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East Oregonian
Economists question
Bush’s prescription
for lower gas prices
DES MOINES, Iowa
(AP) — The link between
ending a 40-year oil export
ban and lower prices at the
gas pump is not as direct
as Republican presidential
candidate Jeb Bush would
have voters believe in
his new energy proposal,
industry economists said
Tuesday.
Still, Bush’s overall
premise that lifting the ban
would expand economic
growth held up to inde-
pendent scrutiny. Environ-
mentalists said the negative
impact on the planet would
be too great.
Eliminating the export
ban, enacted in the 1970s,
is the key piece of Bush’s
proposal, ¿rst published
in a paper online Tuesday
and later discussed by the
candidate.
“We should sell that
to the world for national
security purposes, for lower
prices for us and for greater
high-wage jobs in this
country,” Bush told more
than 200 supporters and
employees of Rice Energy, a
small independent company
outside Pittsburgh.
Bush
cited
studies
suggesting a drop of 6 cents
per gallon over time, while
independent
economic
forecasting ¿rms suggested
a decline of 8 cents.
However, oil is a global
commodity
and
U.S.
production has little to do
with overall pricing. Presi-
dents have even less power
over prices.
“They all begin with the
Àaw that you can relate the
price of oil on the high seas
to what Mr. and Mrs. Smith
pay at the pump,” said Tom
Kloza of the independent Oil
Price Information Service.
What is clearer is that oil
companies would bene¿t
immediately, said Michael
Noel, an oil economist for
Texas Tech University.
“If the ban was lifted
today, tomorrow they could
start shipping the stuff,”
Noel said. “A change in the
price in the U.S. is more
dif¿cult to gauge.”
That’s because the crude
oil pumping from U.S.
wells at a faster rate over
the last decade has been a
lighter-weight oil, while
U.S. re¿neries are built for
heavier oil, such as what is
imported from the Middle
East and elsewhere. Lighter
oil produced in the United
States more often must be
re¿ned overseas, Noel said.
Democratic and environ-
mental groups complained
Tuesday that Bush was
bowing to pressure from
the oil industry, though he
made his announcement at
a family-owned natural gas
startup less than a decade
old. Critics also say the plan
is a boon to the petroleum
industry, would provide little
bene¿t to consumers and
would prolong U.S. reliance
on fossil fuels linked to
global warming.
“This plan promises
voters the world, but the
truth is that the world is
exactly what it would
sacri¿ce to fatten the wallets
of dirty energy conglomer-
ates,” Sierra Club political
director Khalid Pitts said in
a statement.
In his pitch, Bush cited
studies suggesting a likely
increase in energy-related
manufacturing and higher
salaries related to the jobs
created. The independent
economic forecasting group
IHS reached a similar
conclusion.
“Ending the crude oil
export ban would bene¿t
the entire economy,” IHS’s
Jeff Marn said. The group
estimated that the move
would generate 394,000
jobs annually and $86
billion more per year in
the nation’s gross domestic
product, on average, from
2016 to 2030. The increased
economic activity would add
$1.3 trillion to cumulative
government revenues during
that period, Marn said.
FUGITIVE: Second victim
escaped after a day and
reported the men to police
Continued from 1A
September 2006 and was
convicted the following
year of kidnapping, rape,
sodomy, sexual abuse
and sexual penetration
with a foreign object. The
61-year-old is serving a
108-year prison sentence
at Two Rivers Correctional
Institution, Umatilla.
The ¿rst victim was 20
in September 1988 when
she was kidnapped after
agreeing to perform a $30
sex act on Roberts in his
pickup, according to details
from the older brother’s
trial. She said Roberts kept
her in a locked closet when
she wasn’t chained to a bed.
She was sexually abused
for a week and forced to
call him “Master X.”
The second victim was
pulled off the streets in June
1990, when she was 17.
After a day as a sex slave,
she escaped her handcuffs,
jumped through a window
and reported the men to
police.
One of Jackson’s alleged
victims, Michaelle Dierich,
spoke to the East Orego-
nian in July 2014 about
the ordeal and her desire
to keep the case alive and
bring Jackson to justice.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
CREDITS: Resignation letter did not provide reason for departure
Continued from 1A
energy projects who opted to
sell their tax credits received
nearly the full face value.
However, Buckley told tax
credit recipients and brokers
in 2014 they could ignore the
formula, according to public
records and interviews. At the
same time, other employees
at the department told tax
credit recipients they had to
follow state price guidelines.
Buckley’s
resignation
letter did not provide a reason
for his departure, but he
heaped praise on the agency.
“I cannot say enough great
things about ODOE, about all
the people I’ve encountered
in my years of service here,
and especially about you and
all the others on the manage-
ment team,” Buckley wrote
in a letter to agency director
Michael Kaplan.
Two employees who
work in the division Buckley
oversees, loan manager Paul
Zollner and business energy
incentive program specialist
Nakeia Daniels, also recently
resigned. An assistant in
the agency’s administrative
division, Mandee Wilding,
resigned around the same
time.
Another employee in the
energy incentives division
who handled energy tax credit
sales, Joe Colello, resigned
in August. Colello was one
of the employees who told
brokers and tax credit recipi-
ents they had to follow state
price regulations.
Zollner also did not
provide a reason for his resig-
nation, in a letter to Buckley.
“I appreciate the opportu-
nities I have been given while
at energy,” Zollner wrote in a
Sept. 24 letter released by the
agency.
State auditors who were
investigating a complaint
about the energy department’s
handling of the tax credits this
summer heard that employee
morale was low and turn-
over was high, according
to the auditors’ notes from
interviews with two agency
employees. According to the
agency’s statistics, turnover
was at 32 percent during the
2009-2011 biennium, 50
percent during the 2011-13
biennium and 37 percent in
the 2013-15 biennium.
Agency
spokeswoman
Rachel Wray said that since
the department is small, some
employees leave in order to
advance their careers.
“We’re proud that many
of our employees have gotten
the kind of professional expe-
rience at ODOE that makes
them great candidates for jobs
with more responsibility,”
Wray wrote in an email on
Monday. “As for program
operations, we’ve been
working to improve these
programs and our oversight
of them, and it’s our intention
to make the programs strong
and reliable enough to with-
stand dynamic situations like
staff turnover.”
WOLVES: Killed 8 of Bingham’s sheep on consecutive nights last Sept.
Continued from 1A
The department, which
hasn’t authorized killing
any wolves since two in
2011, turned him down. In a
Sept. 25 letter to Bingham,
ODFW wildlife biologist
Mark Kirsch said non-lethal
measures had worked since
the last attack in late August.
“We are sorry your expe-
rience with Oregon’s forest
lands has been problematic
this year,” Kirsch concluded
in his letter to Bingham. “It
is our hope you complete
your grazing season with no
further loss.”
Department of¿cials also
noted Bingham would be
removing his sheep from the
area in October under the
terms of his seasonal grazing
permit in the Umatilla
National Forest.
Department spokeswoman
Michelle Dennehy said the
Mount Emily pack now is
frequenting the central and
southern part of their known
range area, and the sheep
are in the northeastern edge.
Three of the pack members
wear radio collars that allow
biologists to track their move-
ments.
Bingham is furious, and
said ODFW of¿cials are
dishonest and “two-faced
politicians.”
“It’s unfortunate I trusted
them,” he said by text to the
Capital Press. “The only
interest to them is that the
wolves eat the economy of
Eastern Oregon.”
Bingham
said
he’s
been patient and followed
Oregon’s rules in the face
of repeated losses to wolves
over the past two years. He
estimates he has lost more
than 100 ewes. One guard
dog was killed this year. In
2014 two were injured and
another disappeared and is
presumed dead.
“We have not harmed any
wolves but we are not in the
business of sacri¿cing assets
to feed (ODFW’s) pet dogs,”
Bingham said by text.
ODFW
investigates
It’s not like him.
I found Dad’s remote in the fridge again.
…I’m beginning to get worried.
We can help.
1-855-ORE-ADRC
HelpForAlz.org
Courtesy of Jeremy Bingham
One of four herd guard dogs reportedly killed by wolves
in the Umatilla National Forest. Producer Jeremy
Bingham asked state wildlife officials to kill wolves but
was turned down despite qualifying sheep and dog
losses.
reported livestock attacks but
follows a strict protocol that
includes examining wounds
and measuring bite marks
and tracks before con¿rming
wolves were responsible.
ODFW depredation reports
do not correspond to Bing-
ham’s claimed losses. He
said he didn’t report many
attacks; other producers have
repeatedly said livestock
often disappear in wolf
country. They suspect wolves
kill many more cattle and
sheep than are con¿rmed in
depredation reports.
Bingham
is
general
manager of Utopia Land and
Livestock, a family company
based in Burley, Idaho. He
grazes sheep in Idaho, and
for the past three seasons
held a grazing permit in the
Umatilla National Forest in
Oregon as well. The permit
allowed him to graze 2,000
ewes and lambs for a little
over four months. He must
remove them from public
land Oct. 9.
The Mount Emily pack,
which at the end of 2014 was
thought to consist of seven
wolves, has been a problem.
In September 2014 wolves
attacked Bingham’s sheep on
consecutive nights, killing
a total of eight sheep and
injuring two of ¿ve guard
dogs; a third dog was missing,
according to the initial
ODFW report. The incident
was the ¿rst time herd dogs
were attacked in Oregon, the
department said at the time.
Bingham said he has taken
steps to fend off wolves. He
hired a herder who is with the
sheep 24 hours a day, placed
¿ve to seven guard dogs with
each sheep band, penned
sheep at night on occasion
and deployed alarm lights
and a siren that is activated by
a wolf’s radio collar. He said
a federal Wildlife Services
agent voluntarily sat with the
herd overnight several times.
Bingham said Wildlife
Services and the U.S. Forest
Service, which administers
the grazing allotment, have
been “incredible” agencies to
work with. He said ODFW
led him to believe there was
recourse for the wolf attacks
but now won’t do what’s
allowed under the state plan.
He said allowing wolves to
kill multiple sheep is “just
training pups to be chronic
depredators.” He predicted
elk and antelope populations
will decline due to wolves
and said attacks on humans
will happen.
“ODFW has an agenda
and it is only about politics,
not science,” Bingham said.
PENDLETON • 850 SOUTHGATE RD. • (541) 276-0102
Wednesday,
Sept. 30, 2015
Make Your Best Deal
On DeWalt Tools With
Factory Reps On Hand
From 9 AM - 3 PM
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAM
Foot Notes - Hammertoes
Contracted, buckled toes are
sometimes called claw toe, mallet toe
or hammertoes. These toe deformities
can occur on any of the toes but the
second toe is the most common.
Hammertoes can be caused by the
result of a bunion, which slants the big
toe under the second toe, thus
pushing the toe up and making it
virtually useless.
Some contracted toes are the result
of muscle imbalances, birth defects,
arthritis or due to ill-fitting shoes.
Sometimes a painful corn can result
on the top of the hammertoe, where it
is rubbing shoes. Or, a callous can
develop on the ball of the foot.
Several treatment options are
available. For immediate relief, the
corn or callous can be reduced. Dr.
Clarke and Dr. Hampton offer extra
depth
shoes
with a display
in their office.
These
shoes
allow
more
room
for
buckled toes
with a deeper
toe box area.
Surgery can be done to modify and
straighten the toe. This will eliminate
the painful corn or callous.
Surgery,
shoes,
surgery,
shoes...the decision should not be too
difficult, but it is to some people. You
should see Dr. Clarke or Dr. Hampton
if your hammertoes are a problem.
Ultimately, to be pain-free and
comfortable, your feet need to last a
lifetime. You might as well take care of
them.
S TACEY J. C LARKE , DPM
&
T RAVIS T. H AMPTON , DPM
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Pendleton Medical Center Suite 11 • Pendleton, OR 97801
(541) 963-0265 • (888) 843-9090
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