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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2018
Republicans introduce bill to stop dam spills
Water could be
saved for other
uses on rivers
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Republican Congress mem-
bers from the Pacific North-
west are upset with a federal
judge’s order to spill water
from four Snake River dams to
help speed migrating salmon
to the Pacific Ocean.
They say the water could
be saved for other uses and are
denouncing the spill, which
began April 3, and a push by
environmentalists to remove
the four dams to increase wild
salmon runs.
“Dams and fish can
coexist,” U.S. Reps. Cathy
McMorris Rodgers and Dan
Newhouse, whose Washing-
ton state districts include the
dams, said in a joint statement.
The four dams, built in
the 1960s and 1970s, pro-
vide hydropower, flood con-
trol, navigation, irrigation and
recreation benefits, support-
ers say. But the giant dams are
also blamed for killing wild
salmon, an iconic species in
the Northwest.
McMorris Rodgers and
Newhouse have introduced
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
A fish is seen in a viewing window at the visitors center of the
Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash.
a bill that would prevent any
changes in dam operations
until 2022. The measure was
co-sponsored by Republican
House members from Oregon,
Idaho, Montana and Nevada,
along with Democratic U.S.
Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon.
It passed the House Natu-
ral Resources Committee on
Wednesday and heads to the
floor in the coming weeks.
“Without
Snake
and
Columbia river dams and the
many benefits they provide,
life in central Washington as
we know it would be unrecog-
nizable,” Newhouse said.
Hydropower is the North-
west’s lifeblood, said Republi-
can U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador
of Idaho.
“For a liberal judge to
ignore the broad scientific
consensus of the federal gov-
ernment and the states of
Idaho, Washington and Mon-
tana is unconscionable and
must be stopped,” he said.
The increased spill will
cost some $40 million in lost
power sales, and could hurt
transportation and barging on
the rivers, flood control and
irrigation systems, Republi-
cans contend.
But Democrats argue
studies of the dams, includ-
ing whether they should be
removed, must go forward.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty
Murray of Washington state
recently sent a letter to House
and Senate leadership saying
the river’s management must
include salmon recovery.
The letter criticized the
bill to prevent changes in dam
operations. It was signed by
Murray and Democratic U.S.
Reps. Adam Smith and Pra-
mila Jayapal of Washington.
“The Columbia and Snake
river system is essential to the
Pacific Northwest’s culture,
environment and economy,”
the letter said.
The four dams — Ice Har-
bor, Lower Monumental, Little
Goose and Lower Granite —
span the Snake River between
the Washington cities of Pasco
and Pullman. Together they
produce about 4 percent of the
region’s electricity.
Replacing that power
would require the equivalent
of two nuclear power plants,
Labrador said.
Environmental
groups
disagree.
A new study contends
other renewable sources could
replace the dams’ power for
a little more than $1 a month
for the average Northwest
household.
The study “explodes the
myth that we can’t have
both wild salmon and clean
energy,” said Joseph Bogaard,
director of the Save Our Wild
Salmon Coalition. “We can
remove these four deadly
dams, restore one of our
nation’s great salmon rivers
and improve the Northwest’s
energy system.”
But supporters of the dams
say wind and solar power are
Hammond man who was accused of
ramming boat during Buoy 10 dies
Criminal case
dismissed
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A Hammond man accused
of assault and reckless endan-
germent after a boat crash
during the Buoy 10 fishing
season last year has died, end-
ing the criminal case.
Marlin
Larsen
was
allegedly driving a fiberglass
31-foot Bayliner Trophy up
the Columbia River with
two other passengers when
it collided with an aluminum
20-foot Weldcraft. The three
passengers aboard the Weld-
craft leaped into the river sec-
onds before the collision.
The Weldcraft passen-
gers — Bryan Maess, Roni
Durham and Christopher
McMahon — were all pulled
from the river by nearby boat-
ers and treated at Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Asto-
ria for minor injuries. Footage
of the incident that severely
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office
A boat was severely damaged after a crash last year
during the Buoy 10 fishing season.
damaged the boat was shared
in January on Facebook by
Angling Oregon, a website
operated by McMahon.
Larsen was charged with
three counts of fourth-degree
assault, three counts of reck-
lessly endangering another
person and reckless operation
of a boat.
A death certificate, how-
ever, reveals Larsen, 75, died
in February at Mercy Medical
Center in Roseburg, where he
also owned property.
Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Cindee Matyas
ordered last week that the
criminal case be dismissed.
Each of the Weldcraft pas-
sengers, however, filed law-
suits against Larsen in con-
nection with the incident that
severely damaged the boat.
The lawsuits claim Larsen
was not paying attention to
the boat he was driving, caus-
ing lingering injuries to the
plaintiffs.
Following a motion filed
by McMahon’s lawyer, Cir-
cuit Court Judge Dawn McIn-
tosh ordered that the suit be
transferred to a representative
of Larsen’s estate, and a four-
day trial has been scheduled
for October. Maess has yet
to file a similar motion, but
a trial in that case is sched-
uled for the same time as
McMahon’s.
Durham filed his lawsuit
earlier this month against
Larsen’s estate. A trial date
has yet to be set in that case.
Watch a video
of the crash:
https://youtu.be/
agWmkZYu31Q
Perry promises to not sell off BPA
assets without congressional approval
By JADE McDOWELL
East Oregonian
Cheap electricity has helped
bring industrial development
to the Pacific Northwest, but
utility companies fear deci-
sions regarding the Bonneville
Power Administration will
increase rates.
Some good news came last
week, when Energy Secre-
tary Rick Perry told U.S. Rep.
Greg Walden that his depart-
ment will not move to sell off
the Bonneville Power Admin-
istration’s assets without going
through Congress.
The idea to privatize BPA,
which provides wholesale
power to electric utilities across
the Pacific Northwest, was pro-
posed by the Trump adminis-
tration last summer. It received
strong pushback from Oregon
lawmakers.
“It is the one idea — bad
idea — that unites all of us in
the Northwest,” Walden told
Perry, according to a video of
Thursday’s hearing before the
congressional subcommittee
on energy in Washington, D.C.
“I’m afraid this move could do
nothing but harm my constitu-
ents, drive up electricity costs,
and hurt consumers across the
region.”
The Republican asked
Perry if he could assure him the
Department of Energy “will
leave Bonneville alone unless
Congress provides explicit
authorization.”
“Yes, sir,” Perry replied.
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader,
D-Oregon, also spoke against
privatization of the BPA during
the hearing, noting that the
BPA takes no appropriations
from Congress, but rather
operates solely on the revenue
it earns from wholesale power
sales. He stated that the whole-
saler provides half the electric-
ity used in the Pacific North-
west and three-fourths of the
region’s high-voltage transmis-
sion grid.
“Selling off these transmis-
sion assets would fragment
the grid, be devastating to the
region and provide a meager
one-time asset that would not
have any long-term beneficial
effects with regard to our econ-
omy,” he told Perry.
The fate of Bonneville
Power Administration has
repercussions on local utili-
ties such as Umatilla Electric
Cooperative, which gets 85 to
90 percent of its power from
BPA.
Steve Meyers, a spokesman
for the cooperative, said in an
email that customer-owned
utilities in the region are con-
cerned about the consequences
of taking the system out of the
hands of those who best know
the system and the region’s
power challenges, and selling
it to companies focused more
on increasing profits.
“Further, there is concern
that the value of the BPA sys-
tem would transfer from the
people of the Northwest to the
U.S. Treasury,” he wrote. “Our
ratepayers have paid to build
and maintain the system, and
we don’t want to see it sold to
fund the federal government.”
Even without privatiza-
tion of the Bonneville Power
Administration, local utilities
— and, by extension, their cus-
tomers — will likely see rate
increases anyway based on a
recent ruling by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court ordered more
water to be spilled from dams
on the Columbia and Snake
rivers between April and June,
with the goal of helping more
fish — particularly salmon
— pass through the dams
unharmed. However, putting
more water through the spill-
ways diverts it from turbines
producing electricity.
In a statement earlier this
month, BPA said the order cre-
ated a “new multimillion dollar
obligation for the region’s rate-
payers.” The power retailer has
said it will likely make up the
difference by adding a “spill
surcharge” to the bills of the
utility companies that purchase
wholesale power through BPA.
Meyers said about 80 per-
cent the power the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative provides
its customers comes from
hydropower. The next largest
source is nuclear power, at 7.5
percent.
too unreliable to replace the
lost hydropower.
The Columbia-Snake river
system holds more than a
dozen imperiled salmon runs,
and the federal government
has spent more than $15 bil-
lion since 1978 on efforts to
save the fish.
But those efforts have
pushed wild salmon, orca and
other fish and wildlife pop-
ulations closer to extinction,
Bogaard said.
Removing the dams is the
only way to save the salmon
runs, conservation groups say.
“Salmon are in desperate
need of help now,” Earthjus-
tice attorney Todd True said.
Advocates for fishermen
also hailed the decision to
increase spill, saying it will
produce larger adult salmon
returns.
Proposals to remove the
four dams have percolated in
the Northwest for decades, and
have devolved into a largely
partisan issue with Democrats
generally on the side of the
fish and Republicans for keep-
ing the dams.
The latest skirmish began
in March 2017, when U.S.
District Judge Michael Simon
of Portland ordered the dams
to increase spill beginning this
spring. Federal agencies have
estimated increasing spill until
mid-June will cost electric
ratepayers $40 million in lost
power revenues in 2018 alone.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals rejected an appeal
of Simon’s order.
The dams operate under
a plan created by a collab-
oration of federal agencies,
states and tribes during the
Obama administration to pro-
tect salmon.
But Simon found it does
not do enough. He ruled a
new environmental study is
needed, and it must consider
the option of removing the
dams. Simon also wrote that
wild salmon were in a “precar-
ious” state.
That was disputed by Terry
Flores, executive director of
Northwest RiverPartners, a
group that includes farmers,
utilities, ports and businesses.
Flores contended spill-
ing so much water from the
dams injects high levels of
gas into the water, which can
kill fish. The churning water at
the dams also can prevent the
next generation of returning
salmon from accessing fish
ladders and keep them from
reaching spawning streams,
she said.
“It’s a bad plan that will
cost families and businesses,
do little to help, and may even
harm protected salmon, and
add tons of carbon to our air,”
Flores said of the spill. “We
shouldn’t throw good money
at a bad plan.”
County judge blocks
company’s attempt to
restock Atlantic salmon
Associated Press
SEATTLE — An Atlan-
tic salmon farming com-
pany cannot restock a net-
pen farm while it challenges
Washington state’s termina-
tion of its license to operate,
a judge has ruled.
The
Seattle
Times
reported that a Thurston
County Superior Court Judge
last week denied Cooke
Aquaculture’s request for a
preliminary injunction while
its lawsuit against the Depart-
ment of Natural Resources
plays out.
One of the company’s
pens collapsed last August
at its Cypress Island farm,
releasing more than 300,000
Atlantic salmon and caus-
ing widespread concern that
the fish could spread diseases
and compete with native fish.
In December, Public
Lands Commissioner Hil-
ary Franz ended the compa-
ny’s 10-year aquatic lands
lease, saying the Canadian
company had violated the
terms of the lease. The com-
pany filed a lawsuit in Janu-
ary contending it was not in
default of its net-pen lease
and there was no basis for
terminating its contract.
Judge John Skinder’s rul-
ing means the state won’t
have to allow the company to
restock the net-pens.
The company removed
the collapsed pen but has two
remaining pens at its Cypress
Island farm. The company
wants to restock with nearly
800,000 juvenile Atlantic
salmon.
Joel Richardson, vice
president for public relations
for Cooke, declined to com-
ment about the court ruling.
“Today’s decision is a win
for the people and waters of
Washington,” Franz said in
a statement. “I encourage
Cooke to drop this baseless
lawsuit and work with us to
safely and quickly wind up
its operations at this site.”
The company has also
sued over termination of
its net-pen leases at its Port
Angeles farm. The state is
allowing the company to
grow its existing stock of fish
at that site and harvest them
by June 2019, then remove
its operation there.
Washington lawmakers
last session passed legisla-
tion signed by Gov. Jay Ins-
lee that phases out Atlan-
tic salmon net-pen farming,
with no new leases allowed
after the current leases expire
in 2025.
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
2051 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside
The State of Oregon, through the Department
of Transportation, is offering for sale to the
public an unimproved 20,828 sq.ft. in Seaside
Oregon.
The property is zoned Commercial General
(CG) and Conservation Aquatic (A-2).
The property has been appraised at $230,000,
and is being sold through a Sealed Bid Auction
process. The State of Oregon will review any
reasonable offer, but has the right to accept
or reject any all offers. If you are interested
in purchasing this property, please fill out
and submit a Bid Form and Sales
Agreement, and submit with your
deposit (10% is recommended) by
the scheduled auction date of May
9th, 2018 at 3:30 pm. Bid Forms
and additional information may be
reviewed and downloaded here:
www.odotproperty.com
Your offer can be submitted by
surface mail or hand delivered.
No fax or electronic bids will be
accepted.
Mail or hand-deliver your bid to:
Oregon Department of Transportation
Right of Way Section – MS 2
Attn: Steve Eck, Senior Property Agent
4040 Fairview Industrial Dr. SE
Salem OR 97302-1142
503-986-3638
On your mail package, please make a note: Sealed Bid Offer / File: PM204A-002