OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017
Founded in 1873
HEIDI WRIGHT, Interim Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago this week — 2007
GUEST COLUMN
This dredging season will be another nail-biter for the Port of Astoria.
The four-month window for dredging in the Columbia River opened
Thursday, but the Port still doesn’t have approvals to dredge key parts of the
waterfront.
It could be another three months before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
issues the required permits, according to Port compliance officer Lora Eddy,
who said permitting agencies were working through a “backlog” of other
applications for projects such as channel deepening and the Bradwood Land-
ing liquefied natural gas terminal.
Clean energy bill to help
rural communities and tribes
The agency in charge of restoring Northwest salmon concluded
Wednesday that the latest court ordered plan for running fed-
eral dams in the Columbia and Snake river basins is not likely to
jeopardize the survival of threatened and endangered salmon and
steelhead.
“The picture that emerges is not pretty, but it is hopeful,” said
Bob Lohn, Northwest director of NOAA Fisheries.
If you didn’t notice the speed limit has been reduced from 35 mph to 30
mph on a portion of U.S. Highway 30, from 16th Street and Marine Drive to
34th Street and Lief Erikson Drive, you’re not alone.
It was news to Mayor Willis Van Dusen and the Astoria City Council when
Walt Wollenbecker, who lives on the east side of town, brought it to their atten-
tion at Monday night’s meeting.
Wollenbecker wondered what was going on — and when it happened.
Van Dusen turned to acting Astoria Police Chief Alan Oja, who said his
department didn’t know about the change until Monday morning. He subse-
quently found out that the Oregon Department of Transportation had installed
30 mph speed limit signs Friday.
50 years ago — 1967
The Daily Astorian/File
This is what remains of the once-proud Astoria reserve fleet base
of the U.S. Maritime Administration. Twenty ships remain, most of
them Liberties destined for the scrap heap. Soon the whole fleet,
which once totaled more than 200, will be gone under a deliber-
ate Maritime Administration policy to close the Astoria base, best
on the West Coast, and build up the other two bases at Olympia,
Washington, and Suisun Bay, California.
The tug Salvage Chief anchored the Captaliannes S. just down-
river from the Port of Astoria about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after pull-
ing the grounded Greek ship from the sands of Clatsop Spit at
11:20 a.m.
Retrieving the freighter from the spit was being heralded in
Astoria as a great event in the annals of Columbia River ship-
wrecks. No other ship has been salvaged from Clatsop Spit inside
the river. The Queen of the Pacific was pulled free of Clatsop Spit
mouth of where the south jetty now stands in 1883 by five tugboats.
LONG BEACH, Wash. — A joint legislative subcommittee heard testi-
mony that a bridge across the mouth of Willapa Bay would cost $48 million
and could be the most expensive, least-traveled toll bridge in the state.
The state highway department made the cost estimate and added it would
take a subsidy of about $1 million to keep the operation going if the toll was
$1.50.
The bridge would handle about 900 cars daily, compared with more than
1,000 for the $3 million Vernita bridge in Benton County, now the least trav-
eled bridge in the toll bridge system.
The bridge would cost twice as much as the Evergreen Point floating
bridge in Seattle, which has a 25,000-car volume daily.
While in other sections of the country last night, Halloween
pranksters caused problems, there were only “the usual” reports
of All Hallows Eve troubles in Astoria.
Astoria police said they were told of shaving cream being
squirted on cars and windows and balloons filled with water being
thrown at people.
75 years ago — 1942
All dwelling unit rents in Astoria and Clatsop County were frozen as of
Sunday, Nov. 1 at the March 1, 1942 levels and landlords will be required by
law immediately to drop their rents to figures they were charging last March, it
was announced today by the rental division of the office price administration.
A total of 7.6 inches fell here in October and on the last day
of the month a deluge of 3.45 inches neared the highest rainfall
recorded during the last 15 years, Milo Carpenter, official U.S.
weather observer said today.
On Nov. 22 mileage rationing becomes a fact in Clatsop County. After
that day no gasoline for operation of any gasoline engine, whether stationary,
afloat or in rolling vehicles may be purchased without coupons from mileage
rationing banks.
Mileage rationing all appears to be confusing. There has been a lot of talk,
most of it unconfirmed and half-told rumor, about what is coming. But the plan
for mileage rationing is simple, although there will be many difficult problems
involved in satisfying everyone’s real needs for varying amounts of gasoline.
By DON SAMPSON
For The Daily Astorian
s a fishery biologist, I have
worked on Columbia River
salmon restoration for over
30 years. As an enrolled member
of the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, I grew
up on the reservation hunting elk and
deer and fishing for salmon.
My work has involved studying
changes to our river system. The
impact of climate change became
apparent almost 20 years ago as our
tribes studied the flow of water in the
river at different times. Since then,
our tribes have worked extensively
to document the impact of climate
change on our salmon and Oregon
rivers due to reduced snowpack
and increased drought. For many of
you reading this, you know summer
wildfires fill our skies for weeks with
smoke — affecting our air, our chil-
dren, our elders. It is projected the
intensity and magnitude of wildfires
in the West will increase due to cli-
mate change. We are seeing it now.
Native Americans and rural
communities in Oregon are affected
by climate impacts on a daily basis.
The salmon run sometimes arrives
late — or not at all. The migration
patterns of birds and elk, which we
have hunted for generations, are
changing. The native roots in the
foothills and mountains that we have
relied on for food arrive earlier and
for a much shorter period of time.
Last year the huckleberries were
few, arrived early, and the window of
time they were available decreased
from three months to two- and-
a- half weeks. These native foods
have great cultural and ceremonial
significance, and to lose them due to
climate change means losing part of
who we are.
We’re working on adaptation
strategies, but many tribes have also
begun to focus on how to prevent
and mitigate climate impacts by
reducing carbon pollution, increasing
the use of wind and solar energy,
and developing innovative projects
like at the Tamástslikt Cultural
Institute, which is so energy efficient
it produces nearly as much energy as
it uses.
The Clean Energy Jobs bill,
a policy I’m advocating that the
Legislature passes in 2018, is
important to tribes and rural com-
munities, because it will reduce
climate pollution by making large
emitters pay for what they pollute,
and use the proceeds to invest in
clean energy solutions. Investments
will be prioritized to help Native
American communities and other
low income, rural and communities
of color that are hardest hit by the
impacts of climate change and air
pollution.
A
Don Sampson and his grandson, Loren.
Our lives and our way of life are
interconnected with the climate.
The Clean Energy Jobs bill will
also help tribes protect the forest.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and
companies can “offset” some of their
contributions to global warming
by paying to protect the trees. The
Warm Springs Tribe in central
Oregon just completed a 20,000-acre
forest land project on the east side
of Mount Jefferson. This project
will help mitigate carbon emissions
for the next 100 years while bring
millions in revenues to be reinvested
the reservation’s rural economy. But
this project is being developed under
California’s cap and trade program.
With Clean Energy Jobs, tribes could
participate in the offset program,
right here in Oregon benefiting the
tribe and all of Oregonians.
Most tribes in Oregon are devel-
oping climate mitigation plans, and
the reinvestment resources from
Clean Energy Jobs would create an
exciting opportunity for tribes to
implement those plans. These plans
are being developed with our local
city, county and state partners. We
could invest in expanding renewable
energy like wind and solar and in
land preservation, which creates jobs
and protects our culture, food and
watershed.
Our lives and our way of life
are interconnected with the climate.
It’s time to transition Oregon from
dirty to clean energy while creating
jobs and business opportunities. On
Saturday, we will have a kick-off
rally statewide, so please join us
and find out how you can help
at RenewOregon.org. When the
Legislature convenes in February,
they should pass the Clean Energy
Jobs bill.
Don Sampson is the former chair-
man of the Umatilla Tribe. He serves
as climate change project director
for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest
Indians, a consortium of 61 tribes
in Oregon, Washington state, Idaho,
Montana, Alaska and California.
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