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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2017)
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 OFF PAGE ONE PENDLETON: Ciraulo expects the new CARTY: PGE serves roughly 848,452 customers around the Portland, Salem areas station to be built in next 18-20 months Page 10A East Oregonian Continued from 1A The bond also sets aside $630,000 for new Jaws of Life extrication equipment, heart monitors, an ambulance and other emergency equipment. Ciraulo said heart moni- tors would be one of the first things purchased as soon as the bonds are sold. Firefighter/paramedic Jeff Perry, the director of the political action committee that campaigned for the bond, said the impact of its passage could be felt for the next 60 years. “We’re turning around the history of Pendleton Fire,” he said. The PAC still raised $15,146, which allowed volunteers to spend time and money on advertising, yard signs, door-to-door campaigning and phone banking. Perry credited the work of the PAC’s 20-30 volunteers and the additional presen- tations Turner and Ciraulo made to service groups across town. The success of the fire bond ends the city’s prolonged skid at the ballot box in recent years. A missed advertising deadline sunk the last fire bond attempt before it could reach the ballot, which was followed by a decisive defeat of a 5-cent gas tax for city road repairs in 2015. The 2016 measures to legalize marijuana sales enjoyed little council support beyond putting it on the ballot. Prior to Tuesday, the last bond measure backed by Pendleton voters was in 1996, when they approved a parks and recreation bond that led to the construction of the Pendleton Aquatic Center. Turner encouraged the room full of firefighters and city councilors to continue talking about the fire bond, advising against smugness while committing themselves to being good stewards of the bond funds. Ciraulo said he plans to meet with City Manager Robb Corbett and other department heads about beginning the planning process Wednesday. While the city already has an option on the St. Anthony property, they still need to negotiate a final sale price with the hospital. If every- thing goes smoothly, Ciraulo expects to have the new station built in the next 18-20 months. Despite the long-awaited victory, Ciraulo said he’s staking his reputation on proving to the more than 1,200 people who voted against the bond that the fire station was a worthwhile investment and that the city can handle their tax money responsibly. The bond will add 62 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to Pendleton property owners’ tax bills. If citizens continue to have concerns about the fire station’s future location on the Unofficial results Continued from 1A STANFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT, POSITION 4 Bruce Lemmon: 23.3% Nikka McCann: 27.1% Nanci Sandoval: 19.9% Elizabeth Sperr: 29.6% renewable energy over fossil fuels. “On the subject of envi- ronmental responsibility, we stand in solidarity,” Wallace said. “Our voices are united, and we say this project is wrong.” PGE has discussed building two new units at Carty to satisfy long-term customer demand beyond 2020, when the Boardman Coal Plant is scheduled to close. The utility says it will need to add 561 megawatts of capacity to make up the shortfall, as well as keep up with future load growth. However, PGE recently suspended its efforts to get site certificates for Carty II and III, instead focusing on buying the additional power it needs from existing facil- ities. Opponents of fracked natural gas are nevertheless pushing the PUC to outright reject proposals for Carty expansion in the PGE’s latest Integrated Resource Plan. The PUC has until the end of August to issue a final order on PGE’s resource plan, in which regulators may acknowledge all or parts of the proposal on behalf of ratepayers. Safety concerns Worries over the Carty plant have also extended to the existing generation unit, which came online last year. A coalition of groups, including Columbia River- keeper, is asking the PUC to investigate potential problems at Carty, including safety allegations raised by one of the project contractors and higher-than-expected emissions of smog-forming pollutants. The first issue stems from a building code complaint filed by Newjac Inc., an Indiana-based pipe manu- facturer, with the Oregon Department of Business and Consumer Services. Newjac supplied more than 17,000 feet of high-pressure pipe for the power plant, which was installed by then-gen- eral contractor Abeinsa. PGE later fired Abeinsa in late 2015 and assumed ATHENA-WESTON SCHOOL DISTRICT, ZONE 5 Thomas Munck: 68.4% Audra Lee Smalley: 31.4% RIVERSIDE FIRE DISTRICT Sue Petersen: 45.5% Shannon Franklin: 54.5% RIVERSIDE-MISSION WATER CONTROL DISTRICT Jay Rusher: 42.4% Mark Petersen: 56.6% ECHO CEMETERY DISTRICT, POSITION 2 Ruben F. Harris: 51.3% Patty Cisneros: 48.7% MORROW COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, POSITION 7 Steve W. Partlow: 34.1% Jacob Cain: 16.6% Andy R. Fletcher: 49.3% IRRIGON RURAL FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT, POSITION 3 Robert Vandecar: 70.1% Jim Zellars: 29.5% east side of town or its overall cost, Ciraulo said his door remains open. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. SCHOOL: Maiocco said the alternative to new school buildings is more modular classrooms Continued from 1A iston school board chair on Tuesday evening. Sherman and board members Bonnie Luisi and Jason Middleton ran unopposed and retained their seats, while a fourth seat drew no candidates and will be appointed by the board. In a statement about the bond failure, superintendent Fred Maiocco echoed Sher- man’s sentiments. “We were extremely disappointed to learn that voters did not approve the ballot measure,” Maiocco said. “The election results indicate that we have more work to do in educating the community about the chal- lenges facing our growing district.” He said the district and board would be looking for other solutions to the facility challenges facing the schools. During the campaign he said the alternative to new school buildings in the growing district was more modular classrooms. Sherman said she had been optimistic about the bond’s success. “I was expecting it to pass,” he said. “Not by a large margin, but I thought we’d run a good campaign and focused on the need for the kids.” She said the district’s goals remain the same. “We’ll continue to educate kids and do the best with what we have, but it’s going to be a real strain,” she said. The district previously passed a $69.9 million bond in 2008 with 53 percent of the vote, which replaced Sunset and West Park elementary schools on their respective sites, and replaced Armand Larive Middle School at district property on Southwest 9th Street and Gettman Road. Photo contributed by Sara Quinn Willa Wallace, a tribal activist from Pendleton, testified Monday during a special hearing before the Oregon Public Utility Commission in Port- land, speaking out against expanding the natural gas-fired Carty Generating Station. “We conducted a thorough review of the Carty documents. We knew their claim was baseless.” — Laurel Schmidt, a spokeswoman for PGE control of the remaining plant construction. Newjac claims PGE did not obtain the necessary quality control records for the pipe prior to state inspec- tion, creating a “potential life-safety issue for plant employees.” Lawyers for the company sent a letter in October 2016 asking PGE to pay more than $2 million for those records, or they would pursue further action. Laurel Schmidt, a spokes- woman for PGE, said there is no basis for the complaint, and Carty is in compliance with all Oregon safety and code requirements. “We conducted a thor- ough review of the Carty documents,” Schmidt said. “We knew their claim was baseless.” Schmidt said PGE is currently conducting another audit of construction paper- work with the Department of Business and Consumer Services. “We do not want to operate a plant that is not safe,” she said. Dan Serres, conservation director for Columbia River- keeper, said the allegation raises serious questions about safety and reliability at Carty, and ought to deter the PUC from allowing expansion on the ratepayer’s dollar. Seres also points to new information that shows Carty would emit 67 percent more pollutants than initially permitted by the Oregon Department of Environ- mental Quality. “For us, it raises very serious questions about the rollout of fracked gas at Carty,” Seres said. Schmidt said PGE learned about higher emissions during startup and shutdown at Carty based on informa- tion provided by Mitsubishi, which manufactured the natural gas turbines. The utility has applied to modify its DEQ permit, and Schmidt said drafts should be avail- able for public review within the next month or so. “We’re currently in the process,” she said. Seres said there is no guarantee DEQ will approve the permit modification, further increasing the unre- liability of electricity from Carty. “For them to ask for that level of increase ... it just again raises very serious questions.” PGE serves roughly 848,452 retail customers around the Portland and Salem metro areas. MORE WINNERS. MORE OFTEN. MAY 2017 FIGHT NIGHT AT WILDHORSE MAY 29 • 6pm Rivers Event Center Doors open at 5pm TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Purchase tickets at wildhorseresort.com or at the Wildhorse Gift Shop. All ages. While supplies last. CASINO • HOTEL • GOLF • CINEPLEX • RV • MUSEUM • DINING • TRAVEL PLAZA 800.654.9453 • PENDLETON, OR • I-84, EXIT 216, wildhorseresort.com Owned and operated by CTUIR. Management reserves all rights to alter, suspend or withdraw promotions/offers at any time. 650.8379.BA.4.17 ®
