77/53
SPORTS/1B
SCHMIDT
BLOSSOMS
AT CARROLL
Woman, 89, charged
with hate crime
REGION/3A
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015
139th Year, No. 253
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
12 nations
ink out
trade deal
One dollar
BOARDMAN
Gas giant on horizon
Plant will provide
power to 840,000
west-side users
Wheat growers cheer pact;
Congress will get final say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Having
hammered out an ambitious trade deal with
11 Paci¿ c Rim countries, the Obama admin-
istration now faces a potentially tougher
task: selling the deal to a skeptical Congress.
The countries reached a contentious
trade pact Monday that cuts trade barriers,
sets labor and environmental standards and
protects multinational corporations’ intel-
lectual property after marathon negotiating
sessions in Atlanta through the weekend.
The Trans-Paci¿ c Partnership is designed
to encourage trade between the United
States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore
and Vietnam. “This partnership
Together,
the countries levels the playing
account
for
40
percent fi eld for our farm-
of
world ers, ranchers, and
economic
output.
manufacturers by
“We think it
eliminating more
helps de¿ ne the
rules of the road
than 18,000
for the Asia-Pa-
ci¿ c region,” taxes that various
said U.S. Trade
countries put on
Rep. Michael
Froman.
our products.”
For
Pres-
—
President
Barack Obama
ident Barack
Obama,
the
trade deal is a major victory on a centerpiece
of his international agenda.
Obama has pursued the pact against the
objections of many lawmakers in his own
Democratic Party and instead forged rare
consensus with Republicans.
Trade unions and other critics say the deal
will expose American workers to foreign
competition and cost jobs. Given the oppo-
sition, the pact’s “fate in Congress is at best
uncertain,” said Lori Wallach, a leading TPP
critic and director of Public Citizen’s Global
Trade Watch.
Obama has cast the agreement as good for
Americans workers and crucial to countering
China and expanding U.S. inÀ uence in the
Asia-Paci¿ c.
See TRADE/10A
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Contributed photo by Michael Durham
Parts of the steam turbine await installation during construction of the Carty Generating Sta-
tion in August 2015.
Pendleton Guard unit
to provide heavy lifting
against Islamic State
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
Family, friends and dignitaries
gathered Saturday to bid farewell
to a group of citizen soldiers who
will soon take time away from
their loved ones and careers in
service of their country.
About 60 Oregon Army
National Guard soldiers with
the 1st Battalion, 168th Aviation
Regiment, were honored in a
mobilization ceremony at the
Army Aviation Support Facility
at the Pendleton airport before
deployment to Kuwait in support
of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Oregon Secretary of State
Jeanne Atkins said the regiment
would aid in United States
and allied efforts against “the
so-called Islamic State ... a true
enemy of humanity.”
“On behalf of Gov. Kate
Brown, commander in chief of
the Oregon National Guard, and
for all of my fellow Oregonians,
I am deeply honored to be here
today and to have this chance to
say how proud we are of all of
you as you prepare to embark
on a mission that is vital to our
long-term security and that of
our allies over seas,” she said.
“... The name of the operation is
very telling. It reÀ ects our shared
determination and our ¿ rm
resolve to turn back the tide of
violent fanaticism that threatens
countless innocent lives and has
See GUARD/10A
The road to Portland
General
Electric’s
new
440-megawatt
natural
gas-¿ red power plant in
Boardman is lined with stray
onions, irrigation pivots and
the lingering smell of beef
cattle.
Yet among this isolated
stretch of farmland is an
all-too-perfect intersection of
water, gas and transmission
lines to feed the steel beast
under construction on the
Eastern Oregon countryside.
:hen ¿ nished, the Carty
Generating Station will
provide a dependable base
load of electricity over the
Cascades to roughly 840,000
PGE customers in the Portland
metro area south to Salem.
Of¿ cials say the plant should
come online by mid-2016.
PGE is certainly no
stranger to the Boardman area.
The Carty plant — named for
the nearby Carty Reservoir —
lies within a stone’s throw of
the existing Boardman Coal
Plant on Tower Road, while
the Coyote Springs Gener-
ating Station cranks out about
350 megawatts of power at
the Port of Morrow industrial
park.
Carty is designed for a
30-year lifespan, tapping into
the TransCanada gas pipeline
25 miles away in Ione. Natural
gas will eventually rush to the
station via a 20-inch-diameter
pipeline buried four feet
underground, weaving its way
around crop circles and the
nature conservancy.
Project manager Jaisen
Mody oversees the enormous
development, which includes
600 construction workers
running cranes, welders and a
multitude of heavy machinery
See GAS/10A
PENDLETON
Wheat growers
called to engage
with CBARC
3 scientists retire in last 2 years
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Sean Hart
Oregon Army National Guard Sgt. August Radke hugs his
6-year-old daughter, Carleigh, before a mobilization cer-
emony Saturday at the Pendleton airport. Radke is one
of about 60 citizen soldiers being deployed to Kuwait to
transport personnel and equipment using Chinook heli-
copters in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
The Columbia Basin Agricultural Research
Center has seen plenty of turnover in just over
two years.
Three longtime scientists are now gone
from the Pendleton station, including former
director Steve Petrie, who left in 2013 for a job
in the private sector. Agronomist Dan Ball and
plant pathologist Richard Smiley also retired,
taking decades of knowledge and experience
with them.
Local wheat farmers depend on CBARC
— run by the Oregon State University College
of Agricultural Sciences — for the latest
information on new crop varieties and growing
techniques that can help them save money and
increase production.
After losing so many familiar faces, univer-
sity and industry leaders say it will take time
to forge new relationships, but they remain
committed to working together.
Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat
Growers League, wrote a column for the
October edition of Oregon Wheat Magazine
reminding growers they too have a role in
outreach.
“There’s new people, new personalities. It’s
See CBARC/10A