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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
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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
