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PANEL: Brown abruptly fired three former members
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East Oregonian
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plants.
The commission is the
policy-making arm of the
Department of Environ-
mental Quality, which regu-
lates a variety of pollutants.
The Republicans praised
Brown’s nominees — a
scientist at Oregon State
University, a tribal council
member who has worked
at DEQ, and a retired wood
products executive.
“Our bone of contention
is not with the three of them,
but for the next 48 hours,
with the governor,” said Sen.
Brian Boquist of Dallas.
“It is this notion of
creating policy without
regulatory or statutory
authority. It is one of those
constitutional
clashes
between the executive
and legislative branches. I
believe most of that will be
resolved in the next day or
two.”
Although he voted no,
Boquist said he expects he
will vote for the nominees
when their names come up
for a vote by the full Senate
for four-year terms.
Brown abruptly fired
three commission members
on March 29 and replaced
them in what Boquist called
“unusual circumstances.”
She said she disputed their
process, but not the result, of
hiring Richard Whitman as
permanent director of DEQ.
Such mass firings are rare,
although Neil Goldschmidt
requested and received
resignations from all five
members of the Oregon
Transportation Commission
upon becoming governor in
1987.
No quid pro quo
All the replacement
nominees told the committee
their appointments were not
contingent upon automatic
support of the new plan,
which would allow DEQ to
regulate pollutants gener-
ated from several sources
in the same area even if an
individual’s pollutants are
considered at a safe level.
“If the governor appoints
you, I certainly would listen
to her input,” said Robert
“Wade” Mosby of Lake
Oswego, the retired wood
products executive. “It does
not mean I would rule with
what the governor says; that
was never implied.”
Mosby has worked
for several companies,
including the privately held
forest products company
now known simply as Rose-
burg, although it is based in
Springfield. He was a senior
vice president for Collins,
another company based in
Portland.
“We recognize the desire
that there needs to be a
better path in Oregon for
managing and regulating
air toxics,” said Kathleen
George, a council member
of the Confederated Tribes
of the Grand Ronde and a
former DEQ employee who
worked with small commu-
nities for compliance. “The
details of that have not been
shared with us beyond an
overview of the air quality
program.”
“The minute you talk
about using a natural
resource, it is automatically
contentious,” said Molly
Kile, an associate professor
at OSU’s College of
Public Health and Human
Sciences, who specializes in
how exposure to chemicals
affect public health.
“It is important that
you hear from different
stakeholders involved,” she
added, especially those who
are often unrepresented in
these public debates.
Senate
Republican
Leader Ted Ferrioli of John
Day responded: “I think the
reticence of these members
to comment without full
information gives me confi-
dence that they understand
the complexities of these
issues.”
Tough job ahead
Brown appointed the
advisory panel last year after
public reaction to pollutants
generated by two Portland
eastside glassmakers —
Bullseye Glass, which is
now in compliance, and
Uroboros Glass, which
was sold in December and
its production moved to
Mexico — and by Precision
Castparts at its plant in
Southeast Portland.
The panel’s plan also
calls for the state to set
health-based concentrations
for 215 toxic air pollutants,
up from the current 52.
Formal rulemaking by the
commission would start in
a year.
Majority
Democrats
were largely silent. But Sen.
Lee Beyer of Springfield,
who sat on the Public Utility
Commission from 2001 to
2010, had an observation for
the nominees.
“As someone who spent
a decade as a regulator, I
know what you are getting
into,” he said. “I can guar-
antee that people will not be
happy with your decisions
from one side or the other.”
Trump team vows pressure on NKorea
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Trump administration
told lawmakers Wednesday
it will apply economic and
diplomatic pressure on
North Korea to dismantle its
nuclear weapons program,
as an extraordinary White
House briefing served to
tamp down talk of military
action against an unpre-
dictable and increasingly
dangerous U.S. adversary.
President Donald Trump
welcomed Republican and
Democratic senators before
his secretary of state, defense
secretary, top general and
national intelligence director
conducted a classified
briefing. The same team was
also meeting with House
members in the Capitol to
outline the North’s esca-
lating nuclear capabilities
and U.S. response options to
what they called an “urgent
national security threat.”
After weeks of unusu-
ally blunt military threats,
the joint statement by the
agency chiefs said Trump’s
approach “aims to pressure
North Korea into disman-
tling its nuclear, ballistic
missile and proliferation
programs by tightening
economic sanctions and
pursuing
diplomatic
measures with our allies
and regional partners.” It
made no specific mention of
military options, though it
said the U.S. would defend
itself and friends.
The
unprecedented
meeting in a building adja-
cent to the White House
reflected the increased
American
alarm
over
North Korea’s progress in
developing a nuclear-tipped
missile that could strike the
U.S. mainland. A flurry of
military activity, by North
Korea and the U.S. and its
partners on and around the
divided Korean Peninsula,
has added to the world’s
sense of alert.
While tensions have
increased since Trump took
office, they’ve escalated
dramatically in recent weeks
as American and other intel-
ligence agencies suggested
the North was readying
for a possible nuclear test.
Although such an explosion
hasn’t yet occurred, Trump
has sent high-powered
U.S. military vessels and
an aircraft carrier to the
region in a show of force,
while the North conducted
large-scale, live-fire artillery
drills, witnessed by national
leader Kim Jong Un, earlier
this week.
On Wednesday, South
Korea started installing key
parts of a contentious U.S.
missile defense system that
also has sparked Chinese
and Russian concerns.
America’s Pacific forces
commander, Adm. Harry
Harris Jr., told Congress
on Wednesday the system
would be operational within
days. He said any North
Korean missile fired at U.S.
forces would be destroyed.
“If it flies, it will die,”
Harris said.
The Trump administra-
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
This photo distributed on Wednesday by the North
Korean government, shows what was said to be a
“Combined Fire Demonstration” held to celebrate
the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army.
tion has said all options,
including a military strike,
are on the table. But the
administration’s statement
after briefing senators —
all 100 members were
invited — outlined a similar
approach to the Obama
administration’s focus on
pressuring
Pyongyang
to return to long-stalled
denuclearization
talks.
Trump’s top national secu-
rity advisers said they were
“open to negotiations” with
the North, though they gave
no indication of when or
under what circumstances.
The strategy hinges
greatly on the cooperation
of China.
“China is the key to this,”
said Sen. John McCain, who
got a preview of Trump’s
message at a dinner with the
president this week.
Among the options are
returning North Korea to
the U.S. state sponsor of
terrorism blacklist, which
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said last week
was under consideration.
His spokesman, Mark
Toner, said Wednesday that
another tactic is getting
nations around the world to
close down North Korean
embassies and consulates,
or suspending them from
international organizations.
But sanctions will be the
greatest tool at the Trump
administration’s disposal.
Tillerson is chairing a U.N.
Security Council meeting
Friday designed to get
nations to enforce existing
penalties on North Korea
and weigh new ones.
Testifying before the
House Armed Services
Committee, Harris said
he expects North Korea to
soon be able to develop a
long-range missile capable
of striking the United States,
as Kim has promised. “One
of these days soon, he will
succeed,” Harris said.
North Korea’s U.N.
mission said the nation
would react to “a total war”
with Washington by using
nuclear weapons. It vowed
victory in a “death-defying
struggle against the U.S.
imperialists.”
Trump, like presidents
before him, faces difficult
options. Sanctions haven’t
forced
Pyongyang
to
abandon its nuclear efforts,
but a targeted U.S. attack
to take out its weapons
program risks a wider war
along a heavily militarized
border near where tens of
millions of South Koreans
live. The threat would
extend to nearby Japan,
another country North
Korea regularly threatens.
China has urged restraint
by both Pyongyang and
Washington.
Foreign
Minister Wang Yi said
North Korea must suspend
its nuclear activities, but
“on the other side, the large-
scale military maneuvers in
Korean waters should be
halted.”
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Frank Harkenrider (right) stands with Hermiston Mayor
David Drotzman at the official groundbreaking of the
Harkenrider Center on Wednesday.
SENIORS: Arrived in limousine
Continued from 1A
of the senior center board, a
50-year lease of the site from
Hermiston School District,
a $2 million Community
Development Block Grant
from the federal government
and $750,000 from the city
of Hermiston.
Frank Harkenrider, whose
name the center will bear,
was front and center at the
proceedings, pumping his fist
and yelling “Yay!” when he
reached the row of ceremo-
nial golden shovels lined up
for a photo op.
Drotzmann said the city
felt it appropriate to name the
center after Harkenrider in
recognition of the 50 years of
time he put in as a Hermiston
city councilor and mayor.
“That’s 50 years of public
service to the community,”
he said.
The building will include
a large gathering space,
two breakout rooms, office,
restrooms, a kitchen, balcony,
elevator and unfinished base-
ment. A landscaped parking
area will stretch across where
Ridgeway Avenue curves
into Northeast Second Street
and into the current parking
lot behind Hermiston Public
Library.
To celebrate the occasion
the senior center board
arrived via limousine. Board
member Virginia Beebe said
she arranged the treat as a
surprise for the group after
the hard work they have put
in on the project.
Beebe said right now her
biggest hope for the new
senior center is for the city to
“build it as fast as they can.”
The
building
isn’t
expected to be ready until
late 2017 or early 2018, she
said, but the seniors will have
to leave their current building
in May to make way for the
school district’s demolition
of the buildings on the fair-
grounds.
In the interim, Our Lady
of Angels Catholic Parish
at 565 W. Hermiston Ave.
has offered up space for the
senior center to continue
to serve meals to seniors
starting May 16.
“It’s a different kitchen,
but it’s a doable kitchen,”
Beebe said.
Karen Blair, the senior
center’s cook, said the site of
the Harkenrider Center is the
former site of Armand Larive
Middle School, where she
attended seventh and eighth
grade.
“It’s kind of full circle,”
she said. “It’s just kind of
crazy, so much has changed.
But this is home, and to help
out with the seniors, it’s a
blessing for me.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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