90 to 180 days for inmates convicted of nonviolent property and drug crimes faces opposition from the Oregon District Attorneys Association. The Family Sentencing Alternative Pilot Program diverts the parents of minor children from prison and allows them to stay in the community under supervision. The offend- ers also receive wraparound services such as drug treatment or parenting classes. Last year, 75 parents par- ticipated in the program in five counties: Multnomah, Wash- ington, Marion, Deschutes and Jackson. That helped to keep 139 children out of foster care, according to a joint report by the Department of Human Ser- vices and the Department of Corrections. “Women oftentimes have child abuse or sexual abuse histories. In turn, they develop mental health issues and then they start self-medicat- ing through drugs and alcohol, poor relationships, (and) even- tually end up participating in drug offenses, property crime,” Paris Achen/Capital Bureau Tira Hubbard, a probation officer in Jackson County, sits in a House Judiciary hearing at the Capitol in Salem Wednesday as measures are discussed to reduce prison populations. said Tira Hubbard, a parole and probation officer in Jackson County. “That rolls them into the criminal justice system. By just treating the addiction and the criminality and not looking at those underlying root causes, we’re just treating the symp- toms and not the virus.” Speakers at hearings in the House and Senate judiciary committees unanimously sup- ported two bills that would open up the program to preg- nant women. Some pregnant women who otherwise qual- ified for the program were rejected and were sent to prison. “Having a baby in prison is a really, really rough situa- tion,” said Rep. Tawna San- chez, D-Portland, who has worked extensively for social justice organizations. After giv- ing birth, the women have to “immediately give the child to someone else,” Sanchez said. The other bill to expand an early release program called Short-Term Transitional Leave is provoking more controversy. The proposal would expand the 90-day program to 180 days. Inmates who don’t have a mandatory minimum sentence and have no violations in the past 12 months are eligible for the program. In the first two years, program failures were minimal, according to the Oregon Crimi- nal Justice Commission. Nevertheless, district attor- neys have come out against the expansion, citing a 2013 agreement with the then-House Majority Leader and two now-retired lawmakers not to revisit sentencing changes for at least five years. “The most important reason I oppose (the bill) is it erodes an important pillar of a good justice system and that is truth in sen- tencing,” said Linn County Dis- trict Attorney Doug Marteeny. Marteeny said victims may be unaware that an offender won’t have to serve all of his or her sentence. Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded that it’s prosecutors’ job to let victims know how the system works. The expansion would post- pone the need to open a sec- ond women’s prison by at least two years, according to analysis by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. The cost of open- ing the second facility would be about $9.5 million. The population at the state’s only women’s prison, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, has hovered above capacity for more than a year. The limit is 1,280. On Wednes- day the population was 1,298, according to the Department of Corrections. RA NDY BURT Saturday April 8, 2017 7:30 to ? Awesome Rock & Roll, Blues, Country & MORE! DINNER SPECIAL HOMEMADE MEATLOAF • Only $8 w/Scalloped Potatoes & Asparagus, Served from 5 to 8pm PUBLIC WELCOME – OPEN TO ALL! Please call 503-738-5111 for ticket information. This is a Post 99 fundraiser. We appreciate your support! SEASIDE AMERICAN LEGION 1315 Broadway • 503-738-5111 M c Clure and Shively Parks Open House Open House : g Meetin 2 Round Tuesday, March 7 - 4:30-6pm Tuesday, March 7 - 6:30-8pm Shively Park Hall, 1530 Shively Park Road Tuesday • April 11 th • 5 30pm • Shively Hall • 1530 Shively Park Rd. P ARKS M ASTER P LANS O PEN H OUSE Please join us Tuesday, April 11 starting at 5:30 PM to discuss McClure Park and Shively Park proposed Master Plans. There will be a presentation on both parks at 6pm, followed by questions, answers, comments, and discussion. The Astoria City Council identifi ed planning for these two parks as a priority in the recently adopted City-wide Astoria Parks Comprehensive Master Plan. A fi rst round of public open house meetings was held in March and provided community members the opportunity to suggest how these two parks should be maintained and/or improved in the future. This second round of public open house meetings wil give community members the opportunity to review and comment on optional plans presented by the planning team. Final draft Master Plans will be presented to the City Council for consideration later this year. The draft plans will include ideas concerning: • Construction and/or maintenance of park amenities • Access to the parks • Maintenance of natural features • Preferred uses and activities within these parks • Safety considerations For more information, visit www.astoriaparks.com or contact Angela Cosby, Director of Parks and Recreation acosby@astoria.or.us or 503-298-2460. Light refreshments will be served.
