NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Wednesday, January 11, 2017 Environmental groups want work halted on Snake River dams BRIEFLY Railroad sues to force approval of track expansion By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE — Environmental groups are asking a federal court to halt 11 infrastructure projects on four lower Snake River dams in Washington state that could ultimately be removed if a pending review determines the dams need to come out to help salmon. The 45-page notice filed late Monday in Portland, Oregon, esti- mates the cost of the projects at $110 million. The National Wildlife Federation and the other groups in a separate, 29-page filing also late Monday asked that the federal government be ordered to spill more water in the spring over the four Snake River dams and four more on the Columbia River to help migrating salmon. A federal judge ruled in May that the U.S. government hasn’t done enough to improve Northwest salmon runs and ordered an environmental impact statement that’s due out in 2021, urging officials to consider removing the dams. The environmental groups contend that infrastructure improvements shouldn’t be allowed at the dams during the review. “These kinds of investments should be suspended to ensure a level playing field for all of the alternatives agencies must consider, including the alternative of lower Snake River dam removal,” Kevin Lewis of Idaho Rivers United said in a statement. The review process is being conducted under the National Envi- ronmental Policy Act, or NEPA, an MOSIER (AP) — Union Pacific is asking a federal judge to reject local rules that threaten to derail its plans to add a second main track along the Columbia River Gorge where a crude oil train derailed last June. The Omaha, Nebras- ka-based railroad filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Wasco County and the Columbia River Gorge Commission, which moved to block the project last fall. Union Pacific says federal rules govern railroads, so local restrictions like the ones Wasco County approved don’t apply to the project. The chair of the Wasco County board of commis- sioners, Rod Runyon, said Tuesday that he was surprised by the lawsuit. He says he had not yet seen the lawsuit to comment further. The derailment last June sparked a massive fire near Mosier, Oregon, and renewed concerns about the safety of trains that carry crude oil across the region. The complaint was filed in federal court in Oregon. Bob Brawday/The Tri-City Herald via AP, File In this 2013 aerial file photo, the Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake Riv- er is seen near Pasco, Wash. Environmental groups are asking a federal court to halt 11 infrastructure projects on four lower Snake River dams in Washington state that could ultimately be removed following an environmental review now underway. umbrella law that covers the Endan- gered Species Act. Thirteen species of salmon and steelhead on the Columbia and Snake rivers have been listed as federally protected over the past 25 years. Four of the listed species are found in Idaho. The Snake River dams cited in the documents are Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite. They’re the four lowest dams on the 1,000-mile-long Snake River, itself a tributary to the Columbia River. The four dams are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and were built in the 1960s and 1970s. Officials with the federal agency didn’t return a call from The Associ- ated Press on Tuesday. Northwest River Partners, which represents a coalition of businesses and river users and has intervened on the side of the federal government, is against removing the dams. “We need to keep investing in crit- ical infrastructure like the Snake River dams,” said Terry Flores, director of the Portland-based group. “We need to keep them well maintained so we can keep the lights on and keep people safe and warm, and the economy running.” The $110 million listed in the docu- ment filed Monday is an estimate by the environmental groups that said the Army Corps of Engineers declined to provide precise numbers. The groups say more than half of the money is being spent on Ice Harbor Dam and includes new turbine blades. Woman found dead at crash may have been stabbed ONTARIO (AP) — A woman who died in a head-on crash following her reported abduction has been identified as an Idaho woman who had been married to the man suspected of kidnapping her. Anita Harmon, 40, of Weiser, Idaho, died at the scene Monday after the Dodge pickup in which she was a passenger crossed a centerline on an Eastern Oregon highway and collided with an SUV, Oregon State Police said. The driver of the SUV, 38-year-old David Bates of Vale, Oregon, also died. Police in Ontario, Oregon, were chasing the pickup after being alerted that a woman was being held against her will Delegates urge Trump to fund Hanford work SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The entire congressional delegation from Washington is asking President-elect Donald Trump to make environmental cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation a priority. Hanford for years made plutonium for nuclear weapons, and now is engaged in a multi-decade cleanup of the resulting waste at a cost of some $2 billion per year. Both of Washington’s senators and all 10 members of the House of Representatives sent Trump a letter on Monday asking him to support the cleanup that employs some 9,000 workers at Hanford, located north of Richland. “This work is essential to protecting the health and safety of the Tri-Cities community, the Columbia River, Washington state, and our nation from waste that was created from over 40 years of nuclear weapons production,” the bipartisan letter said. The letter noted that Congress and previous presidents have recognized the legal and moral obligation of the federal government to clean up Hanford, which contains some 55 million gallons of some of the world’s most dangerous radioactive wastes. “A critical component to this support is proper funding levels,” the letter said. Studies have projected that the Hanford cleanup will take decades to complete and that funding should be increased to $3 billion a year to achieve deadlines. The 580-square-mile Hanford site was created during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to beat Japan to the atomic bomb. During four decades, Hanford produced more than 65 percent of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. In addition to the 55 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks, the site contains thousands of tons of used nuclear fuel, huge volumes of solid radioactive waste, thousands of contaminated buildings and contaminated soil and groundwater. “This is the largest and most complex environmental remediation project in the nation,” the lawmakers said. “Any lapses in in funding for the site puts workers and communities at risk.” The letter noted that the federal government is subject to legally enforceable milestones for cleaning up the waste through a consent decree with the state of Washington. Didn’t receive your paper? Call 1-800-522-0255 before noon Tuesday through Friday or before 10 a.m. Saturday for same-day redelivery — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group TODAY THURSDAY Very cold with a bit of snow Mostly sunny and very cold FRIDAY SATURDAY Sunshine and very cold Very cold with clouds and sun SUNDAY Cold with some sun PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 23° 20° 9° 7° 20° 10° 24° 13° 29° 20° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 21° 25° 11° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH LOW 36° 24° 41° 27° 59° (2006) -21° (1909) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.13" 0.68" 0.57" 0.68" 0.06" 0.57" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 30° 41° 69° (1959) 21° 28° -3° (1993) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.20" 0.41" 0.40" 0.41" 0.05" 0.40" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full Last Jan 12 Jan 19 New Jan 27 21° 12° 24° 13° 28° 22° Seattle 35/23 ALMANAC Yesterday Normals Records 8° 7:34 a.m. 4:33 p.m. 4:14 p.m. 6:32 a.m. First Feb 3 Today Spokane Wenatchee 17/-2 19/3 Tacoma Moses 37/18 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 21/1 20/6 37/25 35/19 30/3 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 35/22 Lewiston 21/7 25/9 Astoria 27/14 37/26 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 33/21 Pendleton 26/5 The Dalles 25/11 23/9 29/11 La Grande Salem 27/8 39/23 Albany Corvallis 39/24 42/27 John Day 30/12 Ontario Eugene Bend 35/10 43/27 24/7 Caldwell Burns 37/15 30/5 Astoria Baker City Bend Brookings Burns Enterprise Eugene Heppner Hermiston John Day Klamath Falls La Grande Meacham Medford Newport North Bend Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Redmond Salem Spokane Ukiah Vancouver Walla Walla Yakima Hi 37 24 24 47 30 26 43 22 25 30 34 27 24 44 42 47 35 23 23 33 21 39 17 22 33 21 30 Lo 26 -1 7 35 5 5 27 8 11 12 15 8 8 29 29 33 10 1 9 21 3 23 -2 5 20 7 3 W sn sn sn sh sn sn sn sn sn sn sn sn sn sn r r sn c sn sn sn sn pc sn sn sn pc Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Lo 20 62 38 38 44 13 39 29 23 70 38 W s c s pc pc pc c s s pc s Lo 25 -2 7 34 -4 -4 21 4 8 10 0 3 2 23 27 30 5 -1 7 16 5 17 0 -2 16 5 -2 W s s pc pc pc s pc s s pc pc s s pc pc pc pc s s s pc pc s s s s s Thu. Hi 42 70 57 43 73 22 45 53 35 80 53 Lo 21 61 41 33 44 19 33 49 17 71 41 W s c pc r pc sn r sh pc pc s WINDS Medford 44/29 (in mph) Klamath Falls 34/15 Boardman Pendleton REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Showers around today, but a little snow across the north. Eastern and Central Oregon: Snow today, 1-2 inches across the north, in the south, central parts and the up- per Treasure Valley and up to an inch near the Cascades. Western Washington: Snow at times today, accumulating 1-2 inches across the south; partly sunny elsewhere. Eastern Washington: Times of clouds and sun today, but sunnier in the north. Partly cloudy tonight. Cascades: A bit of snow with little or no accumulation today. Northern California: Showers around today; snow, accumulating 1-3 inches in the interior mountains. Today Thursday NE 4-8 WNW 4-8 ENE 4-8 N 4-8 UV INDEX TODAY Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. 0 0 0 0 0 NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: • call 541-966-0818 • fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers in at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit a Letter to the Editor: mail to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. WORLD CITIES Hi 44 72 54 52 72 18 52 45 35 97 47 Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Thu. Hi 40 17 27 48 22 21 36 21 21 30 29 21 24 40 41 46 24 14 20 32 22 35 15 21 33 16 18 BEND (AP) — A proposed housing development on a former mining site in Deschutes County could again be up for approval this year. The Bulletin reports that Lower Bridge LLC applied to create residential lots on 157 acres at the site west of Terrebonne, but they withdrew the application in May. Deschutes County Senior Planner Will Groves says he expects Lower Bridge to submit a new proposal in 2017 for the same project. Grove says Lower Bridge officials intend to craft a new application that will avoid some of the issues the initial proposal faced. Before withdrawing the application, county commis- sioners said parts of the site are zoned incorrectly. A portion of the site was used decades ago to extract a type of rock containing silica. Hazardous and radiological waste was cleaned up from the site in the 1980s. Corrections REGIONAL CITIES Forecast Developers eyeing mine site expected to re-submit proposal The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. Advertising Director: Marissa Williams 541-278-2669 • addirector@eastoregonian.com Advertising Services: Laura Jensen 541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Terri Briggs 541-278-2678 • tbriggs@eastoregonian.com • Elizabeth Freemantle 541-278-2683 • efreemantle@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Chris McClellan 541-966-0827 • cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com • Stephanie Newsom 541-278-2687 • snewsom@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Subscriber services: For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255 and had been stabbed. Ontario Police Chief Cal Kunz said it has yet to be determined if the woman died from stab wounds or the crash impact. The suspect driving the Dodge, Anthony Montwheeler of Nampa, Idaho, survived with serious injuries. He remained in a hospital Tuesday and has yet to be charged with a crime. Harmon’s car was found abandoned in the middle of a street in Weiser, 20 miles north of Ontario. It was not immediately clear if Montwheeler and Harmon were separated or divorced. The pair had co-owned a scrap-metal business based in Weiser. They were convicted of first-degree theft in 2012 after underpaying an elderly couple by more than $10,000. Montwheeler was sentenced to two years in prison and his wife was sentenced to 16 months in prison. 0 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High; 8-10, Very High; 11+, Extreme The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num- ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017 -10s -0s showers t-storms 0s 10s rain 20s flurries 30s 40s snow ice 50s 60s cold front 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low National Summary: Milder air with spotty rain will affect the South and East as spotty snow and colder air seep into the North Central states. Rain will soak the California coast with lowering snow levels inland in the West. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 88° in McAllen, Texas Low -17° in Lewistown, Mont. NATIONAL CITIES Today Albuquerque Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Fargo Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Hi 58 66 51 49 7 69 38 50 71 56 42 50 78 50 44 70 -6 1 82 79 55 73 57 64 71 63 Lo 31 50 43 42 -2 59 15 39 52 53 25 49 62 29 39 42 -14 -11 68 65 53 50 17 47 60 52 W pc c c c sf c sn r pc r c sh pc pc sh pc pc pc s pc r s c pc sh r Thur. Hi 55 69 61 63 11 70 27 54 75 64 30 56 77 36 39 68 -8 3 83 78 59 75 30 57 72 57 Lo 36 52 47 46 4 57 8 41 51 44 12 23 60 18 21 42 -29 -22 67 64 24 52 17 45 43 45 W c pc pc c pc pc pc c s sh sn r pc c r pc c s s c r s pc pc t r Today Louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Oklahoma City Omaha Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco Seattle Tucson Washington, DC Wichita Hi 61 69 79 39 12 66 75 51 73 35 50 66 46 51 51 4 43 56 63 42 65 56 35 71 51 65 Lo 58 62 67 21 0 61 62 45 38 9 42 49 35 36 47 -2 27 43 43 26 54 46 23 42 45 21 W r sh pc c sn sh pc pc pc c pc pc r r c sn sf sh sh sh r sh pc pc c pc Thur. Hi 65 70 81 26 12 69 76 58 51 23 61 66 46 53 66 13 37 51 43 34 61 52 35 72 64 38 Lo 33 48 70 8 -14 48 61 44 29 9 46 51 36 41 51 2 24 36 24 18 51 41 24 48 49 21 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. W t c pc sn pc c pc r pc c c c c c s c sf c c sn r pc s pc c pc