A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2019
IN BRIEF
School construction
in Seaside underway
SEASIDE — With the fi nal day of school Thurs-
day at The Heights Elementary School, Hoffman
Construction began construction for upgrades and a
new gym at the elementary school.
The Heights will be shut down the entire summer
with no public access.
The school will be closed to staff except for crit-
ical access, Seaside School District Superintendent
Sheila Roley said during a site visit last week.
As part of the $100 million bond project approved
by voters in 2016, students from Gearhart Elemen-
tary School and Seaside Heights will merge in the
renovated and expanded building.
In addition, the school district is working with the
city for a new reservoir and pump station to provide
water for the school and nearby residents.
— The Astorian
Gray whale washes up at Sunset Beach
Hazen exonerated on all charges
SOUTH BEND, Wash. — Former Ilwaco waste-
water treatment plant manager Warren Hazen was
found not guilty of all charges on Wednesday after a
trial in Pacifi c County Superior Court.
Superior Court Judge J. Andrew Toynbee ruled
that Hazen is innocent of nine counts of “offering a
false instrument for fi ling or record” between Janu-
ary and September 2015. The charges stemmed from
allegations that Hazen falsifi ed records about opera-
tions at Ilwaco’s sewer treatment facility.
Hazen’s acquittal clears his name more than a year
and a half after charges were brought in November
2017.
The charges came after the state investigated alle-
gations of mismanagement at the plant.
— Chinook Observer
Chinook host fi rst salmon
ceremony at Fort Columbia
CHINOOK, Wash. – The Chinook Indian Nation
held its First Salmon Ceremony on Friday, carrying
on a longtime tradition of marking the return of the
salmon.
The Chinook Nation reconstructs practices and
mythology of the old ceremonies at the annual event,
which also brings in other tribes from the region.
After catching the year’s fi rst salmon from a
canoe off Fort Columbia State Park, they prepared
the salmon as Chinook chairman Tony Johnson
recounted legends and cosmology surrounding the
creature.
— Chinook Observer
Firefi ghters to train at Camp Rilea
The Northwest Oregon Wildland School, a yearly
training for fi refi ghters in Clatsop and Columbia
counties, will take place Saturday and Sunday at
Camp Rilea.
The training is designed to prepare for wildfi res,
as well as support other statewide emergencies.
Residents and visitors should expect to see plumes
of smoke coming from the National Guard training
facility in Warrenton, west of U.S. Highway 101 near
milepost 11.
— The Astorian
Tiff any Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
A spate of strandings
The Astorian
A 23-foot female gray
whale washed ashore on Fri-
day afternoon just south of
the Sunset Beach approach
near Warrenton, the Seaside
Aquarium reported.
The whale is the sixth
to wash ashore this year
in the r egion. All six have
been female. Four were
adults, one sub adult and one
yearling.
According to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration,
more
than 60 gray whales have
stranded on the coasts of
California, Oregon, Wash-
ington state and Alaska this
year, the most since 2000,
when more than 100 whales
stranded throughout the
year.
NOAA Fisheries has
declared an unusual mortal-
ity event . The Marine Mam-
mal Protection Act defi nes
an unusual mortality event
as strandings that are unex-
pected, involve a signifi cant
die-off and demand immedi-
ate response.
NOAA Fisheries also
declared an unusual mor-
tality event in 2000, but the
investigation did not identify
a specifi c cause.
The population of east-
ern North Pacifi c gray
whales has recovered from
the whaling era. The whales
were removed from the
endangered list in 1994.
The population remains pro-
tected under federal law act
and has grown considerably
in the last decade, now num-
bering about 27,000.
Washington state waterfront
owners asked to take dead whales
Associated Press
PORT
HADLOCK,
Wash. — At least one Wash-
ington state waterfront land-
owner has said “yes” to a
request to allow dead gray
whales to decompose on
their property.
So many gray whale
carcasses have washed up
this year that the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Fisheries
says it has run out of places
to take them.
In response, the agency
has asked landowners to
volunteer property as a dis-
posal site for the carcasses.
By doing so, landowners can
support the natural process
of the marine environment,
and skeletons left behind can
be used for educational pur-
poses, offi cials said.
But the carcasses can be
up to 40 feet long. That’s
a lot to decay, and it could
take months. Landowner
Mario Rivera, of Port Had-
lock, Washington, told
KING5-TV that the smell is
intermittent and “isn’t that
bad.”
“It is really a unique
opportunity to have this
here on the beach and mon-
itor it and see how fast it
goes,” said his wife, Stefanie
Worwag.
On the U.S. West coast,
more than 60 whales have
been found dead this year
along California, Oregon,
Washington and Alaska,
the most since 2000. About
fi ve were found on Brit-
ish Columbia beaches. Still,
that’s a small fraction of the
total number because most
sink or wash up in remote
areas and are unrecorded.
“With the unusual mor-
tality event of these gray
whales, we know more
whales will be coming in, or
there is a high likelihood that
more whales will die within
Puget Sound and out on the
coast,” said Betsy Carlson,
the citizen science coordi-
nator at the Port Townsend
Marine Science Center.
Lime is being used to help
break down the whale car-
cass on the beach near where
Rivera and Worwag live.
“The lime appears to be
working,” Rivera said. “It
is decomposing nicely. I
think.”
MEMORIAL
Saturday, June 22
PETERSEN, James Ernest — Gathering at noon,
pilot boat Peacock in front of the Columbia River Mar-
itime Museum, 1792 Marine Drive.
The Astorian
ON THE RECORD
DUII
• Oregon State Police arrested Jeana Okeson, 51, of
Seaside, on Sunday on U.S. Highway 101 near Rippet
Lane for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants and
reckless driving. Her blood alcohol content was 0.09%.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Port of Astoria Commis-
sion, 4 p.m., Port offi ces, 10
Pier 1 Suite 209.
Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District,
5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm
Community Center, 1225
Avenue A, Seaside.
Seaside School District
Board of Directors, 6 p.m.,
1801 S. Franklin.
Shoreline Sanitary District
Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart
Hertig Station, 33496 West
Lake Lane, Warrenton.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, 7 p.m., work session,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
WEDNESDAY
Seaside Tourism Advisory
Committee, 3 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY
Seaside Transportation
Advisory Commission,
6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broad-
way.
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DailyAstorian.com
Farmers market
begins in Warrenton
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Warrenton’s fi rst ever
farmers market launches
Thursday.
The market, billed as
a fi shermen and farmers
market, will be held every
Thursday this summer
from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the
Warrenton Marina, near
the offi ce on N.E. Harbor
Place.
Harbormaster
Jane
Sweet and marina staff fi rst
fl oated the idea of holding
the market during a City
Commission meeting in
May. Commissioners sup-
ported the proposal, though
Mayor Henry Balensifer
cautioned that the market’s
business model needs to be
self-sustaining so the city
is not losing money.
Marina staff consulted
with market organizers
in Clatsop C ounty to fi g-
ure out logistics and set-
tled on Thursdays so that
the Warrenton m arket does
not confl ict with any other
existing markets.
Marina staff have a
dozen vendors lined up.
They will be selling ket-
tle corn, shave ice, jewelry,
smoked salmon chowder,
fresh fl owers and a lot of
produce, Sweet said.
“Hopefully it will be
fun,” she said. “We’ve
never done it before so it’s
a learning experience for
us, too.”
“We’re starting off a lit-
tle slow but hopefully it
will pick up.”
Astoria Vacation Bible School
“SHIPWRECKED: Rescued by Jesus”
Monday – Thursday, June 24th – 28th
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
A cooperative effort of several downtown churches
Register at www.fpcastoria.org
Deadline to register online is June 14th
Registration in person will be allowed June 24th
Friday Beach party June 28th at 5:00 p.m.
Kalama methanol refi nery
can’t export for fuel
By MOLLY SOLOMON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Port of Kalama commis-
sioners unanimously passed a
lease amendment with a con-
troversial methanol facility
Wednesday night that prohib-
its the company from export-
ing its product for fuel.
The commissioners voted
3-0 to approve new contract
language with NW Innova-
tion Works .
Port offi cials said the
changes ensure the methanol
from southwest Washington
state will only go toward mak-
ing plastics and other materi-
als. At Wednesday’s meeting,
port spokesperson Liz New-
man told commissioners the
amendment “affi rms what
has always been the intent of
this project.” She said the port
was doing its due diligence in
response to concerns raised
about the use of the methanol
earlier this year.
In April, Oregon Public
Broadcasting fi rst reported
that NW Innovation Works
had shown a series of slide-
shows to court possible
investors in the project. Pow-
erPoint presentations leaked
to OPB emphasized a grow-
ing market for methanol as
a transportation fuel, rather
than for plastic.
“It’s a desperate attempt
to get around a huge mess
they’ve created for them-
selves by misleading regula-
tors for about fi ve years,” said
Dan Serres, with Columbia
Riverkeeper, an environmen-
tal group that’s challenging
the company’s claim the plant
would reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. “I think it’s
hard to imagine anyone tak-
ing this seriously when they
got caught red-handed pro-
moting this project as a fuel
and energy depot to potential
investors.”
NW Innovation Works
said the slides were for educa-
tional purposes and maintains
their methanol product is still
on a pathway toward materi-
als. The company’s general
counsel, Kent Caputo, said
they worked closely with the
Port of Kalama on the amend-
ment to “minimize any sense
of confusion” on the use of
the methanol
“We have to live up to
our word and we intend to,”
Caputo said. “And what
the port’s come up with, we
think, is a powerful, solid tool
toward that end.”
The $1.8 billion refi nery
would convert natural gas
into methanol, which NW
Innovation Works says would
be shipped to Asia for plastics
and other materials. The com-
pany fi rst signed a dock usage
agreement in April 2014 to
lease approximately 90 acres
at the north end of the Port of
Kalama.
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500