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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2019
Engineers stress that Oregon’s Legislature OKs
infrastructure is falling apart environmental
Risks heightened
by quake threat
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s
pipes, roads, bridges and other
structures for moving around
the state and to get power and
water need signifi cant work,
civil engineers say .
Much of the infrastructure
is deteriorating with age, and
the state must do more to pre-
pare for a potentially major
earthquake, according to the
Oregon chapter of the Ameri-
can Society of Civil Engineers.
A group of 28 experts from
the society pored over data on
10 types of structures from
roads to dams, unveiling their
fi ndings at the state Capitol
Wednesday, in their second
such report. The fi rst was done
in 2010.
They graded all of the areas
C for “mediocre” or D for
“poor” and “at risk.”
Some of those structures,
like pipes, aren’t visible.
But what they provide —
like clean drinking water —
is essential to the state’s econ-
omy and quality of life .
Nationally, each family
loses an average of $3,400 per
year in disposable income due
to poorly functioning infra-
structure, said Greg DiLoreto,
former CEO of the Tuala-
tin Valley Water District and
chairman of a national com-
mittee within the Ameri-
can Society of Civil Engi-
neers focused on the country’s
infrastructure.
“That’s money they could
be saving for retirement, vaca-
tions, college educations,”
DiLoreto said.
Oregon has better infra-
structure than the country
overall, but not by much.
Older, less reliable
Engineers found that in
particular trouble are the
state’s wastewater systems,
dams, levees and the energy
grid, including the systems
that transmit and distribute
electricity and oil.
The engineers say the
state’s bridges, drinking
water systems, inland water-
ways, ports, rail and roads are
middling.
In most cases, the struc-
tures that support each of these
systems are getting older and
less reliable.
The engineers also warn
that the state needs to do more
to prepare for the Cascadia
Subduction Zone earthquake,
which could be severe enough
to damage power lines, nat-
ural gas and oil lines, roads,
bridges, water and sewer sys-
tems and communications.
“We need strong leader-
ship, extensive planning and
robust funding to prepare our
infrastructure for being resil-
ient,” said Mark Libby, chair
of the committee that pre-
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Several bridges and roads in Seaside have been deemed
potentially problematic in an earthquake and tsunami.
pared the Oregon report. “It’s
important to remember that
every dollar spent toward
building more resilient infra-
structure saves at least $6
afterwards.”
According to the state’s
Department of Geology and
Mineral Industries, there is a
roughly 10% to 14% chance
of a 9.0 magnitude Cascadia
quake in the next 50 years.
Two years ago, lawmak-
ers increased taxes and fees to
improve the state’s transporta-
tion system.
Engineers said that’s a
step in the right direction, but
urged legislators to provide
more money for a state pro-
gram called Connect Oregon,
which distributes state money
for air, rail, water and bicycle
and pedestrian transportation
infrastructure projects.
Matt Garrett, the director
of the Oregon Department of
Transportation , acknowledged
during a press conference on
the report that “we can do
better.”
“It’s clear our work to
enhance the condition and the
resiliency of our infrastructure
system is nowhere near com-
plete,” he said.
In their review, the engi-
neers found that levees, waste-
water systems, dams and
energy transmission systems
are in poor condition.
Oregon has nearly 900
dams, the majority regu-
lated by the state. In the next
fi ve years, 70% of them will
be more than 50 years old,
and they’re not ready for an
earthquake.
Gov. Kate Brown has
requested House Bill 2085,
which would update the state’s
dam safety regulations. When
a dam fails — as dams have 39
times in Oregon since 1897,
according to engineers’ tes-
timony— that poses a risk to
roads, bridges, property and
life.
A Cascadia earthquake
could also damage the physi-
cal structures that transmit and
store oil, which in some cases
are 50 to 100 years old, and
which most Oregonians still
rely on as fuel for cars.
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers estimates that about
100,000 Oregonians live or
work behind levees, which
protect them from fl oods.
But 30% of the levees that
the Army Corps of Engineers
inspects are rated “unaccept-
able” and 11% are minimally
inspected. The condition of
the rest of them is unknown,
a mystery the engineers fi nd
unnerving.
“We need to do more to
understand the condition of
the remaining levees,” Libby
said.
Oregon’s wastewater sys-
tems received a failing grade.
About $5 billion in replace-
ment and repairs is needed,
and it’s yet another area where
population growth, aging
materials and a possible earth-
quake pose red fl ags.
That cost could fall in part
to consumers. The average
customer pays less than one
penny per gallon of wastewa-
ter treated, Libby said.
“This clearly is not enough
to support the modernization
and upgrades needed,” Libby
said.
Aging bridges
The state’s bridges are
also aging, and although the
2017 transportation funding
bolstered bridge repair, the
state would need three times
the amount of money to ade-
quately update the state’s
8,000 bridges and culverts.
Libby, who on Wednesday
was wearing a tie emblazoned
with the Golden Gate Bridge,
said the state should particu-
larly focus on bridges, which
are “critical lifelines,” espe-
cially in a natural disaster.
“We need to shift to a more
aggressive replacement pro-
gram versus the maintenance
and repair that we’ve been
doing,” Libby said.
That would mean, he said,
replacing nearly 100 per year,
many times over what the state
replaces annually now.
As Oregon’s population
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grows, the state needs to make
sure the drinking water system
can treat and distribute enough
water to all those people, the
society said.
About 80 percent of Ore-
gonians get their drinking
water from public systems,
Libby said. Century-old cast
iron pipes and the possible
Cascadia earthquake also pose
risks to the system.
Engineers also looked at
the state’s inland waterways
— rivers that are used to help
move agricultural products
and other goods.
Jetties, locks and pile dikes
along the Columbia River and
Willamette River need repair
or upgrades.
Businesses are turning
to larger ships, which on the
Columbia River don’t have
enough turning basins, anchor-
ages and stern buoys.
Oregon has 23 public
ports, essentially way stations
for goods coming through
the state. The condition of the
state’s ports varies, but main-
taining them is also challenge.
State and federal funding for
ports has declined, and the
engineers say that Congress
should protect a special fed-
eral trust fund for harbor main-
tenance, which lawmakers on
Capitol Hill have moved to
offset other areas of the federal
budget.
Oregon trains, meanwhile,
are in decent condition. Trains
moved nearly 65 million tons
of goods, including wood and
paper products, farm products
and chemicals, on about 2,800
miles of tracks in the state in
2017.
Oregon’s 74,000 miles of
roads are in fair shape, but
could face more wear and tear
from signifi cant population
growth and the possible Cas-
cadia earthquake.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group,
Pamplin Media Group and
Salem Reporter.
‘rollback’ bill
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Critics and proponents
agree that recently passed
legislation intended to
shield Oregon from federal
“rollbacks” of environmen-
tal regulations is meant to
send a message.
While supporters claim
House Bill 2250 signi-
fi es the state government’s
stand against weakening
protections for air, soil and
water at the federal level,
opponents argue it amounts
to an expensive but empty
political stunt.
The bill was approved
by the state Senate 16-12
on Tuesday after passing
the House two months ear-
lier. State Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose, voted
against the bill.
It’s all but assured of
being signed into law by
Gov. Kate Brown, who
requested the legislation’s
introduction.
Under House Bill 2250,
the Oregon Health Author-
ity and Department of
Environmental Quality can
take or recommend actions
to ensure “signifi cantly less
protective” federal envi-
ronmental standards don’t
undermine protections at
the state level.
The status of federal reg-
ulations on Jan. 19, 2017
— the day before President
Donald Trump took offi ce
— will serve as the base-
line for comparison.
State Sen. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario,
complained
that HB 2250 basically
enshrines federal regula-
tions before change in polit-
ical administrations rather
than at a high point in envi-
ronmental safeguards.
“Why should we do
such a thing? Frankly, I
kind of enjoy having a state
make its rules, not the fed-
eral government,” he said
during the fl oor debate. “I
don’t want to be assum-
ing that as of that partic-
ular date everything was
great, but that is what this
bill does.”
Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland,
acknowl-
edged the date was “not
accidental.”
“It coincides with the
beginning of a process of
rollbacks to what was con-
sidered the scientifi c con-
sensus of rigor that began
at that time and that is con-
tinuing, frankly,” he said.
Critics of HB 2250 also
argued the bill will leave
Oregon agencies exposed to
lawsuits from environmen-
talists who don’t believe
revisions to state regula-
tions suffi ciently compen-
sate for the reduced protec-
tions of federal standards.
State agencies already
struggle to keep up with
their existing duties and
HB 2250 will only add to
that burden by requiring
them to monitor federal
regulations, according to
opponents.
Another question raised
about the bill was its uncer-
tain effect on applications
for environmental permits
from the state government
that are partly based on fed-
eral standards.
Dembrow said this was
a “fair question” that wasn’t
considered during hearings
on the bill, prompting Sen.
Brian Boquist, R-Dallas,
to request that HB 2250 be
sent back to the committee
level for reconsideration.
The Senate rejected
that motion 11-16 and then
voted in favor of the bill,
largely on party lines.
To Our Wonderful Customers
It is with heartfelt sadness that we are
closing our doors on May 27, 2019. We
have enjoyed the past 15 years with
you and want to thank you for your
support, kindness and friendship. We
truly appreciate and value the time we
have shared together with you and your
families.
To thank you for your patronage we will
be having a special 1/2 price Appreciation
Day on Tues, May 21st for all of our
customers. In addition, in honor of our
beloved manager, Brad Campbell, who
unexpectedly passed in Sept. 2018, ALL
proceedes for the May 21st Appreciation
Day, will be donated to the Bradley K.
Campbell Memorial Fund at Warrenton
High School, to support students who
need financial help in order to play sports.
We hope you will continue to enjoy
our food, service and friendship at the
Dooger’s Seaside location.
Sincerely,
All of the Warrenton Staff
and the Wiese family