A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2022
IN BRIEF
Warrenton Fire Department
looking to add fi re marshal
END OF
THE TRAIL
WARRENTON — The Warrenton Fire Department
is pursuing several grants through the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency, one of which would allow
the department to hire a fi re marshal.
The marshal would handle safety and fi re inspec-
tions, fi re investigations and several forms of fi re pre-
vention, including work in community preparedness
and education.
The other two grants seek to replace aging tools and
a fi re engine at the Hammond station. The City Com-
mission voted unanimously on Tuesday night to autho-
rize the fi re department to apply for the three grants.
State reports new
virus cases for county
The Oregon Health Authority reported six new coro-
navirus cases for Clatsop County on Wednesday and 27
new cases over the Presidents Day holiday weekend.
Since the pandemic began, the county had recorded
4,490 virus cases as of Wednesday.
Women seek better showers
for surfers in Seaside
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
SEASIDE — Thirty years ago, when Seltzer Park
was donated and developed, the surfi ng population at
the Cove was only about 2% women. Today, that num-
ber is more than 30%, Lexie Hallahan, of Northwest
Women’s Surf Camps, said.
Hallahan is leading a campaign to bring shower
equity to Seltzer Park, the area east of the Cove across
Sunset Boulevard. While there’s a shower immediately
outside the men’s room where the door is open, “You’re
literally looking right in at men in the urinals,” she said.
Hallahan envisions a shower tower on the north side
of the park in the open air, clearly visible from the street,
with shower heads at both child and adult heights.
“It looks kind of like a cement round structure,” she
said. “It has the possibility to put up to six fi xtures on
it.”
Trees cut down along
the Astoria Riverwalk
Trees were discovered partially cut down along the
Astoria Riverwalk near 20th and 21st streets and east
beyond 39th Street last week.
The police have no information on possible sus-
pects, Astoria Deputy Police Chief Eric Halverson said.
— The Astorian
Cathlamet throws a party
to mark 115 years
CATHLAMET, Wash. — A proud community said
“happy birthday” to itself by fl ying the fl ag.
And that fl ag is a new one, in the red and black col-
ors of Wahkiakum High School featuring an eagle,
which is apt, because Bald Eagle Days is the town’s
annual festival held in July.
Cathlamet celebrated its 115 years of existence as an
incorporated town with cake and a party Friday. About
40 people attended.
The event was an opportunity for Mayor David
Olson and fi rst lady Dayle Olson to dress in period garb.
The adoption of the new fl ag with its distinctive
design was among the last actions of the prior mayor,
Dale Jacobson, in December. Students and others at
Wahkiakum High School were among artists consulted
when it was created.
— Chinook Observer
Trails in the dunes point toward a rainbow on the Long Beach Peninsula.
Pipeline expansion would increase fl ow
of natural gas through the Northwest
By BRADLEY W. PARKS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
A Canadian company
is proposing a project to
increase the capacity of its
pipeline transporting natural
gas across the Northwest.
TC Energy wants to mod-
ify compressor stations along
the Gas Transmission North-
west pipeline in Oregon,
Washington state and Idaho
to get about 150,000 dekat-
herms more gas fl owing
through the region per day
— enough to meet the daily
energy needs of close to half
a million average American
homes.
The company said in its
application for approval
from the Federal Energy
Regulatory
Commission
that the project is necessary
to meet the needs of North-
west energy consumers, but
opponents of the expansion
say it ignores the larger trend
toward renewable sources of
power like wind, solar and
hydro.
Erin Saylor, a staff attor-
ney with the environmen-
tal group Columbia River-
keeper, said the region is
moving away from its reli-
ance on natural gas extracted
using hydraulic fracturing or
fracking.
“These pipeline proj-
ects typically have a pro-
jected lifespan of 30 years or
more,” Saylor said, “mean-
ing that this project will
lock our region into contin-
ued reliance on fracked gas
whether we like it or not.”
Natural gas has made up a
much larger portion of Ore-
gon’s electricity mix in recent
years as the state phases out
coal. Natural gas powered
about a quarter of Oregon’s
electricity use in 2019, com-
pared to just 12% in 2012.
When burnt for energy,
natural gas generates fewer
greenhouse gas emissions
than coal, according to the
U.S. Energy Information
Administration, which is
part of the reason its appeal
has grown. However, meth-
ane leaks associated with
the production, transport
and storage of natural gas
can quickly erase those ben-
efi ts. Methane is itself an
extremely potent greenhouse
gas.
Oregon and Washing-
ton state have each recently
passed legislation to drasti-
cally decrease greenhouse
gas emissions from electric-
ity providers. Power sup-
pliers in Oregon have until
2040 to zero out their emis-
sions, while Washington
utilities have until 2045 to
become carbon free.
“We’re
expecting
demand for gas to drop sig-
nifi cantly,” Saylor said,
“which means there isn’t
going to be a need for all of
this gas that they’re planning
to push into our region.”
TC Energy has not
responded to calls and
emails requesting comment.
The company is seek-
ing approval from FERC to
upgrade compressor stations
in Sherman County ; across
the Columbia River in Walla
Walla County, Washington;
and farther north in Koote-
nai County, Idaho.
In its application, TC
Energy says the project
will provide gas to meet
“increased market demand
driven by residential, com-
mercial and industrial cus-
tomers in the Pacifi c North-
west.” TC Energy is the
parent company of Gas
Transmission
Northwest
LLC, or GTN, which owns
the pipeline of the same
name.
“The benefi ts of GTN’s
proposed p roject far out-
weigh its potential adverse
impacts,” the application
said .
TC Energy has urged
FERC to approve the project
by Oct. 14.
The agency must deter-
mine whether the pipeline
expansion is in the public
interest in order to approve
the project. This week,
FERC updated the policies
guiding those decisions on
natural gas projects.
The changes allow the
agency to more thoroughly
consider a project’s contri-
butions to climate change as
well as its potential impact
on landowners and environ-
mental justice.
Committee: ‘We didn’t have the option of waiting’
DEATH
Feb. 19, 2022
Death
McKENZIE, Steven C., 72, of Seaside, died in
Portland. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service
of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Theft
under the infl uence of
On
the
Record
• Marcus
Lee Journot,
intoxicants and reckless
32, of Warrenton, was
arrested on Saturday at
Ocean Crest Chevrolet
in Warrenton for three
counts of unlawful entry
into a motor vehicle and
third-degree theft.
DUII
• Travis Stapley
Elmer, 42, of Astoria,
was arrested on Sunday
at Duane and 10th streets
in Astoria for driving
driving.
• James Christopher
Bentley, 27, of War-
renton, was arrested on
Sunday at the Premarq
Center in Warrenton
for DUII and reckless
driving.
• Edward Keller, 56,
of Astoria, was arrested
on Friday on W. Marine
Drive in Astoria for DUII
and reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
(electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Recreational Lands Planning Advisory
Committee, 1 p.m., (electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Continued from Page A1
plan happened to fall before
the county’s short-term rental
discussion ended.
“If we were going to say
anything on what our recom-
mendations were, we needed
to get them into the report,”
Dice said. “We didn’t have
the option of waiting.”
A county staff memo also
pointed to “bias displayed in
the narrative.”
For example, a section
that seeks to resurrect a qua-
si-judicial Arch Cape design
review committee that the
county Board of Commis-
sioners dissolved in 2017
notes that the vote was taken
“over strong support from the
community for continuing”
the committee.
This design panel evolved
out of the last Southwest
Coastal advisory commit-
tee that worked on the pre-
vious comprehensive plan,
and took a heavy hand in the
area’s land use. The new pro-
posal recommends some-
thing similar with the current
advisory committee:
“It is the desire of the cur-
rent CAC that this committee
be made a standing commit-
tee to represent the region in
land use planning and other
development matters, and to
facilitate the fl ow of infor-
mation between community
members and c ounty govern-
ment,” the plan reads.
Dice said the board’s
desire in bringing back the
design review committee was
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Arch Cape area has sought more local control over land use decisions.
to adhere to the fi rst of the
state’s 19 planning goals: citi-
zen involvement.
“We felt really strongly
that, to adhere to goal one, it
was really essential to have
a better mechanism for local
involvement, such as the
design review board,” Dice
said.
County staff told the
Southwest Coastal commit-
tee that some of the recom-
mendations may not be legal.
“They had told us it would
go through a legal review in
any event,” Dice said. “So we
fi gured we’d make our rec-
ommendations and let it go
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through the legal review.”
‘It’s ignored’
At a Board of Commis-
sioners work session earlier
this month, the board unan-
imously disapproved of the
document.
County
Commissioner
Lianne Thompson, whose
district encompasses South-
west Coastal, asked, “How
much more public money —
taxpayer dollars — and vol-
unteer time and staff time
and commissioner time do
we expend for a group that
doesn’t want to play by the
rules?”
A land use attorney will
review the community plans.
Dice said committee
members were “surprised
and disappointed” by the
board’s reaction. He said the
plan they submitted was not
intended as a statement.
“We only had one thing in
mind, and that was to make
sure that our recommenda-
tions … refl ected the current
state of aff airs in the com-
munity — and a number of
things clearly have changed
in our area over the last 40
years — and to indicate what
the people are very interested
in,” he said.
A Planning Commis-
sion review of the South-
west Coastal plan has not
been scheduled. The B oard
of Commissioners is looking
to adopt the updated compre-
hensive plan this summer.
County
Commissioner
Courtney Bangs said the
Southwest Coastal plan high-
lights a reason for last year’s
pause.
“Even when staff is giv-
ing guidance, and it’s giv-
ing valuable guidance, it’s
ignored,” Bangs said.