A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2020
IN BRIEF
County distributing free
face masks as virus precaution
Clatsop County will distribute free KN95 face
masks at drive-thru handout events at multiple loca-
tions on Thursday.
People can pick up masks between 4 and 7 p.m. at
Elsie-Vinemaple Fire Station in Seaside, Seaside Fire
Station, Gearhart Fire Station, Warrenton Fire Station,
Astoria Aquatic Center, Knappa Fire Station and West-
port Fire Station.
Masks will also be distributed from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. on June 27 at Cannon Beach City Hall.
People are asked to stay in their cars and hold up
fi ngers to show the number of masks needed.
The county is also working with local chambers
of commerce to distribute free masks to local busi-
nesses, governments, service districts and social ser-
vice providers.
Legendary salmon mosaic
re-created at Goodman Park
SEASIDE — The city’s biggest fi sh is long gone,
but a reproduction of the classic “Safeway salmon”
lives on at Goodman Park.
Members of the Seaside Parks Advisory Committee
met at the 12th Avenue park early this month to unveil
the re-creation of an 84-foot-wide and 8-foot-high tile
mosaic created by artist Richard Kennedy for the exte-
rior of the original Safeway on Holladay Drive at the
corner of First Avenue.
The original mosaic was completed following its
fabrication in New York and shipment to Portland
in 1962 by the six mosaicists, among them Pete and
Mario Ferrarin, known for their historic mosaics at
Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.
— The Astorian
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
UNITY
TRIBUTE
TRAIN
Cottage Bakery in Long Beach
changes hands
LONG BEACH, Wash. — After nearly 50 years, a
preeminent Long Beach Peninsula institution is chang-
ing hands.
Earlier this month, Bob and Judi Andrew offi cially
turned the keys of the Cottage Bakery over to new
owners, Jeff and Casey Harrell and Mark and Lindy
Swain, Casey’s sister and brother-in-law.
The sale comes about 46 years after the Andrews’
bought the bakery in 1974.
The sale had been in the works for more than a
month, and came after staff shortages forced the bak-
ery to close for a day on April 21, and then again from
April 30 through May 6.
— Chinook Observer
In Brief
TOP: The Unity Tribute Train — a parade of emergency
responders and other community leaders — traveled
up Ridge Road in Warrenton on Wednesday night. The
event was organized by Spruce Up Warrenton and
the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce
to celebrate the front-line workers in the coronavirus
pandemic. LEFT: A Warrenton police offi cer passes by
a home near Fort Stevens.
Oregon bids goodbye to coal power plants
DEATH
June 16, 2020
Death
NEWELL, Cynthia Jean, 60, of Warrenton, died in
Portland. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of
Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Monday, June 22
Memorial
NIKKILA, Norma M. — Visitation from 10 a.m. to
noon, Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary, 1165 Frank-
lin Ave. Graveside service follows at 1 p.m., Ocean
View Cemetery, 575 18th St. in Warrenton.
CORRECTION
Wrong hospital — A woman swept into the ocean
Correction
in Cannon Beach on Tuesday was taken to Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Astoria before being fl own to a
Portland area hospital. An In Brief item on A2 Thurs-
day incorrectly said she was taken to Providence Sea-
side Hospital.
ON THE RECORD
Burglary
harassment.
On
the Merrick
Record
• Brandon
Criminal
Carr, 41, was arraigned
Wednesday for burglary
in the fi rst degree.
Harassment
•
James
Edward
Hahn, 43, was arrested
Wednesday in Astoria for
trespass
• Gerald Glen Lut-
cavich, 61, of Seaside,
was arrested Wednesday
under the Astoria Bridge
for criminal trespass in
the second degree.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Astoria City Council, 6 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Astoria Planning Commission, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Last plant to close
By NICK
ROSENBERGER
EO Media Group
BOARDMAN — Since
1980, the Boardman Coal
Plant has produced reliable
energy capable of powering
500,000 homes. But keeping
the lights on has come at a
cost.
The plant can burn up
to 8,000 tons of coal a day,
making it the largest single
source of greenhouse gas
emissions in the state. In
2019, the plant sent roughly
2.5 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere.
That production — both
of energy and emissions —
will come to an end in just
a few months. The Portland
General
Electric-owned
facility, the last coal plant
operating in Oregon, will
close by the end of 2020.
And though about a third of
the electricity used in Ore-
gon will still be created by
out-of-state coal, Board-
man’s closure will mark the
end of an energy era.
Located 160 miles east of
Portland along the Columbia
River in Morrow County, the
Boardman Coal Plant oper-
ates within the environmen-
tal rules set down by both
the state and federal govern-
ments. It is nowhere near the
end of its design life.
“There’s no expiration
date for a plant like Board-
man if it’s well-maintained,”
said Portland General Elec-
tric spokesperson Steve Cor-
son. Yet, the company made
the unprecedented decision
to shut it down.
“It was the fi rst volun-
tary plant closure in the U.S.
of its kind,” said Rebecca
Smith, a senior policy ana-
lyst at the Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy.
The Portland General Electric coal-fi red power plant in Boardman is expected to close in 2020.
The plant no longer pen-
ciled out economically and
environmentally, according
to Corson. In 2010, Oregon
passed strict emission con-
trol laws. Meeting those reg-
ulations would require Port-
land General Electric to
make more than $600 mil-
lion in upgrades to the plant,
a signifi cant investment
that “over the long term …
just wasn’t going to make
sense,” said Corson.
Portland General Electric
instead made cheaper, short-
term fi xes that limited sul-
fur and nitrogen emissions,
then started making plans to
shut the plant down within a
decade.
“2020 ended up being the
Alternative fuel sources
longer use coal to power the
Boardman plant, the com-
pany had to decide what to
do with the facility.
The company briefl y
considered using natural gas
as a fuel, but that did not
please regulators nor cus-
tomers. And while cleaner
than coal, natural gas would
still produce signifi cant car-
bon emissions.
Corson said the company
then considered torrefac-
tion as a fi nal option before
closing the plant for good.
Similar to roasting coffee,
torrefaction chars woody
biomass to a level similar
to charcoal. This torrefi ed
wood can then be used as
an energy-dense fuel with a
much smaller carbon foot-
print than coal.
Torrefi ed wood “cer-
tainly could be a viable
Once Portland General
Electric decided it would no
See Coal, Page A3
compromise date,” said Cor-
son. “It gave our employees
at the plant time to plan for
the transition. It also gave
us time ... to think about
how our resource mix would
change with Boardman leav-
ing the picture.”
Boardman isn’t the only
coal plant facing pressures
both economic and cultural.
There are nearly 600 coal-
fi red plants still operating in
the U.S., though more than
200 others have closed in
the p ast two decades due to
declining revenue or envi-
ronmental
regulations.
Those regulations are an
attempt to reduce the effects
of burning coal, the larg-
est human-made contribu-
tor to carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
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