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East Oregonian
ENERGY: About 60 percent of
Paci¿&orp’s energy still comes from coal
Continued from 1A
dramatically over the years,
and are getting to the point
where they’re competitive
with existing generation.”
About 60 percent of
3aci¿&orp’s energy still
comes from coal, though
the company plans to phase
out roughly half that gener-
ation over the next 15 years.
'espite this, 3aci¿&orp
would still own more coal
units than any other utility in
the western U.S., Ritchie said.
Berkshire
Hathaway
Energy is one of 13 major
companies to join the Amer-
ican Business Act on &limate
Pledge, along with Apple,
&oca-&ola, *oogle, 0icro-
soft, Wal-0art and *oldman
Sachs.
As part of the pledge,
Paci¿&orp has already signed
purchase agreements for
1,128.8 megawatts of wind
and solar energy, with the
majority coming from Utah.
The utility will buy 195.1
of those megawatts from
Oregon solar projects, and 30
megawatts from Oregon wind
farms.
Ry Schwark, Paci¿&orp
spokesman, said the pledge is
an important statement ahead
of the 2015 United Nations
&limate &hange &onference
in Paris. President Barack
Obama also recently rolled
out his controversial &lean
Power Plan to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions 32 percent
below 2005 levels by 2030.
Oregon is already on track to
meet those clean power goals,
according to a report in the
Oregonian.
Schwark said climate
change is an important issue
to address globally, and
Paci¿&orp is moving toward
a clean energy future while
minimizing the impact to
ratepayers.
“There are certainly
people who will say ‘faster,
faster’ no matter how fast you
go,” Schwark said. “We think
reducing coal generation
over the next 15 years by 40
percent is really quite signif-
icant.”
Berkshire
Hathaway
Energy owns other public
utilities around the country
such as NV Energy and
0id-American
Energy
&ompany. *reg Abel, presi-
dent and &EO of the holding
company, said signing the
climate pledge is another way
to show their commitment to
lead on climate action.
“For more than a decade,
we have been making signif-
icant investments to reduce
the impact of our operations
on the environment and
fostering a more sustainable
future by developing renew-
able energy generation and
reducing emissions from our
facilities,” Abel said.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
RODEO: Picks top stock from multiple contractors
Continued from 1A
tough ride.
“We’ve got some young
horses that are pretty fun
up-and-comers,” Korkow
said.
Keith 0arrington of
&algary Stampede said he
brought Lynx 0ountain, a
feisty saddle bronc that has
quali¿ed for the National
Finals Rodeo and &anadian
Finals Rodeo “many times”
and carried Rusty Wright to
a win with an 89-point ride
in the &algary Stampede
this summer.
“She’s really pretty
special,” 0arrington said.
Speaking of special,
0arrington said Special
Delivery, a stallion that has
been earning top bareback
status at rodeos right and
left, will make an appear-
ance, as will Saturn Rocket
and Wild &herry.
0eanwhile
Bottle
Rocket, the jet-black bull
owned by &orey Lange
Rodeos that won this year’s
&algary Stampede by giving
Sage Kimzey a 92.5 ride,
will also make an appear-
ance in Hermiston.
“There should be some
tough bull riding this year,”
0arrington said.
In recognition to its dedi-
cation to quality stock, the
Farm-&ity Pro Rodeo won
the 2014 Remuda Award,
given to a rodeo each year
by the Professional Rodeo
&owboys Association in
recognition for the “best,
most consistent bucking
horses” in the country. Stock
contractors were Korkow
Rodeos, &algary Stampede,
Kesler Rodeos and 0ike
&orey and Tom Lange.
Korkow described the
Remuda Award as winning
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Korkow Rodeos bucking bulls mill around in a pen at
the Double M Ranch feedlot Tuesday waiting to appear
in the Farm-City Pro Rodeo this week in Hermiston.
“the World Series for
rodeos.” When rodeos like
Farm-&ity cherry pick
top-quality stock from
multiple contractors, he
said, it attracts cowboys
who know whatever animal
they come out of the chute
with will allow them to have
a great ride.
“0ost of them feel like
when they get here they
have a chance to win some
money, and that’s what it
takes to get them here,” he
said.
0arrington said the
Farm-&ity Pro Rodeo is a
great place to be a stock
contractor.
“This community does
rodeo right,” he said.
The professionalism, the
dirt, the bucking chutes, the
pens, the attention to detail
and the overall experience
are top-notch, he said.
Hermiston helps kick off
the Northwest rodeo circuit,
he said, and cowboys are
always excited when they
arrive.
Both 0arrington and
Korkow said they are
optimistic those things will
continue when the rodeo
moves to the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event &enter next
year. They said they got a
tour of the EOTE& site last
year and they feel their input
has been taken seriously
when it comes to keeping
the things that contractors
and cowboys love about the
current site.
Korkow said one change
he is looking forward to is
having the animals housed
on site instead of outside of
town like they are now.
“It will be so much
handier,” he said, noting that
right now he spends hours in
the afternoon transporting
and settling in stock, only to
have to turn around after the
rodeo and get them all back
to the stockyards.
“It’s almost 1 in the
morning by the time we get
back into town,” he said.
He said not having to
transport the animals several
miles also decreases the risk
to his stock.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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presents:
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www.PrestigeCare.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
TREES: *athered 53 signatures for petition
Continued from 1A
possible future construction
plans to repair or replace the
sidewalk or street in front of
our house. If we removed
the trees now, the street and
sidewalk would remain in
disrepair, which our trees
had nothing to do with.”
After submitting the
letter, the Lovejoys went
further, personally offering
to pay for any sidewalk
repairs near the current
trees. When the city council
expressed concern over how
the tree roots might affect a
nearby water main, they also
offered to pay for an engi-
neer and arborist to study the
issue.
After the council rebuffed
every offer, the Lovejoys
were informed the trees
would be removed and
replaced with gravel as soon
as September.
The Lovejoys continued
to ¿ght back, gathering 53
signatures for a petition to
save the trees.
While 53 signatures
might not look like much,
it’s a signi¿cant number in
a town the size of Helix —
according to the 2010 U.S.
&ensus, there are only 55
occupied housing units in
Helix and the total popula-
tion is 184.
Additionally, the amount
of signatures for the petition
surpasses the vote totals for
each of the ¿ve sitting city
councilors and the mayor,
all of whom were elected
through write-in votes. The
sixth member of the city
council, Amanda Benedict,
was appointed to ¿ll a
vacated seat.
Despite the groundswell
of community support for the
trees, the Lovejoys said the
city council disregarded the
petition when they presented
it at a July 20 meeting.
“They basically ignored
us,” Trish Lovejoy said.
When reached, both
0ayor Jack Bascomb and
&ouncilman Jim Smith
declined to comment for this
story.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
JAPAN: ‘It’s amazing how nice everyone was’
Continued from 1A
This year, six Pendleton
students and their chaperone
boarded a plane for Japan.
It was a link rees-
tablished, a relationship
resumed.
The teens had much the
same agenda as students
who had gone before.
They attended an ancient
horse festival called Soma
Nomaoi where several
hundred samurai horsemen
in armor raced 1,000
meters, competing for 40
shrine Àags.
The students stayed with
host families. They ate sushi
and ramen, bestowed a gift
on city of¿cials and visited
the Sisters in Spirit sculp-
ture, an identical twin to the
one at the Pendleton &enter
for the Arts.
They experienced karate
and a tea ceremony, donned
replicas of samurai battle
out¿ts, eyed the Tokyo
skyline from atop a giant
Ferris wheel, became
addicted to soft cream
and visited a castle with
600-year-old stone walls.
They marveled at high-
tech Japanese daily life
that abounds: bathrooms
equipped with devices
that emitted white noise,
the multitude of vending
machines (several on each
block with everything from
cold drinks to cell phones).
They sweat in the near-100
percent humidity. They
practiced Japanese phrases
they had studied with
Pendleton watercolor artist
Hiroko &annon, who grew
up in Japan.
They, like other Pend-
leton students in years past,
marveled at the gracious
hospitality they received.
“It’s amazing how nice
everyone was,” said Pend-
leton High School junior
&heney &hrisman. “They
were very welcoming.”
“When we walked
down the street, they knew
exactly who we were,”
agreed Hailey Kendrick.
“Everyone wanted to shake
our hands.”
This trip to 0inamisoma
differed from previous
excursions, however, in a
few important and sobering
ways. On July 24, they
drove through a restricted
area on their way to see
the Tsuruga-jo &astle. The
students glimpsed homes
and gardens abandoned
¿ve years ago. &haperone
Roberta Lavadour looked
out the charter bus windows
and wondered at the
unexpected beauty of the
abandoned land.
“I was expecting those
areas to look post-apoca-
lyptic, but it was just the
opposite,” Lavadour said.
“It was a stunningly beau-
tiful paradise. The idea that
you could never go home
again would be crushing.”
The beauty was marred
by excavation equipment
brought in to scrape away
contaminated
topsoil.
Hundreds of thousands of
black plastic canvas bags
lay stacked in giant piles,
ready for transport to a
burial site.
“It’s a horrible tragedy,”
PHS graduating senior
Riley Kendrick. “It was
pretty emotional.”
Despite the reminders
of the traumatic events of
2011, the students said they
felt safe. Electronic road
signs supplied information
about air quality.
“We never felt endan-
gered,” Riley said.
The way the residents
have supported each other
and marched ahead with life
impressed Lavadour.
“I’d like to think that if
something like that happens
here, we would be as honor-
able toward each other,” she
said. “It was an enormous,
tragic event but life goes on
there.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.