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WEEKEND, NOVEMBER 19-20, 2016
141st Year, No. 25
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Election
creates
uncertain
future for
migrants
By SOPHIA TAREEN
Associated Press
SCOTT WYN
OF IONE
Visit Kopacz Nursery for
free gardening gloves
Fine-tuning fl ows
Agencies to
address federal
dams in study
Columbia and
Snake river dams
97
mb
Colu ia
Chelan
Seattle
90
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
11
Spokane
WASHINGTON
Wenatchee
90
Olympia
6
5
r
Snake R i ve
Yakima
Astoria
82
Longview
Pacific
Ocean
Vancouver
Portland
101
5
Richland
5
Kennewick
lumbia Riv e r
Co
The
1
Dalles 2
3
84
Umatilla
7
Pasco
4
8
IDAHO
9
Lewiston
Walla Walla
Pendleton
.
After nearly two decades,
the federal government is
taking another look at how
to operate and maintain its
network of dams through the
interior Columbia Basin.
The dams — 14 in all —
are critical to the way of life in
the Pacifi c Northwest. They
provide for the transportation
of goods, irrigation of crops,
recreation for boaters and
anglers and enough hydro-
electricity to power roughly 7
million homes. Agencies also
are responsible for protecting
endangered fi sh, wildlife and
other cultural resources.
Now, thanks in part to a
court order, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau
of Reclamation and Bonne-
ville Power Administration
are developing an updated
environmental
impact
statement, or EIS, that will
impact everything from
salmon survival to the cost of
12
10
Coulee Dam
OREGON
S na
ke
R
See MIGRANT/16A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Bonneville Power Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation will develop an updated environmen-
tal impact statement on the 14 dams on the Columbia River system.
R i ver
CHICAGO — Immi-
gration
hotlines
are
buzzing. Legal clinics are
seeing an infl ux of clients.
Public schools are fi elding
frantic questions from
parents and students.
Since the election,
Donald Trump’s tough
talk on immigration has
stirred anxiety nationwide
among immigrants regard-
less of legal status. They
are turning to lawyers,
schools, advocacy groups
and congressional offi ces
for help.
“We’re operating with
a lot of unknowns, and
a certain amount of fear
comes with that,” said
Vanessa Esparza-López, a
managing attorney at the
Chicago-based National
Immigrant Justice Center.
In Chicago, a hotline
run by the state’s largest
immigrant-rights group
received more than 330
calls in the week after
the election, compared
with the usual 100 or so.
Denver school offi cials
sent a letter to parents
in response to questions
about the election’s effect
on students living in the
country illegally.
The New York Legal
Assistance Group said it’s
receiving 40 to 60 daily
calls about immigration,
up from 20 to 30. The
Coalition for Humane
Immigrant Rights of
Los Angeles reported
19 walk-ins on a single
day, all with citizenship
84
Dams included in the recent court ruling
N
20 miles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Bonneville
The Dalles
John Day
McNary
Ice Harbor
6. Lower Monumental
7. Little Goose
8. Lower Granite
9. Dworshak
10. Albeni Falls
11. Grand Coulee
12. Chief Joseph
13. Libby (Mont.)*
14. Hungry Horse (Mont.)*
*Not shown
Sources: U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers
fl ipping on the light switch.
The process is underway
with a series of public scoping
meetings in Oregon, Wash-
ington, Idaho and Montana,
including Thursday’s stop in
Walla Walla that drew 123
people. The Columbia River
System includes Bonneville,
The Dalles, John Day
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
and McNary dams on the
main stem Columbia River
between Oregon and Wash-
ington, as well as Ice Harbor,
Lower Monumental, Little
Goose and Lower Granite
dams on the Lower Snake
River.
Steve Fischer, environ-
mental team lead for the
Army Corps Northwest
Division in Portland, said
the open house-style meet-
ings are intended to gather
input on issues that will be
analyzed and potentially
incorporated as part of the
fi nal EIS.
“This is a key time in
the process,” Fischer said.
Photo by Andy Porter/Union-Bulletin
Dressed in her orca cos-
tume, Port Townsend resi-
dent Debra Ellers was part
of a small group of dem-
onstrators at a meeting in
Walla Walla Thursday to
draw public comment on a
new Environmental Impact
Statement for 14 federal
dam projects on the Colum-
bia and lower Snake rivers.
“At the end of the day, it’s
not about what we think.
It’s about what the public
thinks.”
Public comments for the
scoping period are due Jan.
17, 2017. The next meeting
will be held Monday from
4-7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn
Express in Pasco.
Breaching dams
The agencies will have
until spring 2020 to come up
See DAMS/16A
UMATILLA COUNTY VOTER TURNOUT
Moving, college and candidates: reasons not to vote
General election
voter turnout
(Percent turnout per region)
Oregon
78.7%
Morrow Co.
76.7
Umatilla Co.
71
U.S.
58.2
Sources: United States Election Project;
Oregon Secretary of State
EO Media Group graphic
3 of 10 registered voters in county didn’t cast a ballot, or at least it wasn’t counted
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Tucker Wilson of Helix
turned 18 last December
and said he voted in both the
primary and general election.
“I’m not necessarily
pleased with the outcome,”
he said. “But I’m hoping for
the best.”
Yet unoffi cial results
from
Umatilla
County
Elections Division show
Wilson’s ballot has not been
counted, and neither were
those of 10,725 other county
residents. That was enough
to give Umatilla County the
worst voter turnout in the
state.
Wilson said he mailed his
ballot Oct. 30 from Spokane,
where he is studying biology
at Whitworth University.
Maybe that was not enough
time, he said, to make it to
the elections department.
More
than
27,600
Umatilla County voters cast
ballots in the November
general election, generating
a turnout just better than 71
percent. The Oregon Secre-
tary of State’s Elections Divi-
sion reported neighboring
Morrow County was at
76.7 percent, and Josephine
County in southwest Oregon
had the second worst turnout
at almost 74 percent. The
statewide voter turnout was
78.5 percent.
Wallowa County had the
top turnout, with almost 85.5
percent of its 5,211 voters
casting ballots.
Counties keep lists of who
voted and who did not. The
East Oregonian obtained a
copy of the Umatilla County
list, which contains the
names, contact information,
and party affi liation of people
registered to vote, as well as
See VOTING/16A