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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2016)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian POWER: Paciic Power will invest in 13 wind, solar facilities Continued from 1A moving forward.” Back in Washington, D.C., lawmakers will hold a conference committee meeting to work out the details of a comprehensive energy bill after Congress reconvenes. Wyden, a Demo- crat and senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said developments like the Pend- leton Solar Array should be held front and center of those talks. “This project stands out as a fantastic example of what can be achieved,” Wyden said. “It will make a marvelous example of what I will be advocating for in the coming months in Congress as a member of the conference committee on the energy bill.” Renewable energy received a major political boost in Oregon earlier this year, when the Legislature passed a bill doubling the renewable mandate for Paciic Power and Portland General Electric. The bill requires the utilities to generate 50 percent of power from renewable sources by 2040, while phasing out coal to serve Oregon customers by 2030. Paciic Power, which serves 17,864 customers in Umatilla County and 5,117 customers in Wallowa Pacific Power 2013 energy resource mix* Biomass 0.44% Coal 63.51% Geothermal 0.36% Hydro 5.46% Natural Gas 14.06% Nuclear 0.00% Other 8.32% Solar 0.02% Wind 7.83% * This information is based on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Form I data. The Pacific Power “energy resource mix” is based on energy production and not resource capability, capacity or delivered energy. All or some of the renewable energy attributes associated with wind, biomass, geothermal and qualifying hydro facilities in Pacific Power’s fuel mix may be: (a) used to comply with renewable portfolio standards or other regulatory requirements, (b) sold to third parties in the form of renewable energy credits and/or other environmental commodities or (c) not acquired. Pacific Power’s energy resource mix includes owned resources and purchases from third parties. County, went out to bid in April for a host of renewable projects to comply with the new law. The company recently announced it will invest in 13 wind and solar facilities, 10 of which are located in Oregon. These purchases will allow Paciic Power to meet its renewable portfolio standard through 2028, said spokesman Ry Schwark. Contracts with the facilities are expected to be complete by mid-September. Scott Bolton, vice president of external affairs for Paciic Power, said the rate impact is one-tenth of what the utility originally anticipated. Both Paciic Power and PGE campaigned on behalf of the Clean Elec- tricity and Coal Transition bill, as opposed to ighting a ballot measure they claim would have been much more expensive. Bolton said the cost of renewable energy keeps falling due to increasing development, which has been spurred along by tax credits, carbon regulations and other incentives. “Most of these are solar (developments) that we’re looking at,” Bolton said. “Solar is today where wind was seven or eight years ago.” As it stands, Paciic Power still generates roughly 60 percent of its electricity from coal, and 10 percent from wind and other renewables. That will change as the utility’s coal leet is gradually retired and replaced by other sources. “I think we’re in a great position,” Bolton said. Paciic Power’s Blue Sky program also helped in part to fund the Oregon National Guard solar array, contrib- uting $250,000. The installa- tion also received $814,756 in federal energy funding and $84,319 from the Energy Trust of Oregon. It has been up and running since June 16. Lt. Col. Ken Safe, construction and facility management oficer for the Oregon Army National Guard, said they are working hard toward net-zero initia- tive. “We will have facilities at net-zero by 2020, I guarantee it,” Safe said. “I’m very excited about where we’re going in the future.” Wyden said Congress has exhibited bipartisan support on the development of renewable energy, and is optimistic about the energy bill moving forward. “We will be stronger, and we will be better, with proj- ects like this,” he said. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825. SCHOOL: Roberts explained difference between lockout, lockdown Continued from 1A shooting from happening in the region. One part of the plan was to improve the security infrastructure for the area’s schools, many of which are older and feature many access points. Roberts assessed the security systems for 43 schools in the IMESD, and some of those districts incorporated his recommen- dations in bonds they passed in May. The other part takes signiicantly less money but a lot more coordination — terminology. As an exercise, Roberts told the audience to talk about a recent emergency situation and how they handled it. Administrators shared stories about bomb and gun threats, parents with custo- dial issues demanding to see their children and high speed chases that went around or through campus. Although no students were harmed in these situations, some admin- istrators admitted that miscommunications during these emergencies led to confusion. Sometimes those miscommunications meant irst responders arrived late or not at all. Mulvihill said a region- wide set of security terms for schools and law enforcement would go a long way toward streamlining the response to emergency situations. After talking with school leaders and local law enforce- ment, Roberts compiled a list of terms everyone can use in Umatilla, Morrow and Union counties. One particular point of confusion was the difference between a “lockdown,” and “lockout,” terms that are sometimes used inter- changeably. “I’m just a stupid football coach, but if I call two plays that similar we’d get it wrong half the time,” said Heppner athletic director and teacher Greg Grant. Roberts provided hard deinitions for a lockout and a lockdown, a lockout being a period where a school’s points of entry are closed but business carries on as usual, and a lockdown deined as a time when all students and staff are locked into rooms and out of sight. Other terms Roberts deined included “evacuate,” “shelter” and “reuniica- tion,” the process after an emergency when everyone is accounted for. Mulvihill said that by the end of the meeting, everyone agreed to the terminology, a development he called “transformational” as schools have been working on this issue for the past 10-15 years. In October, Mulvihill said the IMESD is bringing John-Michael Keyes to Pendleton, the co-founder of a nonproit foundation that specializes in emergency response in schools. Keyes’ daughter died in a school shooting in Colorado and his presentations will be part motivational speech and part assessment of the region’s safety protocols. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. IRAN: Paid in cash, delivered aboard an unmarked plane Continued from 1A decades-old dispute over a failed military equipment deal dating to the 1970s, before the Islamic revolution in 1979. Obama also answered political questions at the news conference, pushing back at Republican pres- idential nominee Donald Trump’s suggestions that the November election might be rigged, calling the assertion “ridiculous.” He said his advice to Trump, a candidate he has declared “unit” for the presidency, was to “go out there and try to win the election.” Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will soon be receiving classiied brieings, giving them access to sensitive information about national security and Ameri- ca’s military posture. Asked whether he was worried about Trump having access to such material, Obama said simply that those who want to be president need to start acting like it. “That means being able to receive these brieings and not spread them around,” he said. The president’s appear- ance before reporters followed an hours-long meeting with military leaders at the Pentagon on the ight against the Islamic State group. Obama said there have been gains in weakening IS in Iraq and Syria, but he conceded the extremist group still poses a threat to the United States as it shifts its tactics to carrying out attacks elsewhere around the world. While those attacks may result in less carnage, Obama said IS knows they still create “the kinds of fear and concern that elevates their proile.” The rise of the Islamic State has kept Obama tied to the Middle East in a way he had hoped to avoid in his eighth and inal year in ofice. While the U.S. has far fewer troops in the region than when he took ofice in 2009, Republicans argue that the drawdown of troops from Iraq created a vacuum that allowed the Islamic State to thrive. Asked whether he feels any personal disappointment about not being able to do more to stop the Islamic State, Obama said “I haven’t gotten numb to it. It bugs me.” On Syria, the president criticized Russia’s support of government attacks against opposition forces and its sieges of cities such as Aleppo. He accused Russia of failing to take steps to reduce violence in Syria — where a civil war has raged for much of Obama’s presidency — but said the U.S. would continue trying to push Moscow to focus on the ight against IS and other extremists. On Iran, Obama expressed surprise at criticism of his administration’s cash payment to settle a longstanding legal claim, adamantly rejecting claims that it was a ransom paid for the release of the four Americans. He pointed out that the payment, along with an addi- tional $1.3 billion in interest to be paid later, was announced by the administration when it was concluded in January, a day after the implementation of a landmark nuclear agree- ment with Iran. “It wasn’t a secret. We were completely open about it,” he said. Obama allowed that the one piece of new information, irst reported this week by The Wall Street Journal, was that the $400 million was paid in cash. It was delivered to Iran on palettes aboard an unmarked plane. “The only bit of news is that we paid cash,” he said. “The reason is because we couldn’t send them a check and we couldn’t wire the money. We don’t have a banking relationship with Iran which is part of the pressure we applied on them.” The payment has revived allegations from Trump and other critics of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s campaign released a statement Thursday night accusing the adminis- tration of a “cover-up” and slamming “Obama’s refusal to acknowledge that these funds will end up being used to subsidize terror.” The president’s session at the Pentagon occurred as the Summit Springs Village Assisted Living & Memory Care Condon, OR Pleasant, Comfortable, Individual Rooms AVAILABLE NOW Call Cindy Sara - 541-384-2101 or Email: hesscindy70@gmail.com visit our website: summitspringsvillage.org U.S. was bombing targets in and around the Libyan city of Sirte, a notable expansion of the U.S.-led coalition’s military mission against IS. At the urging of the Pentagon, Obama authorized the strikes that started this week and include precision attacks against IS tanks, rocket launchers and ighting positions. Mired in chaos following the ouster of strongman Moammar Gadhai in 2011, Libya became a target for IS extremists hoping to build a safe haven outside its initial territory in Iraq and Syria. Though the number of IS ighters in Libya has dwin- dled, the U.S. is hoping to help Libya’s ledgling U.N.- backed unity government inish the job. Friday, August 5, 2016 EOTEC: Will ind options to reduce costs, put revised bid out again Continued from 1A his position representing the rodeo on the EOTEC board in February, citing his intention to bid on construction of the new arena after the design was complete. The board had planned to choose a contractor at its regular meeting last Friday but held off after Frew recommended he irst speak to the board’s legal counsel. On Thursday after an executive session Frew said that although Bothum Construction gave the lowest estimate, there was some question about what constitutes the lowest “responsible” bidder. “This question is critical and it has come up over and over again,” he said. He said in this situa- tion, the legal deinition of “responsible” was not the layman’s deinition of being a good person or fulilling commitments. Instead, it is a checklist that includes items such as having the right amount and kind of liability insur- ance, having completed a similar scope of work before and having the right type of license needed to perform the work. Frew said it was their legal counsel’s opinion that the Bothum Construction bid did not fulill all of the components necessary to be considered responsible. The board voted to reject both bids and have the three-person construc- tion committee (made up of Byron Smith from the EOTEC board, Don Miller from the fair board and Mike Kay from the rodeo board) look at a way to quickly ind some options for reducing costs and then put the revised bid package out again for a shortened period of time. “Let’s put them to work,” board member Dan Dorran said. As Bothum and other members of the rodeo board, visibly upset, began to voice questions about the process going forward, board chair Byron Smith cautioned everyone to not let their emotions get the better of them. “Everyone here is emotional about this,” Smith said. “If we’re going to make this happen, it’s not going to be emotional.” “You’re probably right,” Bothum responded, and the meeting was adjourned without further comment from the audience. The next EOTEC meeting will be held Friday, Aug. 12 at 7 a.m. in the West Park Elementary library. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. SEAPORT: 3 non-airworthy planes based in Memphis and San Diego Continued from 1A with the directive and when the next inspections were required for the three planes and one other. According to a July 27 letter from the FAA to SeaPort, the offenses took place between October 2014 and February 2015. Citing the open inves- tigation, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer declined to comment. SeaPort President Tim Sieber said the company notiied the FAA when it learned that an employee hadn’t been conducting inspections. The employee has since been ired. Expecting an ensuing investigation and ine, Sieber said SeaPort has cooperated with the FAA and budgeted dollars to pay for it. Sieber stressed that the overdue inspections were due to the actions of the ired employee and isn’t a systemic issue relective of the airline’s work culture. Although SeaPort oper- ates the only commercial air service between Pendleton and Portland, Sieber said the three non-airworthy planes were based in Memphis, Tennessee and San Diego. SeaPort has 30 days from receiving the letter to respond to the allegations or contest the civil penalty. Sieber said the company plans to respond by requesting a meeting with FAA oficials in hopes of reducing the ines. But even if the FAA doesn’t relent on the $500,000 ine, Sieber said SeaPort has the budget to pay it and it won’t affect the company’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. Inspection failures have been only one factor in a turbulent year for the Port- land-based airline. As SeaPort iled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, the airline started shedding many of its routes across the country and experienced a rash of cancellations and late lights on its Pendleton-Portland route. More bad news has followed in June, when the U.S. Department of Transportation tentatively stripped Pendleton of its $1.8 million Essential Air Service subsidy for exceeding the federal government’s $200 per passenger subsidy cap. Pendleton’s Eastern Oregon Regional Airport relies on the subsidy to offer commercial lights and the city and SeaPort iled a joint objection to the department’s ruling. SeaPort reports improved service since the winter, although boardings remain behind the pace set last year. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836. TM PENDLETON ROUND-UP NATIONAL ANTHEM TRYOUTS Auditions to sing the National Anthem for the 2016 Pendleton Round Up will be held on August 15th at 6pm in front of the North Grandstands. Please arrive early to sign in and be prepared to sing the National Anthem. Full information on the selection process will be available at the audition. You will be considered for both the PBR and the Pendleton Round Up events. For more information call 541-276-2553 or stop by the Round-Up & Happy Canyon Office in the Hall of Fame Bldg. 1114 SW Court, Pendleton, OR
