REGION
Saturday, May 13, 2017
BOARDMAN
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
PGE suspends new gas power plants EOTEC progresses
By TED SICKINGER
By The Oregonian
Portland General Electric
has suspended efforts to
permit two new natural gas
plants at a site in Boardman,
saying it is in negotiations to
potentially acquire existing
resources instead.
The
company
had
initiated the permitting
process to be ready if the
plants were selected as the
least-cost, least-risk option
in an upcoming competitive
bidding process for new
generating resources. The
company originally forecast
that it would need more
than 800 average megawatts
of new capacity resources
by 2021, meaning power
plants that aren’t weather
dependent.
The permitting move
prompted significant blow-
back from environmental
groups, who don’t want the
utility to replace the coal-
fired plant it plans to shut in
2020 with another fossil fuel
resource that emits signifi-
cant carbon dioxide.
Ratepayer
advocates
and independent power
producers were also critical
of the effort, saying PGE
was looking to manipulate
the competitive bidding
process by giving a leg up to
a self-build option that would
favor its shareholders. They
asked the company to look
for other options rather than
locking itself into another
30- to 40-year investment in
new plants.
The company has since
reduced its forecast of future
needs by 71 megawatts,
secured a 10-year contract
for 135 megawatts of hydro-
power, and executed contracts
for another 52 megawatts
of power with independent
producers. Now the utility
is in bilateral negotiations to
acquire more capacity from
existing resources.
“It’s appropriate for us
to suspend the permitting
process at Carty until we
complete these negotiations,”
said Jim Piro, PGE’s chief
executive.
PGE is required by state
law to put its purchases
of new power plants and
resources out for competitive
bidding. If it can reach a deal,
it will ask state regulators
for permission to waive
those requirements, though
it may still need to solicit
more resources to meet its
projected needs.
PGE is still proposing to
conduct a bidding process
to acquire 175 average
megawatts of new renewable
resources.
“PGE has maintained an
extensive dialogue with our
regulators, customers and
many stakeholder groups
throughout our current
resource planning process,”
Piro added. “We appreciate
their input, and we’re
working hard to identify cost
effective options.”
BRIEFLY
Local high schools
return from
robotics world final
Two Umatilla County
high school robotics teams
have returned from the
FIRST Robotics Competition
World Finals in Houston
with some valuable experi-
ence and memories.
In its sixth year with a
robotics program, Umatilla
High School took 48
members of the Confidential
team to Texas, according
to a press release from the
InterMountain Education
Service District.
Confidential and its robot,
Dewey, performed well
enough that they were able
to advance to the “World
Level” for the first time
in school history, joining
an alliance of teams from
Georgia, California and
Israel.
Although Confidential
bowed out during the
quarterfinal round, students
were grateful for their time at
the finals.
“Going to Houston was
so exciting, it’s an experience
that I wouldn’t miss for the
world,” Umatilla junior
Madison Finck said.
Pendleton High School
took their first trip to finals,
sending six members from
the Modern Americans team
and their robot, BillyBot.
Being rookies at the
competition, Pendleton
received help throughout the
competition from Umatilla
in the form of equipment
transportation and robot
troubleshooting.
Despite some help from
another team from the
Northwest, Circuit Breakers,
Modern Americans were
not able to make it past the
qualifying rounds, although
it didn’t dampen their pride.
“The magnitude of the
friendly competition was
enormous!” PHS freshman
Landon Thornburg said.
Both teams also received
Photo courtesy of the Umatilla School District
The Confidential robotics team from Umatilla High
School attended the FIRST Robotics Competition
World Finals in Houston in April.
guided tours at NASA’s
Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center, producing another
learning opportunity.
Jimenez pleads
not guilty to
shooting crime
PENDLETON — Cesar
Corcuera Jimenez, 26, of
Hermiston pleaded not guilty
Tuesday to trying to kill a
man last week in Morrow
County.
The district attorney’s
office on Tuesday arraigned
Jimenez on the following
charges based on a grand
jury indictment: attempt to
commit murder; first-degree
assault; felon in possession
of a firearm; unlawful use
of a weapon; menacing; and
pointing a firearm at another.
The state accused Jimenez
of shooting and injuring
Robert Aguilera with a
.22-caliber rifle on April 29.
Hermiston police chief
Jason Edmiston stated
Jimenez “is responsible for a
rash of criminal activity that
took place” that weekend.
Circuit court records show
Jimenez has several previous
criminal cases, including a
2012 conviction in Umatilla
County for second-degree
assault. He also has a case
pending in Umatilla County
Mother’s Day
Prime
Rib
Buffet
Sunday, May 14 10am - 2pm
Featuring
CARVED SLOW ROASTED PRIME RIB
ROASTED RED POTATOES
FRESH GREEN BEANS WITH BACON
CHICKEN BUNKHOUSE PASTA
WHISKY MEATBALLS
FESTIVE SCRAMBLED EGGS
APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON
SAUSAGE PATTIES
HAMLEY BISCUITS & GRAVY
CHEESE BLINTZES
HAMLEY CAESAR SALAD
HAMLEY CRANBERRY SPINACH SALAD
FRESH FRUIT SALAD
ASSORTED DESSERTS
ALL YOU CAN EAT
26
1 6
$
per
person
$
kids
6-12
CMLL TODMY FOR RESERVMTIONS
541.278.1100 OPTION 2
COURT & MMIN, PENDLETON
stemming from an assault
in January. He has pleaded
not guilty in that case to
charges of possession of
methamphetamine, unlawful
use of a weapon, fourth-de-
gree assault and felon in
possession of a restricted
weapon — a stun gun.
His next hearing in the
attempted murder case is
May 18. Jimenez remains
in the Umatilla County Jail,
Pendleton.
DA drops Flores
sex crimes case
HERMISTON — Elias
Nava Flores, 24, of Herm-
iston no longer faces any
sex crimes charges.
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office arrested
Flores May 2 on charges of
first-degree rape, first-de-
gree sodomy and possession
of methamphetamine.
The sheriff’s office in a
written statement claimed
the victim was younger
than 12, and the victim’s
relative told police about
inappropriate sexual contact
between Flores and the
victim.
The district attorney’s
office on May 3 arraigned
Flores on a single charge of
first-degree rape. But one
week later, deputy district
attorney Jaclyn Jenkins filed
a motion to dismiss the case
citing two reasons: the state
cannot prove the crimes
beyond a reasonable doubt
and it is in the best interests
of justice.
Circuit Court Judge Dan
Hill granted the dismissal
the same day.
Flores still faced the
meth charge, and he
remains in the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton, on
a warrant related to another
case.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email
press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
in year since event
center opened
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A lot has changed on the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center grounds since
the project’s first building
opened one year ago.
Dozens of acres of
dirt that once surrounded
the event center are now
a large grassy commons
area, paths, lighting, three
partially finished livestock
barns and the foundation
of a rodeo arena. The barns
and arena are on track to
be completed in time for
the Umatilla County Fair
and Farm-City Pro Rodeo
in August, according to
contractors.
“We’re
moving
forward,” John Eckhardt
of Knerr Construction told
the EOTEC board Friday.
“You can see a lot of prog-
ress on site.”
Eckhardt
said
the
bathroom footings were
supposed to be poured later
in the day, and the company
also planned to erect the
remaining steel for the
largest barn on Friday.
Carl Hendon of Hendon
Construction said they
expected to get bleachers
going up in the rodeo arena
next week. He said the
company could not have
done it without the help of
excellent subcontractors
who have exceeded expec-
tations, and board member
Kim Puzey remarked that
the quality of the concrete
work was “stunning.”
Mike Kay of the rodeo
board thanked the contrac-
tors for their work, noting
that when they came in the
project was “quite frankly
in a challenging spot” amid
concerns that it would not
be ready in time for the
2017 fair and rodeo.
“They took and merged
everything together seam-
lessly,” he said. “It would
not have happened without
these two companies, so
thank you.”
“It’s kind of
exciting to see
our days fill up.”
— Heather Cannell,
EOTEC business manager
While
construction
is nearing completion,
a question mark still
remains about who will
run the completed facility.
The board had previously
presented a plan to the
Hermiston City Council
and Umatilla County
commissioners
for
a
general manager super-
vising an administrative
assistant and maintenance
contract, but the project’s
two partners said they
wanted to see more infor-
mation about cost and
salary comparisons with
similar positions in the area
before making a final deci-
sion. EOTEC board chair
Byron Smith, who is also
Hermiston’s city manager,
said he has scheduled a
combined meeting with
the board and commission
for June 1 to go over that
information.
Business
manager
Heather Cannell said she
was seeing an increase in
groups booking the event
center for daytime meet-
ings.
“It’s kind of exciting to
see our days fill up,” she
said.
On Friday the board also
approved a marketing grant
of $2,000 from the tourism
promotion
assessment
funds to the Hermiston
Horse Sale Extravaganza.
Randy Hull said he had
been approached by Pend-
leton about moving the
sale there, but he planned
to move the event from
the old fairgrounds up to
EOTEC.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
