2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018
Washington denies oyster growers’ use of pesticide
Environmental
concerns in
Willapa Bay
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — State regu-
lators on Monday tentatively
denied a request by Willapa
Bay oyster growers to use a
pesticide to control shrimp
that burrow in oyster and clam
beds and make it hard for the
shellfish to grow.
In denying a permit, the
Department of Ecology said
that new scientific research
and data show the pesticide
imidacloprid would have
too great an impact on other
marine organisms, wildlife and
the environment.
It’s a reversal from 2015
when the agency issued a simi-
lar permit to the Willapa-Grays
Harbor Oyster Growers Asso-
ciation after finding the pes-
ticide was unlikely to result
in significant harm to the
environment.
Ecology officials say they
evaluated new research and
analyses that were not avail-
able during the previous
review.
“The science around imida-
cloprid is rapidly evolving and
we can’t ignore it,” Ecology
Director Maia Bellon said in a
prepared statement. “New find-
ings make it clear that this pes-
ticide is simply too risky and
harmful to be used in Washing-
ton’s waters and estuaries.”
Oyster growers have tried
for decades to control native
shrimp — ghost and mud
shrimp — that churn up mud-
flats, making the ground too
soft for oysters, causing them
to sink into the mud and
suffocate.
Growers say the burrowing
shrimp, left unchecked, threat-
ens the shellfish industry in
Willapa Bay and Grays Har-
bor, which contributes more
than $102 million to the region.
Willapa Bay is the larg-
est producer of farmed oysters
in the U.S., growing mostly
non-native Pacific oysters.
“We believe the decision
is based on politics and not on
sound science,” Ken Wiegardt,
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Washington state ecology officials have denied a permit
sought by shellfish growers that would have allowed them
to use a pesticide on oyster and clam beds.
president of the Willapa-Grays
Harbor Oyster Growers Asso-
ciation, said in a statement
Monday.
“If this political, nonscien-
tific decision stands, burrowing
shrimp will continue to destroy
our oyster beds, severely dam-
aging our industry, our estuary
and our entire rural economy,”
he added.
Weeks after receiving
approval to use imidacloprid
in Seaside. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary in
Seaside is in charge of the arrangements.
LOVEJOY, Steven, 59, of Astoria, died
at home. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary &
Crematory in Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
50
40
45
A shower early, then rain
and drizzle
Mostly cloudy and cool
with a little rain
Periods of rain
First
Salem
46/52
Newport
45/49
Apr 22
Coos Bay
47/50
Last
Apr 29
Baker
36/58
Ontario
43/62
Burns
31/51
Klamath Falls
35/48
Lakeview
34/45
Ashland
43/54
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Tonight's Sky: Jupiter rises from the east at 10:20
p.m. On May 1, rises at 8:45 p.m.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
4:58 a.m.
5:28 p.m.
Low
2.9 ft.
0.9 ft.
Today
Lo
43
33
37
46
41
33
59
28
74
34
45
69
58
39
71
35
54
37
47
36
42
54
52
45
39
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Hi
60
58
55
59
54
55
64
59
54
56
Today
Lo
36
35
44
43
47
35
42
45
45
46
W
sh
c
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
Hi
58
51
50
52
50
48
55
50
49
50
Wed.
Lo
34
28
40
37
43
25
36
39
41
41
W
sn
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
57
60
62
64
61
55
56
60
59
65
Today
Lo
45
41
47
46
46
46
38
44
46
38
W
r
sh
r
r
r
r
sh
r
r
c
Hi
51
59
52
53
52
50
55
52
51
57
Wed.
Lo
39
38
42
39
40
42
36
38
41
36
W
r
sh
r
r
r
r
c
r
r
c
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Hi
68
43
47
70
54
48
84
47
81
49
57
92
85
59
88
58
73
52
67
52
52
75
64
58
57
La Grande
38/57
Roseburg
46/53
Brookings
44/50
May 7
John Day
38/55
Bend
35/51
Medford
42/55
UNDER THE SKY
High
7.2 ft.
7.5 ft.
Prineville
36/54
Lebanon
45/52
Eugene
43/52
Full
Pendleton
41/59
The Dalles
43/57
Portland
47/52
Sunset tonight ........................... 7:56 p.m.
Sunrise Wednesday .................... 6:37 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................... 4:21 a.m.
Moonset today ........................... 2:19 p.m.
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
53
42
Breezy with rain
Tillamook
46/50
SUN AND MOON
Time
10:44 a.m.
11:57 p.m.
53
46
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
45/50
Precipitation
Monday ............................................ 0.00"
Month to date ................................... 2.78"
Normal month to date ....................... 1.80"
Year to date .................................... 26.01"
Normal year to date ........................ 26.64"
Apr 15
SATURDAY
REGIONAL WEATHER
Astoria through Monday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 66°/40°
Normal high/low ........................... 56°/40°
Record high ............................ 77° in 1959
Record low ............................. 32° in 1982
New
51
43
Rain
ALMANAC
FRIDAY
W
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
s
r
s
r
c
pc
c
r
pc
Hi
69
47
61
77
70
59
93
48
82
61
73
90
74
70
82
68
75
56
78
56
70
68
62
52
61
Wed.
Lo
46
37
53
45
47
47
67
25
74
52
53
59
53
53
70
50
54
44
59
44
55
51
50
41
47
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
529 SE MARLIN, WARRENTON
503-861-0929
YE TSOP
C LA NTY
C OU
April 1, 2018
ZWEBER, Tiffany, and
LAVINE, Daniel, of Knappa, a
girl, Alivia Bea Marie Lavine,
born at Columbia Memorial
Hospital in Astoria. Grand-
parents are Linda and Lenny
Wilkins and Dan and Lois
Lavine of Longview, Washing-
ton, Todd Zweber of Knappa,
and June VanDolah of St.
Helens.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Lewis & Clark Fire Depart-
ment Board, 7 p.m., main fire
station, 34571 Highway 101
Business.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners, 6 p.m., Judge
Guy Boyington Building, 857
Commercial St.
Astoria School Board, 6:15
p.m., study session, 7:30 p.m.,
regular meeting, Capt. Robert
Gray School third-floor board-
room, 785 Alameda Ave.
Warrenton-Hammond
School District Budget
Committee, 6 p.m., Warrenton
High School library, 1700 S.
Main Ave.
Wickiup Water District
Board, 6:30 p.m., 92648
Svensen Market Road,
Svensen.
Estimated jackpot: $21,000
Monday’s Megabucks: 6-8-27-
34-40-48
Estimated jackpot: $3.6 million
WASHINGTON
Monday’s Daily Game: 1-1-3
Monday’s Hit 5: 14-17-18-24-
34
Estimated jackpot: $150,000
Monday’s Keno: 12-22-25-29-
33-35-37-45-46-49-50-51-55-
57-58-63-64-71-73-78
Monday’s Lotto: 05-23-30-38-
43-48
Estimated jackpot: $4 million
Monday’s Match 4: 04-11-22-
23
OBITUARY POLICY
APPLIANCE
AND HOME
FURNISHINGS
IN
used to be able to do,” Sauve
said.
For now, the e-bike rent-
als are intended for use around
Seaside and most people don’t
leave Broadway Street and the
boardwalk area parallel to the
beach. If the state’s proposed
rule changes pass and allow
e-bikes in nearby state parks,
Sauve said her company
would be interested in leading
e-bike tours in places like Fort
Stevens.
“If it’s possible to be in
state parks, that would just be
phenomenal,” she said.
The state will be collecting
public comments on the pro-
posal through May 18. Pub-
lic hearings will be held in a
variety of Oregon cities begin-
ning April 23. A public hearing
is scheduled in Warrenton on
May 7 from 6 to 8 p.m.
After the public comment
period closes later in May, the
state will review all the com-
ments and present final recom-
mended rules to the Oregon
State Parks and Recreation
Commission, which will
review the rule at a meeting in
June.
BIRTH
OREGON
Monday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 3-8-7-2
4 p.m.: 9-1-2-3
7 p.m.: 0-7-9-2
10 p.m.: 4-6-8-8
Monday’s Lucky Lines: 02-06-
12-15-19-22-28-31
PACKAGE DEALS
Mattresses, Furniture
& More!
e-bikes. Both parks have some
snowy plover nesting restric-
tions. E-bikes would not be
allowed in those areas.
The proposed rules would
allow people to ride e-bikes on
roads and trails 8 feet or wider
unless a park posted that the
activity wasn’t allowed. Indi-
vidual parks will have some
flexibility about how they
enforce the rule on trails that
may narrow at different points.
The state defines e-bikes as
a bicycle that still has two or
three fully functioning pedals,
a motor that doesn’t exceed
1,000 watts and that doesn’t
exceed a maximum speed of
20 mph.
Lisa Sauve of Northwest
E-Bike, an e-bike rental and
sales company in Seaside, said
most of the people who rent
the company’s bicycles are
from the baby-boom genera-
tion, people in their 50s, 60s
and early 70s, who might have
a harder time walking long dis-
tances or riding a regular bicy-
cle around town.
“Those of us who our knees
hurt … we can’t put as much
effort into riding a bike as we
LOTTERIES
APPLIANCE
3 A 0 RS
Electric bikes might be
coming to local trails.
The Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department is propos-
ing a rule change that would
allow electric bikes, or e-bikes,
on certain state park trails and
roads and select areas of the
ocean shore.
“Our rules were written
before e-bicycles were intro-
duced,” said Katie Gauthier,
the department’s legislative
and policy coordinator. “We’re
just updating the rules.”
The Banks-Vernonia State
Trail, a long meandering, mul-
tiuse trail between Banks in
Washington County and Ver-
nonia in Columbia County,
is already popular for cycling
and has been a place where
people have expressed inter-
est in being able to use e-bikes,
Gauthier said.
In Clatsop County and
neighboring
Tillamook
County, Fort Stevens State
Park and Nehalem Bay State
Park could be candidates for
TUESDAY
Cannon Beach City Council,
5:30 p.m., regular meeting and
work session, City Hall, 163 E.
Gower St.
Warrenton City Commission,
6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Clatsop Community College
Board, 6:30 p.m., Columbia
Hall Room 219, 1651 Lexing-
ton Ave., Astoria.
W
s
s
pc
s
pc
c
s
pc
pc
pc
s
s
s
s
sh
s
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
c
r
s
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
Over
ogy will make a final decision
following a public comment
period that ends May 14. The
decision can be appealed.
In comments to the state
last fall, the National Marine
Fisheries Service said they had
concerns about the unintended
harm to other species.
Officials with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service also told
the state last fall it did not sup-
port a proposal to use the pesti-
cide, saying that the use would
have “acute adverse impacts”
to sediments, marine organ-
isms that live in that sediment,
free-swimming crustaceans
and zooplankton, both on and
off areas that would be treated.
The growers group said
Monday that it had proposed
that the permit allow them to
use the pesticide only to con-
duct scientific monitoring and
that approval for use would
depend on results of that
monitoring.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy told the group in a letter
Monday that the issues would
be the same whether it is
experimental or for commer-
cial purposes.
State may allow electric bikes
on some coastal park trails
DEATHS
April 8, 2018
LERMA, Sandra L., 75, of Seaside, died
at home. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary in Sea-
side is in charge of the arrangements.
April 6, 2018
WITTE, Crystal M., 89, of Seaside, died
and amid public outcry, the
oyster growers group asked
the state in 2015 to withdraw
the permit. The state’s largest
shellfish grower, Taylor Shell-
fish Farms, also backed away
from the plan to spray about
2,000 acres in Willapa Bay
and Grays Harbor.
In 2016, a smaller group
of about a dozen oyster grow-
ers applied to the state to be
allowed to use the pesticide in
waters, triggering additional
environmental review.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy denied the request, saying
it found significant impacts
to sediment and invertebrates
that live in that sediment, as
well as negative impacts to fish
and birds when food sources
are disrupted. It also said there
was increased uncertainty
about long-term, cumulative
impacts.
Imidacloprid is a neonic-
otinoid, a class of commonly
used insecticides. Studies have
shown that neonicotinoids
harm bees.
Several environmental and
other groups applauded the
decision, saying neonicoti-
noids should not be used in the
water.
The group sought to apply
the pesticide to about 500
acres of commercial shell-
fish beds, mostly in Willapa
Bay, using boats and ground
equipment.
The proposed area is much
smaller than the 2015 plan to
spray about 2,000 acres using
helicopters.
The Department of Ecol-
HOURS OPEN: MON-FRI 8-6 * SATURDAY * SUNDAY 10-4
We Service What We Sell
The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include a small photo and, for
veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business day prior.
Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Death notices and upcoming
services will be published at no charge. Notices must be submitted by 9 a.m. the day of publication.
The Daily Astorian
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-
325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria,
OR 97103-0210
www.dailyastorian.com
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.
SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Effective July 1, 2015
HOME DELIVERY
MAIL
EZpay (per month) ................$11.25
EZpay (per month) ............... $16.60
13 weeks in advance ........... $36.79
13 weeks in advance ........... $51.98
26 weeks in advance ........... $70.82
26 weeks in advance ......... $102.63
52 weeks in advance ......... $135.05
52 weeks in advance ......... $199.90
Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211
Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR
ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP
All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Daily Astorian become
the property of The Daily Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use
without explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT ©
Entire contents © Copyright, 2018 by The Daily Astorian.
Printed on recycled paper