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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2019)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2019 IN BRIEF Coastal hazard in effect for North Coast A coastal hazard message is in effect for the North Coast through Sunday afternoon. There is an increased risk of being caught in a sneaker wave, which can suddenly knock people off their feet and pull them into the ocean. Offi cials advise people to keep children and pets away from the surf and to stay off of jetties, rocks and logs near the surf. If you see someone swept out to sea, do not swim after them. Authorities say to call 911 and keep an eye on them until emergency crews arrive. Crash closes Highway 101 Water everywhere Both lanes of U.S. Highway 101 near Glenwood Village in Warrenton were closed for about two hours Thursday afternoon due to a fi ve-vehicle crash. The crash occurred after a northbound driver crossed into the southbound lane, striking two vehi- cles. One of the vehicles then crashed into another northbound vehicle. A vehicle trying to avoid the crash drove off the highway and onto the embankment. Police say nine people were taken to three differ- ent hospitals, including a Portland-area hospital, with injuries. A citation was issued to one driver for care- less driving. ABOVE: Heavy rain this month caused fl ooding in Naselle. LEFT: The storm was tough on people and elk, like this herd near Rosburg. State Rep. Mitchell hosts listening session in Astoria State Rep. Tiffi ny Mitchell, D-Astoria, will hold a listening session from 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 6 at Three Cups Coffee House in Astoria. The coffeehouse is located at 279 W. Marine Drive. Mitchell will also hold two listening sessions Jan. 5, from 10 a.m. to noon at Tillamook Bay Community Col- lege, and from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Banks Public Library. — The Astorian Efforts underway to produce Mount St. Helens license plates VANCOUVER, Wash. — Tired of seeing Mount Rainier on the vehicle in front of you? The Columbian reports that Clark County residents may soon be able to buy license plates featuring a mountain closer to home. The Mount St. Helens Institute is working with state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, to get legislative approval next year for a Mount St. Helens license plate that would raise money for the nonprofi t institute. The effort is timely with the upcoming 40th anniversary of the volcano’s cataclysmic eruption on May 18, 1980. “Portland has Hood, Seattle has Rainier,” said Ray Yurkewycz, executive director of the Mount St. Helens Institute. “Southwest Washington has Mount St. Helens.” The institute has launched an online petition drive, with the goal of collecting 4,000 signatures by the time the 2020 Legislature convenes Jan. 13. Don Clark, of Invisible Creature in Maple Valley, designed the license plate for free, Yurkewycz said. — Associated Press DEATHS Dec. 25, 2019 HOUK, Paul War- ren, 78, of Knappa, died in Knappa. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. LONG, Thomas V., 81, of Astoria, Oregon, died in Astoria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Dec. 24, 2019 OJA, Robert M., 89, of Astoria, died in Asto- ria. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. ON THE RECORD Theft • Hannah L. Havranek, 28, was arrested Tuesday at Fred Meyer in Warren- ton for theft in the second degree and criminal tres- pass in the fi rst degree. DUII • Nicholas Clark Golden, 39, of Warren- ton, was arrested Friday on Basin Street in Asto- ria for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants. His blood alcohol content was 0.16%. • Dylan Rabell, 25, of Warrenton, was arrested Thursday on Lexington Avenue and Fourth Street in Astoria for DUII, driv- ing while suspended, driving uninsured and failure to install an igni- tion interlock device. His blood alcohol content was 0.16%. • Jeffrey Warren Childs, 44, of Portland, was arrested Thursday in the parking lot of Mini Mart West in Astoria for DUII. • Scott Douglas Smith, 49, of Oregon City, was arrested Wednesday on Sunset Beach Lane for DUII and reckless driving. PUBLIC MEETINGS THURSDAY Astoria Design Review Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 7 p.m., work session, City Hall, 989 Broadway. Photos by Nick Nikkila/ Chinook Observer Dams focus of federal court ruling Hope is to boost salmon By MALLORY GRUBEN The Daily News A federal court ruling last week mandating a salmon protection plan related to warm river temperatures caused by dams could impact ongoing salmon recovery efforts on the Columbia and Snake r ivers . And on the same day as the ruling, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released a stake- holder report summarizing comments in support and against removing four l ower Snake River dams to boost salmon populations and help feed orca. Columbia Riverkeeper, an environmental group that has historically has sup- ported dam removal, praised the federal court ruling as “a victory,” saying it forces the U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency to do its job to protect rivers — and the endangered salmon that live in them — from dangerously hot water. “The Clean Water Act bans the Columbia River temperatures over 68 degrees Fahrenheit. ... But the govern- ment agencies in charge of the Columbia and Snake river dams aren’t obeying the law,” Columbia Riverkeeper wrote in a press release. “Today’s ruling establishes that EPA is legally obligated to write a plan to bring the rivers’ tem- perature back in line with the needs of salmon — and the requirements of the Clean Water Act.” Columbia Riverkeeper and several other salmon interest groups sued the EPA in February 2017, alleg- ing that the agency “failed to undertake its mandatory duty” to create a plan to man- age temperature pollution in the river. The Dec. 20 rul- ing upholds a lower court’s decision to require the EPA to submit a “long overdue” Center for Whale Research Warmer river water is harmful to salmon. plan. High temperatures The suit was spurred by several years of record-high river water temperatures, including a 2015 incident when 250,000 adult sockeye salmon died due to hot river temperatures, according to Columbia Riverkeeper . Water temperatures warmer than 68 degrees Fahr- enheit are “particularly dan- gerous” for salmon and trout because it makes it more diffi cult for fi sh to migrate upstream to spawn and increases the chance fi sh will die of disease, according to court documents. Dams are a primary cause for warm river waters, according to court documents. A panel of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2018 decision that the EPA was obligated to cre- ate its own management plan for water temperature on the Columbia and Snake rivers after Washington state and Oregon didn’t submit plans for approval, according to court documents. “The time has come — the EPA must do so now,” the panel wrote in its ruling . The decision moves for- ward a yearslong effort to improve salmon recovery rates on the Columbia and Snake rivers. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 13 populations of salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Many conservation groups point to dams as a reason for the salmon’s decline because they create still, warm pools of water along the river that exhaust young salmon on their way to the ocean and increase their chance of dying. And recently state offi cials linked the dams to the declining pop- ulation of s outhern r esident orcas, which live part of the year in Puget Sound and pri- marily rely on healthy and plentiful salmon for food. Decades of debate State legislators provided $750,000 in the 2019-2021 budget for Gov. Inslee’s orca task force to conduct a stake- holder engagement study about what various state river users think about proposals to remove the four l ower Snake River dams. Inslee released the fi rst draft of that study this month . Although the report does not offer any recommenda- tions on how to help salmon and orca populations, it pro- vides insights from tribal lead- ers, industry offi cials, conser- vationists, farmers and other river stakeholders about what the consequences of dam removal would be. The 115-page document summarizes interviews with almost 100 agency leaders and online survey responses from more than 3,500 Washington state residents. It also reviews previous reports and studies. Conservationists, though, say dam breaching is the only action that hasn’t been tried to help salmon and orca, accord- ing to the report. Any energy or transportation benefi ts lost in dam breaching could be replaced by investments into alternative options, like wind and solar power or rail lines. Inslee will use the stake- holder study to inform his perspective on the dams and determine if and how to par- ticipate in ongoing federal environmental evaluations of the Columbia and Snake r iv- ers’ system, according to a press release. “Debate over the dams has gone on for several decades and the issues are complex. Despite some recent improve- ments in collaboration, many of the participants remain wary of the cycle of study, lawsuits and court decisions,” the report says. “There is both hope and despair about what comes next and the potential for progress.” The Pacifi c Northwest Waterways Association — a regional group of ports, busi- nesses and agencies that’s long supported the dams’ eco- nomic, transportation and energy benefi ts — criticized Inslee’s study for duplicat- ing an environmental impact statement already underway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies. That draft statement is set to be released in February , and it will include evaluations for how different long-term oper- ating plans could affect the environment, fl ood risk, irri- gation, power generation, nav- igation, fi sh and wildlife, cul- tural resources and recreation on the river. Kristin Meira, the execu- tive director of the waterways association, said in a state- ment that the taxpayer money used for Inslee’s report could have “gone toward activities that directly benefi t salmon and orcas.” “While we appreciate the diligence of the consultants leading this process in reach- ing out to PNWA members and other stakeholders, the product that was commis- sioned by the s tate is essen- tially a status report of river operations followed by a sur- vey of opinions — not sci- ence-based salmon recovery.” Offi ces around region close for New Year’s Day Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 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 Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 DailyAstorian.com Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR The Astorian ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Astorian become the property of The Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. In observance of New Year’s Day on Wednesday, all federal, state, county and city offi ces and services, including Astoria, Warren- ton, Gearhart, Seaside and Cannon Beach city halls, are closed. All U.S. post offi ces are closed, and there is no COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2019 by The Astorian. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. 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Astoria, Jewell, Knappa, Warrenton/Hammond and Seaside (including Cannon Beach and Gearhart) school district schools, and Clat- sop Community College, are closed for winter break. The Astoria Library, Sea- side Library and Warrenton Library are closed. WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 The Port of Astoria administrative offi ces are closed. Garbage collection through Recology West- ern Oregon and the city of Warrenton garbage collec- tion are not affected by the holiday. Recology West- ern Oregon’s Astoria Trans- fer Station closes at 2 p.m. Tuesday, and is closed Wednesday. The Sunset Pool in Sea- side is closed Tuesday, and open Wednesday. The Asto- ria Aquatic Center is open Wednesday. The Clatsop County Her- itage Museum, Oregon Film Museum and Flavel House and Carriage House are closed Wednesday. The Uppertown Firefi ghters’ Museum is closed for the winter. Lil’ Sprouts is closed Wednesday. Fort Clatsop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the Columbia River Mari- time Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and the Seaside Museum is closed. Sunset Empire Transpor- tation (“The Bus”) is not running Wednesday. The Astorian offi ces are closed Wednesday .
