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DAIRY: Opponents argue it poses risks of pollution
Page 12A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
quality.
Environmental
groups argued Lost Valley
would produce as much
waste as a mid-size city,
while being totally exempt
from air quality controls.
Ultimately,
officials
decided to sign off on the
proposal while requiring “the
most extensive monitoring
of any CAFO permitted
facility to date.”
Lost Valley plans to
operate in a closed-loop
system, similar to Threemile
Canyon Farms. Most of the
waste generated by cows
will be recycled and used
as irrigation for 5,000-plus
acres of farmland, growing
crops such as corn, wheat
and alfalfa to feed the
animals.
Because Lost Valley
is located in the Lower
Umatilla Basin Groundwater
Management Area — a
region known for having
elevated levels of nitrates in
groundwater — the agencies
have crafted a permit they
say will be extra protective
of the local aquifer.
Among the requirements,
Lost Valley must establish
11 groundwater monitoring
wells, which is seven more
than usual. The dairy must
also use a double synthetic
liner with leak detection in
its waste lagoons to protect
groundwater.
Te Velde said Lost Valley
has agreed to everything
stipulated in the permit, and
will continue to work with
the state and communities as
they begin operations.
“We believe that a
well-run dairy should proac-
tively implement environ-
mental protections and earn
its place in the community,”
te Velde said in a statement
Friday.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture says it will
inspect Lost Valley at least
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Jersey cows queue up in the milking parlor at Colum-
bia River Farms in October 2016 outside of Boardman.
A second mega-dairy, Lost Valley Ranch, has been ap-
proved nearby and will bring the dairy cow population
in Morrow County to 100,000.
three times per year to
ensure they are in compli-
ance. CAFOs are typically
inspected only once every
10 months.
“We are visiting them on
a very frequent basis,” said
Lisa Hanson, deputy director
of ODA.
A coalition of environ-
mental groups that has long
opposed Lost Valley remains
unconvinced. They released
a statement Friday saying
the dairy poses significant
risks of pollution and long-
term impacts to the Umatilla
Basin and Columbia River.
The same coalition is
now working to protest a
water rights transfer for the
dairy, which would swap
some of the dairy’s existing
Columbia River water
right with a neighboring
landowner in exchange for
groundwater.
“People are working hard
to restore stream flows for
salmon and protect ground-
water aquifers,” said Brian
Posewitz, staff attorney for
WaterWatch of Oregon.
“Adding 30,000 cows to an
overtaxed system under-
mines hard work to protect
limited water resources.”
Liz Fuller, a spokeswoman
for Lost Valley Farm, said
the transfer relates to water
quality and timing. Without
a substantial upgrade in
the irrigation canal system,
the dairy will not be able
to deliver Columbia River
water outside of the normal
irrigation season.
Lost Valley does have a
few backup plans in case
the water rights transfer
does not go through, Fuller
added, including purchasing
drinking and process water
from the Port of Morrow if
necessary.
“That shouldn’t be a
problem,” she said.
By permitting Lost Valley
Farm, the coalition also
says it points out a gaping
loophole in Oregon law that
exempts large dairies from
monitoring and reducing air
pollution. Groups are hoping
to address that problem
through Salem with Senate
Bill 197, which would
follow through on air quality
controls for dairy farms orig-
inally put forth by a state task
force nearly a decade ago.
“We’re hopeful that
elected officials will be held
accountable by constituents
that have to breathe the
pollution from these facili-
ties,” said Lauren Goldberg,
staff attorney for Columbia
Riverkeeper.
SB 197 is currently being
looked at by the Senate
Environment and Natural
Resources
Committee.
According to a press release,
Lost Valley plans to build
a methane digester in the
next two or three years to
cut down on air emissions at
their farm.
At full build-out, Lost
Valley will create 125-150
union jobs for Morrow
County. Don Russell, a
Morrow County commis-
sioner, said those jobs are
crucial with the closure
of the Boardman Tree
Farm and Upper Columbia
Mill. Increased agriculture
also
means
increased
food production at local
processing plants, he added.
“The whole thing is
woven together,” Russell
said. “We just look forward
to continued growth.”
While the county initially
had questions about how the
dairy would be managed,
Russell said they have always
supported the project. The
environmental protections
go “above and beyond” what
the state normally requires,
he said.
Rep. Greg Smith (R-Hep-
pner) said the project is a win
for the region, and a win for
the state as a whole.
“This project is a result
of collaboration between
the state of Oregon, which
has held this dairy to our
high standards, and an appli-
cant willing to work with
regulators and community
members,” Smith said.
“It demonstrates we can
welcome projects without
compromising our high
standards for protecting the
environment.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
CRIME LAB: Receives about 100 requests a month for case work
Continued from 1A
numbered in part thanks to
gnats.
The tiny insects seem
to come in through the
heating, ventilation and air
conditioning system. Davis
said the state has poured
money into trying to fix the
problem, but the bugs or
other small particles still
come in, and the state is
reluctant to commit more
money to it.
Friday morning, a few
gnats were motionless on
the top of a large black table
top in the center of the lab.
State Police Capt. Alex
Gardner, the director of the
Forensic Services Division,
said staff cleaned the table
Thursday night, but wiping
a cloth over it would show
it was dirty. The level of
contamination means the
team sends large biological
work, such as searching for
evidence on a bed sheet, to
one of the state’s other labs.
Davis said the gnats are a
reason any biological work
at the Pendleton site must be
inside a hood, an enclosed
space about the size of a
cupboard. Plenty of labs use
hoods for biological work,
he said, but in Pendleton it is
mandatory.
In spite of the drawback,
the lab serves counties in
northeast Oregon as well as
Malheur County, Davis said
the lab receives about 100
requests a month for case
work, most of that drug and
driving under the influence
cases.
The Pendleton team
also goes to crime scenes
throughout the region. Davis
said in 2016 the team aver-
aged more than two field
investigations per month,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC vice president public relations Casey White-Zoll-
man gestures while talking about building a new
crime lab on the BMCC campus with Rep. Greg Bar-
reto, Sen. Bill Hansell, deputy district attorney Kate
Hansen and Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan on
Friday in Pendleton.
with Umatilla County the
most frequent and Malheur
County on the southeast
border of the state the
second.
Gardner said if Pendleton
had a fully functioning lab
with eight to 10 staff, it
would cover an even wider
area and accomplish more
work.
Hansell said it seemed
keeping the lab in Pendleton
means finding it a new
home.
Casey
White-Zollman
said
Blue
Mountain
Community College is
working on that. She heads
up public relations at the
college and showed the
group two possibilities.
One would be revamping
classrooms in the college’s
science and technology
building to accommodate
the crime lab and still serve
students. The other would
be more ambitious but ideal
— build a new lab onto the
building’s northwest side.
That would mean taking out
a couple of trees and small
parking area, but would
allow for tighter security, a
major concern for any crime
lab.
White-Zollman also said
the college would be looking
at providing its students
with hands-on education
in working labs and even
possible internships. Barreto
said an internship program
could provide job oppor-
tunities and shift less vital
lab duties and clerical work
to students so scientists
can focus more on doing
forensic analysis.
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CRASH: Roxbury
repaired the $250
in damages to the
fences himself
Continued from 1A
with GM parts numbers
and a trim piece displaying
“Grand Sport,” indicating
the car in question was a
Corvette.
Frazier on April 14 left
a message for Good stating
he made contact with the
car’s owner and expected
him to take care of the
matter. The deputy closed
the case, and Sgt. Adam
Gregory approved the
report on April 16.
The report does not
mention Roxbury, and
nothing in the report indi-
cates Good or anyone else
with the sheriff’s depart-
ment talked to Roxbury.
Corps spokesperson Bruce
Hendrickson
confirmed
Roxbury was the driver
and said Roxbury repaired
the $250 in damages to the
fences himself.
Umatilla Police Chief
Darla Huxel was at the
annual conference of
Oregon Association Chiefs
of Police in Bend when
she got a call telling her
Roxbury was in a crash.
She serves on the board
overseeing the fire district.
She said she could not
remember who called, but
it was likely the on-duty
supervisor for her depart-
ment, and the call came
around the day of the crash.
She said none of her
staff investigated the crash
because it was in the coun-
ty’s jurisdiction. She also
recalled no one was injured
in the wreck, and she said
she did not know what
caused the crash.
“I didn’t ask,” she said.
She also did not ask if the
county or any other agency
investigated the crash.
Roxbury retired from
the fire chief job in May.
In public statements and
an interview with the EO at
the time, he said he needed
out due to stress. He never
mentioned the crash.
He also was under an
administrative investigation
at the time, but he nor the
fire board revealed why and
the outcome has not been
publicized.
A few months later,
Roxbury ran for a seat on
the Umatilla City Council
and won 59 percent of
the vote against Cheryl
Vermillion. Shortly after he
was sworn in, then-mayor
David Trott learned of the
crash. That information,
added to concerns he had
about city manager Russ
Pelleberg’s job application
and handling of a personnel
matter, led Trott to call a
special executive session
with the city council on Jan.
25.
If Trott was hoping for
action, he didn’t get it. After
coming out of the closed-
door meeting that night
the council made no public
statements or actions.
The Oregon Govern-
ment Ethics Commission
confirmed it has not
received any complaints
or requests to investigate
Roxbury, Huxel or Keith
Kennedy, the lieutenant
with
Umatilla
Police
Department. But one could
be coming.
Trott said he still plans
on talking face-to-face
with the ethics commis-
sion about this and other
goings-on in Umatilla.
He resigned as mayor in
March, citing “irreconcil-
able differences” with the
city council. He resigned
as mayor of Umatilla once
before to pursue the city
manager position, which
the council gave to Bob
Ward and transferred to
Pelleberg when Ward
retired.
City councilors were
split in their opinions of
Trott’s resignation; coun-
cilor David Lougee said
he believed Trott was an
honorable man trying to do
right by the city, while Roak
TenEyck said he was glad
Trott resigned after creating
“tumultuous times” for the
city. Neither comment was
made specifically about his
interest in the crash.
Trott, who conducts
investigations in his profes-
sional life, said he has been
seeking answers about
Roxbury’s crash and has
found a wall of silence from
police and people close to
Roxbury. He said he asked
undersheriff Jim Littlefield
for the crash report but got
nowhere.
Trott said he learned
Roxbury had a passenger
that night, Richard Grigsby,
owner of the Umatilla
Self Storage and a former
volunteer firefighter. The
EO called Grigsby and
asked if he would be willing
to talk about the crash. He
said, “No,” and declined to
elaborate.
The EO also sought
comments from Roxbury.
The home phone number
he listed with the county
elections office is discon-
nected. He did not return
voicemails to his cellphone.
He also did not respond
to emails, including one
asking the reason for the
crash and why he did not
report it.
Roxbury is one of four
directors of the Umatilla
Morrow Radio & Data
District and is seeking
re-election. Loren Dieter,
the lieutenant with the
Boardman Police Depart-
ment,
is
challenging
Roxbury for the position.
Kennedy also serves
on the board. He and
Roxbury both attended
Umatilla High School, but
yearbooks from the time
show Kennedy started as
a freshman the fall after
Roxbury’s senior year.
The Umatilla City
Council meets the first
Tuesday of every month at
7 p.m. at city hall.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833
or Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
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SATURDAY
APRIL 15 6 PM
AT THE ROY
RALEY ROOM
Trivia Games 2017
Renovation or construc-
tion, she said, comes down
to the money. Keeping
the Pendleton lab going
where it is now would
cost a little more than $1
million over two years,
according to Oregon State
Police. Brandon Persinger,
Hansell’s
legislative
director, said he would have
to see if that’s about what
this possible project would
have to work with.
Hansell said he did not
find anything Friday to stop
them from pursuing this.
Terry Rowan, Umatilla
County sheriff, and Kate
Hansen, Umatilla County
deputy district attorney,
also joined the tour. They
spoke to the value of having
forensic scientists who can
respond on a moment’s
notice to a crime scene to
gather evidence or later to a
courtroom to give testimony.
Hansen also said while
having a central lab in
Oregon would mean greater
efficiency, it also would cut
off large swaths of people in
rural Oregon from service
they deserve. And this work,
she said, is about serving
people.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
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