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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2019
Researchers study microplastics in
Pacifi c Northwest marine mammals
Public unions abandon Oregon
Democrats over pension reform
By TOM BANSE
Northwest News Network
By TED SICKINGER
The Oregonian
It was a dark and slippery
early morning on the Ore-
gon Coast when researchers
scrambled down the rocky
shore in the small town of
Yachats.
They kept one eye on
the crashing waves while
scanning for two species of
Pacifi c Northwest sea life
that are now being checked
for microplastics — fi bers
and fragments less than 5
millimeters long. A very low
tide on Saturday accounted
for the pre-dawn alarm to
collect mussels and whelks
that prey on the mussels.
“Mussels are fi lter feed-
ers,” said Andrew Williams,
a student on the Oregon State
University research team.
“They’ll eat whatever is
coming by in the water. That
includes microplastics.”
The mussel bed where
Williams collected samples
looked healthy. But most of
the bivalves he has analyzed
so far have ingested some
plastic.
“We can use these as basi-
cally health indicators for our
coastal systems,” Williams
said.
Williams’ project is
among many investigations
underway of microplastics
in Pacifi c Northwest waters.
This has become a hot topic
for local scientists, for simi-
lar reasons city and state pol-
icymakers and activists are
debating plastic bag bans and
how to reduce plastic straw
and bottled water usage.
All are concerned that the
world’s oceans are awash in
plastic trash and fi bers.
Scientists from Oregon,
Washington state and British
Columbia are scrutinizing
the marine food chain from
top to bottom, from zoo-
plankton to killer whales. Sea
otters, river otters, oysters,
various clams, rockfi sh and
young salmon are also being
analyzed for microplastics.
Oregon State master’s
Two of Oregon’s larg-
est public employee
unions are drawing the
line when it comes to Ore-
gon’s public pension sys-
tem, saying they won’t
endorse, campaign for or
donate to candidates who
supported a reform bill
that was signed into law
in June.
The board of the Amer-
ican Federation of State,
County and Municipal
Employees voted unan-
imously last weekend to
disqualify Oregon legis-
lators who voted for Sen-
ate Bill 1049 from the
union’s 2020 endorsement
process.
The Oregon AFL-CIO
passed similar resolution
at a meeting in September.
Senate Bill 1049 made
a variety of tweaks to rein
in rapidly escalating costs
of the Public Employees
Retirement System. The
most signifi cant was to
extend repayment of the
system’s $26 billion defi -
cit for eight years. That
move accounted for about
three quarters of the $1.2
billion to $1.8 billion in
savings the legislation is
expected to generate per
two-year budget cycle
beginning with the 2021-
23 biennium.
That’s not great for
PERS members, as the
fi nancial strategy further
erodes funding for the
pension system they rely
on. But that’s not what
attracted the unions’ ire.
The cause of the show-
down was the bill’s con-
troversial
employee
cost-sharing provisions,
which redirect a portion
of the retirement contribu-
tions employees currently
make to a supplemental
401(k)-like savings plan.
Instead, some of those
contributions — 2.5% of
pay for employees hired
Photos by Tom Banse/Northwest News Network
Oregon State University researchers Andrew Williams, from
left, Katherine Lasdin and Susanne Brander collected mussels
and whelks in Yachats.
Microplastic fi bers, like this
one from an Oregon river,
are less than 5mm and often
show up in vivid color under
the microscope.
student Katherine Lasdin
and her advisor suited up like
surgeons on Saturday before
tackling the messy, pungent
task of slicing the gastroin-
testinal tract out of a donated
rockfi sh at the Port of New-
port. They have convinced a
charter fi shing company and
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife to donate
rockfi sh carcasses that would
be otherwise discarded.
“It’s incredible that we
have so many different spe-
cies being worked on,” said
Lasdin. “One of the unique
things is that the ocean is
not just one thing. You have
to look at different species
because intertidal organisms
could feed other species that
could eventually feed a fi sh
or a whale. So it’s all linked
together.”
Researchers from the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration work-
ing on the critically-endan-
gered killer whales and an
Oregon State team looking
at otters rely on poop sam-
ples to study their subjects.
Marine mammal poop is dif-
fi cult to discern and collect
in the wild. The otter project
has evolved to include some
samples from wild critters
scooped up from haul outs on
land as well as samples from
captive sea and river otters at
the Seattle Aquarium.
Many samples funnel
through a lab on the OSU
Corvallis campus supervised
by toxicologist Susanne
Brander.
There the fi sh and bivalve
tissues get dissolved in
a solution similar to lye.
Among the leftovers are bits
of suspected plastics. These
are usually so microscopic
it’s challenging to prove a
fragment used to be a plas-
tic straw or a grocery bag.
Brander actually expects the
most common fi nds to be
fi bers from synthetic ropes,
nets and especially clothing.
“If you wash your fl eece
or your nylon jacket, there
are small amounts of fi bers
that come off each time you
wash it,” Brander explained.
“A lot of that is getting out
into freshwater, into the
ocean and then that is easily
accumulated by animals.”
before Aug. 28, 2003, and
0.75% for employees hired
after — would go into an
account that would support
pension benefi ts.
In effect, that will reduce
the ending balances in
employees’
supplemental
retirement accounts, trim-
ming a 30-year employ-
ee’s overall retirement bene-
fi ts by 1% to 2% of pay. The
contributions won’t apply to
employees making less than
$30,000 a year, and the redi-
rection would cease if the
pension system’s funded sta-
tus reaches at least 90% .
The bill also placed a new
$195,000 limit on the sal-
ary that can be used in PERS
retirement formulas, though
that’s not expected to impact
many employees initially,
and the limit is indexed for
infl ation.
For employees, the legisla-
tion was among the less oner-
ous proposals on the table.
But unions called the benefi t
cuts unfair, unbalanced and a
breach of trust with employ-
ees who they say are already
underpaid. Union leaders
vowed to get the money back
for members at the bargain-
ing table. And there’s already
some evidence they’ve been
successful at that, includ-
ing a new contract for state
workers that will provide pay
increases of up to 15% during
the next two years.
In the meantime, the PERS
Coalition of public employees
has already fi led a lawsuit to
overturn the changes, which
it calls an unconstitutional
breach of the state’s contract
with employees. Now unions
are looking to step up the
pressure even further.
Both AFSCME and the
AFL-CIO are signifi cant
players in Oregon elections
through endorsements, their
members’ campaign work on
behalf of candidates and their
campaign contributions. In
2018, AFSCME made more
than $1.6 million in cash and
in-kind contributions, primar-
ily to support Democratic
candidates and causes across
the state. The AFL-CIO made
more than $700,000 in cash
and in-kind contributions
during the same period.
AFSCME, which rep-
resents more than 26,000 pub-
lic sector employees in Ore-
gon, also said this week that it
will not contribute to leader-
ship political action commit-
tees, which in turn, fund indi-
vidual candidates.
“Legislators that voted for
SB 1049 devalued the work
we do on behalf of the people
of Oregon,” said Jeff Klatke,
president of the union in Ore-
gon. “Legislators that voted
‘yes’ turned around and told
our members they were paid
too much and the work they
do is worthless. AFSCME
members support those
elected offi cials that support
them and the work that they
do.”
The AFL-CIO’s leaders
expressed similar sentiments
this summer.
“It’s clear to me that the
Democratic
supermajori-
ties and the governor thought
that workers would con-
tinue to support those who
attacked their retirement and
then failed to pass other key
pro-worker priorities,” said
AFL-CIO President Graham
Trainor at the time. “Work-
ers aren’t stupid, they know
when a boss is taking their
paycheck and they know
which lawmakers stand with
them … It’s going to take
a stronger commitment for
those elected leaders to gain
the Oregon labor movement’s
trust back.”
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OCTOBER 19TH, 2019
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The 37th Annual Clatsop Distributing
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Gross - Christian Thorne score of 69
James Folk score of 69
Joe Schulte score of 69
Net winner- Fa’alaeo Poyer 64
The tournament contributes to youth
athletics in Clatsop and Pacific County.
The total money raised was $6000.00.
Special thanks to Hayward Ocean Crest
Chevrolet and Lewis & Clark Bank for
sponsoring the Hole in One. Special thanks
to John Kawasoe, Jared Klope and the
staff at the Astoria Golf and County Club.
CL AT S O
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