A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
MARCH TO WIN
IN BRIEF
Kelso man dies after getting stuck in
the snow near Nicolai Mainline
A Kelso, Washington, man died of hypothermia after
getting stuck in the snow while riding his side-by-side
in the Nicolai Mainline area east of Astoria.
Wayne Bittner called the Clatsop County Sheriff’s
Offi ce on Friday night to report that he was stuck in the
snow, authorities said. Due to poor cellphone coverage,
communication was brief and deputies were unable to
get his name, location or vehicle description. Deputies
searched the area, but were unable to locate Bittner.
After continuing to search Saturday morning, dep-
uties found Bittner’s side-by-side off an off-road vehi-
cle riding trail on Nicolai Mainline. Shortly after, they
located Bittner’s body.
Deputies said snow in the area was up to 18 inches
deep, which made the driving and searching conditions
treacherous.
“This is a very sad and unfortunate outcome,” the
sheriff’s offi ce said in a statement. “The sheriff’s offi ce
would like to remind anyone going to play in the snow
to make sure they are dressed for the weather and have
emergency supplies with them.
“Also let a family member or loved one know where
you will be going and if possible take someone with you.”
Man briefl y escapes from
prison work crew in Salem
A man who drove his truck into the Columbia River
in Astoria in 2018 walked away from a prison work
crew in Salem on Friday afternoon but was captured
within a few hours.
The crew was working near Pringle Park in Salem
when staff noticed Timofey Erofeeff was missing
around 12:15 p.m.
Authorities said he was arrested at about 2:30 p.m.
in Salem.
Erofeeff, 29, was taken into custody in 2018 on two
counts of burglary in the fi rst degree out of Clackamas
County, one count of attempted burglary in the fi rst degree
and one count of eluding police out of Clatsop County.
His earliest release date from the Mill Creek Correc-
tional Facility in Salem is January 2, 2021.
Peterson sworn in as judge
Beau Peterson was sworn in Friday afternoon as a
Clatsop County Circuit Court judge.
Gov. Kate Brown appointed Peterson, a senior dep-
uty district attorney, in December to replace Paula
Brownhill, who retired after 25 years on the bench.
— The Astorian
DEATH
Jan. 17, 2020
In HORTON,
Brief
Lynn Alice, 79, of Astoria, died in Port-
land. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is
in charge of the arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Saturday, Jan. 25
McCARTHY, William H. “Bill” — Funeral Mass
at 1 p.m., Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, 120
Ocean Way in Seaside.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
• William Strozier, 41,
of Seaside, was arrested
Saturday on Second Ave-
nue and N. Roosevelt
Drive in Seaside for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants and driving
without a license.
• Christopher Peter-
son, 34, of St. Helens,
was arrested Sunday on S.
Roosevelt Drive and Ave-
nue A in Seaside for DUII.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Union Health District of Clatsop County Board, 8 a.m.,
Providence Seaside Hospital, Education Center, Room B,
725 S. Wahanna Road, Seaside.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of
Directors, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center,
1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Hertig
Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton.
Seaside School District Board of Directors, 7 p.m., 1801
S. Franklin.
Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., work session, 989
Broadway.
WEDNESDAY
Astoria Parks Board, 6:45 a.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 6 p.m., Judge
Guy Boyington Building, 857 Commercial, Astoria.
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
Astoria Transit Center Conference Room, 900 Marine Drive.
Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce Council, noon,
818 Commercial Street, Suite 203, Astoria.
Astoria City Council, 1 p.m., work session, City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
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Indivisible North Coast Oregon
Indivisible North Coast Oregon organized the March to Win in Astoria on Saturday afternoon. The event was part of women’s
marches across the country.
Democrats make climate bill a priority
Senate Republicans
could walk out
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown and the state House
speaker, both Democrats,
said Friday that passing leg-
islation aimed at stemming
global warming is their prior-
ity when lawmakers return to
the Capitol next month.
But Rep. Christine Dra-
zan, the leader of the
minority Republicans in the
House, said she opposes the
so-called cap-and-trade bill
that was unveiled last week.
The 35-day session of the
2020 Legislature begins on
Feb. 3.
“The only thing that cap
and trade guarantees is that
prices for individual Orego-
nians will go up, their daily
cost of living is going to go
up under this proposal,” Dra-
zan said.
Their comments at an
Associated Press forum in the
Capitol on Friday foreshad-
owed a fi ght over the same
issue that in the 2019 legisla-
tive session triggered a walk-
out by Republican senators.
The new bill largely
authored by Senate Dem-
ocrats includes changes
designed to assuage critics in
the manufacturing and util-
ity sectors, and create fewer
impacts for rural Oregon, but
maintains a commitment to
reduce greenhouse gases by
certain percentages below
1990 levels.
The new bill splits the
state into three geographic
zones that would be phased
in separately for rules that
would likely increase gas and
diesel prices, with Portland
being affected fi rst, then other
large urban areas, and fi nally
rural regions. That approach
is designed to address con-
cerns that last year’s failed
measure would have dispro-
portionately affected rural
communities where distances
between homes and towns
are great, with residents hav-
ing little option but to drive.
But Drazan said it was an
insuffi cient fi x.
“The people who cannot
Andrew Selsky/AP Photo
Gov. Kate Brown speaks to journalists on Friday in Salem.
‘THE ONLY THING THAT CAP
AND TRADE GUARANTEES IS
THAT PRICES FOR INDIVIDUAL
OREGONIANS WILL GO UP,
THEIR DAILY COST OF LIVING
IS GOING TO GO UP UNDER
THIS PROPOSAL.’
Rep. Christine Drazan | leader of the
minority Republicans in the House
afford it in Portland are no
different than the people who
could not have afforded it in
rural Oregon,” she said.
Drazan, who will be lead-
ing Republicans in the House
for the fi rst time this session,
said she did not want to see
a repeat of the GOP boycott
last year that deprived Dem-
ocrats of achieving a quorum
in the Senate, but added: “I
think all options have to be
on the table.”
Still, Brown said she
was “cautiously optimistic”
something could pass despite
Republicans saying there
could be another walkout by
the GOP to thwart the effort.
“From the impact on our
seafood, to our forests, to the
snow in our mountains, it’s
critically important that we
move forward on a climate
change bill,” Brown said,
adding that the bill must not
exacerbate economic imbal-
ances in rural and minority
communities.
Lawmakers should also
address fi ghting wildfi res,
which have grown more
intense with climate change
and federal mismanagement,
Brown said.
“ The way we have been
fi ghting fi re no longer suits
the fi res we’ve been seeing. ‘’
She said she will ask the
Legislature to make $150
million to $200 million in
investments now that will
reduce impact of devastat-
ing wildfi res, for example by
forest thinning and controlled
burning.
“We have an opportunity
to get boots on the ground
and put Oregonians in rural
Oregon to work,” she said.
Sen. Ginny Burdick,
the Senate majority leader,
was the only senate leader
to appear before the report-
ers, with Senate President
Peter Courtney out with a
hip injury and Sen. Herman
Baertschiger, Jr., the Sen-
ate minority leader, saying
through a spokeswoman that
he canceled so he could drive
to his home district amid
winter storms.
Burdick, who revealed
that she is sponsoring a gun
control bill, said it would
be counterproductive for
Republicans to stage a walk-
out again this year.
“The Republicans say
they don’t like one party
rule,” she said. “Well, if they
don’t show up, you really do
have one party, and that’s not
healthy.”
Burdick said her bill
would allow local govern-
ments to have completely
gun free zones if they choose.
“In many school districts
that you talk to, people who
have experience with par-
ents coming to their parent
teacher conferences, packing
heat, they don’t like that. And
they would like their schools
to be gun free. The bill would
it would simply give local
governments the option,”
Burdick said.
Brown said Friday that
her party, which controls the
Legislature, had addressed
the GOP’s two main con-
cerns about last year’s cli-
mate legislation: that rural
Oregonians would have to
pay more for gas and wor-
ries about the impact on rural
manufacturers.
Like its predecessor, the
draft bill would force big
greenhouse gas emitters to
obtain credits for each ton
of gas they emit, and create
an overall cap for emissions
allowed in the state.
Washington Supreme Court OKs lesser version of carbon cap
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The
Washington Supreme Court
has reinstated a severely
limited version of Gov. Jay
Inslee’s plan to cap carbon
pollution in the state, a deci-
sion the Democrat described
as a “clarion call” that law-
makers must act on climate
change.
In a 5-4 ruling Thursday,
the court said the Clean Air
Rule cannot apply to com-
panies that sell or distrib-
ute petroleum or natural gas
because they don’t make
their own emissions — other
people burn the fuel they
provide. The Department of
Ecology only has the author-
ity to regulate “actual emit-
ters,” the court said.
While
environmen-
tal groups said it is a good
step to require refi neries,
power plants, factories and
other big polluters to cut
their emissions, cars remain
the biggest source of green-
house gas pollution. About
three-quarters of the emis-
sions that would have been
covered by the rule came
indirectly from petroleum
and natural gas importers
and sellers.
That means the court’s
decision left the state with a
much-diminished rule.
“This ruling will sig-
nifi cantly affect our ability
to reduce emissions,” Ins-
lee told a news conference
in Olympia. “This decision
has made it even more abun-
dantly clear that we need to
take action in the Legisla-
ture. The reason is it has dis-
abled one tool that has been
used in our toolbox.”
A Thurston County Supe-
rior Court judge struck down
the rule after it was chal-
lenged by industry groups.
The four justices in the
minority would have rein-
stated it entirety.
“The issue is not whether
man-made climate change is
real — it is,” Justice Debra
Stephens wrote for the
majority. “Nor is the issue
whether dramatic steps are
needed to curb the worst
effects of climate change —
they are. Instead, this case
asks whether the Washing-
ton Clean Air Act grants
Ecology the broad author-
ity to establish and enforce
greenhouse gas emission
standards for businesses and
utilities that do not directly
emit greenhouse gases, but
whose products ultimately
do.”
Ecology has no such
authority, Stephens wrote.
After
the
Legisla-
ture failed to adopt a cap-
and-trade program, Inslee
directed Ecology in 2015 to
use authority under the 1967
Clean Air Act to limit car-
bon emissions from Wash-
ington’s largest sources.
He called climate change a
threat to the state and said
the new regulations would
help Washington meet its
requirements to reduce car-
bon emissions.
Inslee has long touted
environmental issues and
made climate change the
core issue of his fl eeting
presidential campaign last
year. He said his offi ce is
reviewing the opinion and
that it wasn’t clear if he
would ask lawmakers to
expand Ecology’s authority
to allow it to regulate “indi-
rect emitters” or what his
next step would be.