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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2017)
STANFIELD/3A 41/24 FIRE DAMAGES STARCH FACTORY PENDLETON BOYS, GIRLS WIN LEAGUE TITLES 1B WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 141st Year, No. 92 WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD The law of the land Police rely on Oregon law when it comes to immigration enforcement By PHIL WRIGHT and JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Despite new executive orders from President Donald Trump, local law enforcement show no signs of helping federal agents capture and detain people in the country illegally. The Department of Homeland Security issued a policy Tuesday expanding deportations and calling for the restart of the “287(g) program,” which allows local law enforcement entities to agree to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with immi- gration enforcement. But Oregon statute prohibits law enforcement agencies of the state from using agency funds, More inside Millions targeted for possible deportation under Trump rules Page 7A equipment or personnel to fi nd and arrest people whose only offense is being “persons of foreign citizen- ship present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.” The Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association published a legal analysis of the law in response to the Trump administration’s Jan. 25 executive order on immigration. “That statute has been in place since 1987,” the analysis states. “And unless the Oregon legislature changes it, that law will continue to prohibit Oregon police offi cers from acting as immigration enforcement offi cers.” Umatilla County does not have a policy on cooperating with federal authorities. Sheriff Terry Rowan in an email said his offi ce “cooperates with ICE as far as the See IMMIGRATION/7A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Samantha Castoldi, with Blue Mountain Wildlife, releases an adult male bald eagle at McKay Reservoir on Tuesday in Pendleton. Rehabbed and released Bald eagles take fl ight in McKay Creek Refuge By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian A cold and steady rain fell Tuesday afternoon at McKay Creek National Wildlife Refuge where Lynn Tompkins and Samantha Castoldi arrived with two bald eagles in plastic carriers. After months of rehabilitation at Blue Mountain Wildlife, the birds were set to be released back into the wild. They took fl ight without any hesitation, and in seconds were soaring effortlessly over the reservoir south of Pendleton. “Two less mouths to feed,” said Tompkins, executive director of Blue Mountain Wildlife, as she watched the eagles fl y. It has been an unusually busy winter at the wildlife rescue, where Tompkins said they have received more than twice as many birds so far in 2017 as they did at this time last year. She fi gures it has something to do with the extreme cold and snow, though it is diffi cult to tell just how much of a role the weather has played. “I’m sure the weather one way or another has had an effect,” Tompkins said. Blue Mountain Wildlife cares for sick, injured and orphaned animals from across Eastern Oregon and Washington. About half of what they get they can’t treat, Tompkins said, which is why “They fl ew very well. They’d been ready to go for a while.” — Lynn Tompkins, executive director of Blue Mountain Wildlife they are so excited when they are able to return native species to their natural habitat. The eagles released Tuesday were initially brought to the center See EAGLES/10A One dollar Savings possible by closing nuclear plant PORTLAND (AP) — A new study says Pacifi c Northwest utility ratepayers could save hundreds of millions of dollars if the Bonneville Power Admin- istration and Energy Northwest close the region’s only commer- cial nuclear power plant in Rich- land, Washington and replace its output with renewable energy. The Portland-based McCullough Research consulting fi rm estimated savings from $261.2 million to $530.7 million over 10 years due to historically low renewable energy prices at the aging plant, The Oregonian/ OregonLive reported. “The rapid drop in renewable energy costs in recent years has been shocking to everyone,” said economist Robert McCullough. “It is now possible to affordably replace aging facilities ... without increasing the region’s carbon footprint.” The report was commissioned by the anti-nuclear group Physi- cians for Social Responsibility and is the latest in a salvo against the economic feasibility and reliability of the aging Columbia Generating Station. The station is all that’s left of a plan to build fi ve nuclear plants in the Northwest, a debacle that led to one of the largest municipal bond defaults in history. The Richland facility was the only one completed. It is an older design that has had a variety of operating issues. Federal regulators recently cleared it to run through 2043. Energy Northwest, a public utility consortium that operates the plant, criticized the report and told the newspaper that the 1,200-megawatt plant has set generating records in four of the past fi ve years. The consortium markets the power through the Bonneville Power Adminstration. The study cited the low cost and abundant supply of renewable power. But the plant’s supporters point out that supply differs from capacity — making sure that power is there when you need it. “The report faults CGS for what makes it so valuable: We make electricity around-the-clock,” said Mike Paoli, a spokesman for Energy Northwest. “With wind and solar, a lot of the generation happens at off-peak times. When peak demand comes, you have to have baseload generation to cover that.” See NUCLEAR/10A Day 30: Carry on Refugees, supply shortages will affect life a month after earthquake By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian AP fi le photo In this May 2016 photo, Washington Air National Guard soldiers from Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Wash., work to assemble temporary living structures at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Wash- ington to train for emergency response in case of a natural disaster. Refugees from the west side of the state will move east after the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, taxing local supplies. Life will go on in Eastern Oregon if the dreaded Cascadia earthquake ever hits the Pacifi c Northwest. But it will not quickly return to normal. It’s unclear how many refugees from the west side of the state will land in Umatilla County, but Joe Franell, CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom and chair of the gover- nor’s Oregon Broadband Advisory Council, said if half of the county’s Editor’s note: This is part three of a fi ve-part series about a possible 9.0 Cascadia subduction zone earthquake in the Pacifi c Northwest. 76,700 residents have family on the west side who come to stay with them, the county’s population could quickly double. See CASCADIA/10A