G REATER G ORGE
A2 Hood River News,
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
www.hoodrivernews.com
Coal export terminal gets water-quality approval from Oregon
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP)
— Oregon environmental
regulators have ruled that
proposed coal export ter-
minal on the Columbia
River meets state and fed-
eral water-quality stan-
dards, but the project still
faces an adverse ruling
from another state agency
and questions about its
economics in a slumping
coal market.
The state Department of
Environmental Quality is-
sued a water-quality certi-
fication Tuesday to the
proposed Coyote Island
Ter minal at Boardman,
The East Oregonian re-
ported.
The terminal would re-
ceive coal arriving by rail
from
Montana
and
Wyoming and put it on
barges. Downriver, the
barges would be offloaded
at another terminal, and
the coal put on oceangoing
vessels, bound for Asia.
Shipments to the Board-
man terminal could total
8.8 million tons a year.
The state land depart-
ment has rejected a permit
for the project, saying it
could interfere with tribal
fishing rights. An appeal
hearing is scheduled for
December.
Critics have questioned
whether the project would
break even on a $242 mil-
lion investment, given
slumping coal markets
overseas. Last year, the
Au s t r a l i a n
company
Ambre Energ y sold its
North American coal as-
sets to Resource Capital
Funds, a private equity
firm in Denver, after fail-
i n g t o d r aw o t h e r i n -
vestors.
The Department of En-
vironmental Quality is-
sued what’s called a 401
Water Quality Certifica-
tion that the ter minal
would meet state and fed-
eral water quality stan-
dards, so long as the devel-
oper meets a long list of
conditions. For example,
the terminal would have
to be shut down and appro-
priate agencies notified if
a water-quality problem
leads to dead or distressed
fish.
Environmentalists have
fought the terminal, one of
several new proposals for
moving fossil fuels from
the interior of North
America for use on the
West Coast or Asia.
The state of Wyoming is
prepared to borrow $1 bil-
lion to pay for coal exports
from the Northwest, and
Wyoming and Montana
are backing the appeal of
the decision handed down
by the Oregon Department
of State Lands.
Photo by Bruce Ely/The Oregonian, staff
THE PORT OF MORROW in Boardman, Ore., where Australia-based Ambre Energy proposed a coal export terminal called the Morrow Pa-
cific project to send 8.8 million tons of coal annually to Asia.
Local “Bikefest” event promotes bike-friendly ideas for Goldendale
By AKASHA SPINO-BYBEE
For The Goldendale Sentinel
Goldendale has suffered
many economic losses in its
time, from the timber in-
dustry coming to a swift
halt to the aluminum plant
shutting down, Golden-
dale‘s economy has steadily
declined. Thankfully, inno-
vation lies in the mind of a
local man with a passion.
“I was a professional cow-
boy with the Northwest
Rodeo Association and one
of the things I did to stay in
shape was ride my bicycle,”
says Brock War rener, a
member of the Trail Riding
Association of Central
Klickitat (TRACK). “Later
on, my horse died and I
started to ride my bicycle
more often and I found it
was a great way to bond
with my girlfriend’s son. So
we’d go over to Hood River
and ride some pump tracks.
So I started wondering how
we could ride somewhere
locally without having to
ride on dangerous roads
and so we wouldn’t have to
spend our money else-
where.”
This very thought began
a progressive study that
Warrener spent months re-
searching. “I started re-
searching mountain bike
c o m m u n i t i e s a n d wh a t
other bicycling groups had
done to bring about change
in their towns and I was
overwhelmed with informa-
tion,” he says. “One thing I
found was a town called
Oakridge (Oregon), which
is very similar to Golden-
dale. It’s a town with a pop-
ulation of 3,000 people who
had a large timber industry,
which in 1989, shut down.
So a bunch of these people
decided to use the town’s
natural assets and started
building a network of trails
and over the last 35 years,
have developed over 500
miles of trails. Because of
this, in the past five years,
13 new businesses have
o p e n e d , i n c l u d i n g b i ke
shops and breweries. One
way they have attracted the
bicyclists is implementing
several bike racks.”
Warrener, who sees the
potential Goldendale has in
taking part of Washington’s
$3 billion industry that is
outdoor recreation, is chal-
lenging the community to
make changes for the better,
starting with a bike rack
competition. Warrener is
offering our community a
substantial prize for the
best bike rack created, all
with hopes that people will
enjoy the idea of giving our
bicyclists somewhere to
place their bikes while
doing some shopping and
by giving our community
the opportunity to leave an
artistic legacy on the town.
Along with the bike racks,
Warrener plans to host a
“Bikefest,” where he will
take those who attend (and
t h e i r b i ke s ) o n a t o u r
around central Klickitat to
consider some places to cre-
ate some bike trails and to
ride those pre-existing.
“At 8:30 a.m., we’ll have a
meet and greet with coffee
provided by our sponsors
here at the Goldendale pool.
At 9 a.m., we’ll load our
bikes in a van provided by
U-Haul and board a bus pro-
vided by Centerville School
and go to some spots around
the central Klickitat area
where we can ride and envi-
sion some possible future
trail spots. Then, we’ll get
back on the bus and be
dropped off at Observatory
Hill, where we’ll ride our
bikes down the trails back
to the pool and have lunch.
After that, we’ll have a ‘bi-
cyc l e r o d e o ’ a n d s k i l l s
demonstration. Bicycle hel-
mets will also be provided
for those without helmets.
L a t e r, we ’ l l h ave s o m e
games to play and have the
bicycle rack grand prize
g ive aw ay. T h a t n i g h t ,
there’ll be a concert with
Manimal, a band from Port-
land, at the American Le-
gion. Tickets will be $15 at
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the door and $10 pre-sale,
available through me.”
To show your support
make plans to attend the
Bikefest on May 9, at the
Goldendale pool and pur-
chase tickets for Manimal
House by calling Warrener
at 360-773-7712 or by email-
ing him at war rener-
brock@gmail.com. “I’m
dreaming big,” he says.
Mother’s Day
Brunch
on the Patio!!
Three Courses including
Lobster & Memosas
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Dinner at 3 p.m.
Happy Hour nightly 5-6 p.m.
Stonehedge Gardens
541-386-3940
Oregon ski areas ask Legislature for liability protection
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Ski
areas are asking the Oregon
Legislature for enhanced
protection from lawsuits
after the state Supreme
Court invalidated the broad
liability waivers often print-
ed on the back of lift tickets.
Ski facility executives told
the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee Monday that they
may have to raise their
prices if they aren’t shielded
from lawsuits. They warned
of potentially dire conse-
quences for the rural busi-
nesses that rely on skiers in
winter months.
But Lauren Bagley, whose
son was injured as a teenag-
er at Mount Bachelor in 2006,
said ski companies should be
held accountable when their
man-made equipment fails.
Her son, Myles Bagley, was
18 when he fell on a jump and
was paralyzed. Mount Bach-
elor has not been found at
fault, but the Supreme Court
decision in November gave
Bagley the chance to argue
in court that the resort was
negligent.
Lauren Bagley acknowl-
edged that some factors in
ski injuries are beyond the
control of ski operators, but
said they shouldn’t be able to
shirk liability for man-made
equipment or enhancements
to the slope.
“Humans make mistakes,”
she told the legislative com-
mittee. “They cannot deny
the fact that possibly a mis-
take was made. Not every-
thing is an accident. Some
things are preventable. They
just shift the blame to the
skier, constantly to the
skier.”
A 1979 Oregon law de-
clares that skiing is an inher-
ently risky activity and
shields ski area operators
from liability in some in-
stances. Until last year’s
Supreme Court case, it was
routinely used to block law-
suits by injured skiers and
snowboarders.
The bill proposed this year
would nullify the decision
for future cases, making
broad liability waivers en-
forceable in court. It would
prevent lawsuits alleging the
ski area was negligent or cre-
ated unreasonable condi-
tions. Ski resorts would only
be liable for intentional acts
by their staff or for “gross
negligence,” a higher legal
standard.
Without the liability waiv-
er, ski areas would be forced
to litigate each case brought
by an injured skier or snow-
boarder, even if it ultimately
proved it was not negligent,
said Andy Ballyeat, a Bend
attor ney who represents
Mount Bachelor and other
ski businesses.
“The impact of not updat-
ing the skier statue will
eventually cost jobs, limit ac-
cess to public lands, and
threaten the economic stabil-
ity of these areas and the
state of Oregon as a whole,”
said Matthew Drake, chair-
man and chief executive of
Mt. Hood Meadows.
Floyd Prozanski, a Eugene
Democrat who chairs the Ju-
diciary Committee, asked
both sides to work together
and see if there’s room for
agreement.
WEEKLY SUDOKU
This week’s Sudoku presented by:
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Forest Service to hold forest-level listening sessions
Forest Service
responds to desire
for more Forest
Plan Revision
Listening Sessions
PORTLAND, Ore. — The
Pacific Northwest Region an-
nounced today plans for
holding additional forest
management plan revision
listening sessions. Eleven lis-
tening sessions are planned
so far in locations through-
out Oregon and Washington.
These sessions follow an ini-
tial round of listening ses-
sions held earlier in Port-
land, Seattle and Redding,
CA.
“We promised to evaluate
the need for additional For-
est-level listening sessions,”
said Jim Peña, Pacific North-
west Regional Forester. “We
heard a strong desire for
more sessions, so we’re hold-
ing the next round at local
forest locations to further
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JEFF SACRE
our commitment to engaging
with and listening to the con-
cerns of our communities.”
The purposes of the ses-
sions are to:
■ Share our current think-
ing on plan revision,
■ Share how science will
inform the process, and
■ Listen to ideas and
thoughts about how to ap-
proach public engagement
for forest plan revisions on
each National Forest.
The Dates, Locations and
Forest(s) follow:
April 28th — Olympia
Olympic and Gifford Pin-
chot
April 28 (tent.) — Bend
or LaPine
Deschutes
TBD — Hood River
Mt. Hood, Columbia Gorge
Scenic Area, Gifford Pinchot
■
Specific locations and
times will be announced by
each Forest as their plans are
finalized, and posted on for-
est and region websites at
www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/l
a n d m a n a g e -
ment/?cid=stelprd3831710
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