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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2021)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2021 VACCINE ROLLOUT IN BRIEF Metal reported missing from Astoria Riverfront Trolley barn Astoria police received a report Monday of a theft of equipment outside of the Astoria Riverfront Trolley barn. Train rails, joint bars and tie plates stored outside the barn were taken. Some of the material is used by the non- profi t for track repair and some of it is used to make sou- venirs to generate more funding during the coronavirus pandemic. Anybody with information about the missing materi- als can contact offi cer Alex Whitney at the Astoria Police Department. — The Astorian LEFT: Registered nurse Jaime Humphries vaccinates Jessica Gauthier against the coronavirus at the Astoria Armory on Thursday. BELOW: Dozens of health care workers got vaccinated against the coronavirus at the Astoria Armory on Thursday. Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Wyden will seek reelection in 2022 U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says he’s seeking reelection in 2022, ending speculation that Oregon’s senior senator might retire and pave the way for a crowded lineup of potential replacements. Wyden, 71, told Oregon Public Broadcasting he believes he has more work to do in Washington D.C. “Of course I’m running,” the Democrat said. “There’s so much to do for Oregonians, and I’d very much like to have the honor of representing Oregonians again.” Wyden holds several key positions in Congress, includ- ing on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Should Dem- ocrats regain control of the Senate this month, Wyden is in line to chair the powerful Senate Finance Committee. One of his priorities in the coming Congress, Wyden said, is wildfi re preparation and prevention. He and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley have proposed creating a 21st cen- tury civilian conservation corps — essentially a modern re-creation of a program that was part of President Frank- lin Roosevelt’s efforts to pull the United States out of the Great Depression. — Oregon Public Broadcasting Washington state extends coronavirus restrictions Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday extended restrictions on businesses and social gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic for another week. Inslee said the restrictions are now due to expire on Jan. 11. “This choice is not easy,” Inslee said via Twitter. “Next week I’ll be announcing more details about our new plan to safely reopen.” In mid-November Inslee, in response to rising case numbers, announced a host of businesses must close their indoor services, including fi tness facilities and gyms, bowling centers, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums. Retail stores — including grocery stores — were told to limit their indoor capacity to 25%. Also, indoor social gatherings with people from more than one household are prohibited unless attendees have either quarantined for 14 days before the gathering or tested negative for COVID-19 and quarantined for seven days. There’s no enforcement mechanism for indoor get-togethers. — Associated Press Willapa Valley eyes in-person learning MENLO, Wash. — The Willapa Valley School Dis- trict is the fi rst district in Pacifi c County to eye returning to in-person learning beginning next week. Students are expected to enter their respective class- rooms on Wednesday, roughly two months after all dis- tricts inside the county returned to remote learning during the week of Nov. 11. “With the governor’s new guidelines for school openings, all students, preschool through grade 12, will return,” Superintendent Nancy Morris said. “The guide- lines are based on studies showing that COVID infec- tions have not spread in schools due to the strict proto- cols in place. “I feel Willapa Valley will be able to continue our strict safety protocols as we had in place earlier this year when students were in school.” — Chinook Observer DEATHS Dec. 30, 2020 In WILDGRUBE, Brief Fred Leo, 80, of Seaside, died in Seaside. Caldwell’s Deaths Funeral & Cremation Arrangement Center of Seaside is in charge of the arrangements. Dec. 28, 2020 CUMMINGS, Nancy E., 85, of Warrenton, died in Warrenton. Ocean View Funeral & Cre- mation Service of Asto- ria is in charge of the arrangements. PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. TUESDAY Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, noon, work session, (electronic meeting). Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting). Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., (electronic meeting). Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of Directors, 5:15 p.m., workshop, (electronic meeting). PUBLIC MEETINGS 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 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. 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Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective May 1, 2019 MAIL (IN COUNTY) EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$11.25 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.00 Industrial logging a risk to drinking water Small towns often bear the brunt By TONY SCHICK and ROB DAVIS Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian On a damp night in November 2019, dozens of residents packed into the local fi rehouse in Corbett, a town about 30 miles out- side of Portland. Water man- ager Jeff Busto told the crowd that logging had devastated a creek that provided part of the town’s drinking water supply. A timber company had clear cut thousands of trees along the creek, leaving only a thin strip standing between the town’s drinking water and recently fl attened land strewn with debris. A single row of trees was left on either side to protect it from mud, herbicides and summer sun. After many of those trees were bowled over by wind, the creek fl ow dropped so low that the town could no longer get water. As a result, Corbett now had only one creek supply- ing drinking water for more than 3,000 residents. If a wild- fi re or more logging compro- mised the remaining creek, the town’s taps could run dry in as little as three days, Busto said. “I’m really seriously con- cerned about the future of this community,” Busto told the crowd. “There are places all over the world that lose their water source and they lose their town. If you guys don’t have water coming out of your tap, you’re not going to be able to live here.” In rainy Oregon, commu- nities tap a network of streams and creeks to supply millions of residents with cold, clean water. The problem is that the land surrounding drink- ing water streams is, in many cases, owned not by the towns or the residents who drink the water, but by private timber companies that are now log- ging more intensively than ever, cutting trees on a more rapid cycle and spraying her- bicides to kill other plants that compete with replanted seed- lings for sunlight. In the past two decades, Oregon environmental regu- lators identifi ed industrial log- ging as a risk to more than 170 public water systems, listing clear cutting, road building and pesticide spraying as potential sources of contamination. Timber companies have successfully fought to keep Oregon’s laws much more Photos by Brooke Herbert/The Oregonian Clearcut forests are shown in western Oregon. Stevie Burden, the former mayor of Wheeler, looks out the window of her kitchen. ‘IT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THAT WE HAVE TO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT TO CLEAR WATER IN THE FACE OF GIANT CORPORATIONS COMING IN AND BASICALLY HAVING NO ACCOUNTABILITY.’ Stevie Burden | former mayor of Wheeler lenient than neighboring states, lobbying lawmakers and the public through opin- ion campaigns to burnish the industry’s reputation. Ore- gon legislators have failed to change logging laws that state regulators, scientists and the federal government say are insuffi cient to protect clean water, leaving small towns with millions of dollars in additional costs, an investiga- tion by Oregon Public Broad- casting, The Oregonian and ProPublica found. Many of those commu- nities are in Oregon counties already bearing the brunt of timber tax cuts, which cost the state nearly $3 billion in rev- enue that would have been largely used to fund schools and local governments. Lawmakers and forestry offi cials have joined timber executives in defending cur- rent environmental laws, say- ing they protect communities without unnecessarily bur- dening one of Oregon’s most important industries. But they have ignored the costs to com- munities that say they are powerless to protect their most critical resource: water. More than two dozen com- munities have had at least 40% of the forests around drink- ing water sources cut down in the past 20 years, accord- ing to an analysis by the news organizations. In Corbett, the town has started excavation work to fi nd a new water supply. Resi- dents will have to help pay the $2.2 million cost. In Wheeler, the investment in a new water system happened 16 years ago, but residents of the for- mer mill town on the coast will be paying off the $1.1 million debt. “It is absolutely ridiculous that we have to fi ght for our right to clear water in the face of giant corporations com- ing in and basically having no accountability,” said Ste- vie Burden, former mayor of Wheeler. “And the responsi- bility for it ends up in these really tiny little municipalities and water districts that can’t afford to shoulder the cost.” A spokeswoman for the Oregon Forest & Industries Council, a lobbying organiza- tion, said the state has robust and effective rules to protect drinking water. “Oregonians should feel confi dent forest practices strongly protect their drink- ing water,” Sara Duncan, the spokeswoman, said in an email. Duncan pointed to pollu- tion monitoring data from the Oregon Department of Envi- ronmental Quality that found public and private forests pro- vide the cleanest water in the state. The government agency says the data is not an appro- priate metric because it is too imprecise to measure the effectiveness of Oregon’s log- ging rules. Recent research funded by the industry also challenges the council’s claim. This year, Oregon State University released two studies, which found logging can cause long-lasting water shortages and pollute drinking water with herbicides and dirt. A March study examining tim- ber practices over a 60-year period found that water lev- els in streams surrounded by industrial timber plantations dropped by more than 50% See Logging, Page A3
