Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Friday, May 19, 2017
ENERGY: Report recognizes that agriculture
remains the primary economic driver in the basin
BOND: Many voters
disliked the potential
increase in taxes
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
(report), thanks to the governor’s
office,” McLane said. “I think
the hard work is yet to happen.”
The committee included
representatives of farms and
utilities, officials from Umatilla,
Morrow and Gilliam Counties,
as well as state Sen. Bill Hansell
(R-Athena) and Rep. Greg
Smith (R-Heppner). Hansell
said he was pleased with how
the parties all came together,
and said the Morrow County
corridor has a lot to offer the
region.
“It’s a solution I think we
ought to implement,” he said.
The final report recognizes
that agriculture remains the
primary economic driver in the
basin, especially irrigated farms.
Without irrigation, dryland
wheat typically yields a value of
$100 per acre. But add just one
acre-foot of water and that value
rises to $500 per acre.
At three acre-feet of water,
farmers can grow high-value
vegetables such as potatoes,
carrots and onions at a value of
$5,000 per acre. But accessing
that water is not easy. Pumping
irrigation water from the
Columbia River is not profitable
to elevations more than 1,000
feet above the McNary and John
Day pools, which limits the land
base for high-value crops.
That’s why growers say it is
so crucial to protect this bank
of farmland. Kent Madison,
of Madison Ranches in Echo,
said transmission lines impede
regular farming and irrigation
practices, such as aerial spraying
of fertilizer and chemicals.
Madison said he supports
a single green energy trans-
mission corridor in order to
minimize the impact from wind
and solar farms on surrounding
agricultural land.
“It’s a whole lot better to
have this corridor with one big
transmission line through it
than four small corridors over
a 10-mile area, with four or five
transmission lines,” he said.
“We need to protect the high-
value agricultural ground.”
Though McLane said the
district will discuss a target date for a
new election and steps they need to take
between now and then.
The bond had proposed expanding
Hermiston High School, complete
rebuilds for Highland Hills and Rocky
Heights elementary schools and a new
elementary school on East Theater Lane.
The board had passed a bond in 2008 that
replaced Sunset and West Park elementary
schools, as well as Armand Larive Middle
School on a new school-owned property.
“The new board will wrestle with not
only the timing of a future election, but
also the projects included with the ballot
question,” Maiocco said. He said the
earliest the board could choose to place
a new ballot question before voters is
November 7.
While Maiocco said the district still
had much to discuss before pinpointing
why the bond failed, some community
members had an idea.
Virginia Beebe, a member of the
Hermiston Senior Center, said she doesn’t
live in Hermiston. But she heard many
of her peers complain about the potential
increase in taxes.
“We already had bonds out,” Beebe
said. “They weren’t willing to go out for
another.”
She added that many senior citizens
she knew were put off by being told they
had to move out of their current location
whether or not the bond passed. The
former fairgrounds where the senior center
is located were purchased by the school
district, and the senior center will move
to a new building under construction near
the Hermiston Public Library.
“It was very harsh,” she said. “They
basically told us that the building comes
down no matter what.”
Many other senior citizens at a lunch
on Thursday declined to be named, but
said they weren’t willing to vote for a
bond that would raise taxes of people on
fixed incomes.
A table full of people who all voted
“no” on the bond said the additional $116
to their annual tax bill was too much to
ask.
“If they would have just put the repair
of Rocky Heights and Highland Hills on
there, I probably would have voted for
it,” said a woman named Chris, echoing
a comment made by several other senior
citizens at the lunch. “But I’m not voting
for a new school.”
While several said they had voted
“yes” on the previous bond measures,
they felt the district should put more effort
into maintaining the current buildings.
“In some ways, (buildings) could
have been kept up and added onto,” said
a woman whose family owns a business,
and for whom taxes would have gone up
around $1,000 annually if the bond had
passed.
One woman at the senior center lunch,
Loretta Stevens, said she and her husband
voted for the bond.
“The schools need it,” she said.
But she added that many people feel
like they’re being taxed out, and can’t
afford it.
Some also said they felt the influx of
Hispanic families has contributed to the
population boom in schools, but felt that
those populations weren’t paying their
fair share of taxes.
Several parents picking up their
children from Rocky Heights Elementary
School on Thursday afternoon said they
were disappointed the bond failed, and
were surprised by the outcome.
“I was so sad,” said Katie Anderson. “I
just think it was the money.”
She added that while she thinks the
district will have to change the bond to
get voters to support it, Rocky Heights
should be a priority because of its safety
concerns.
Liz Sharon, another parent, said she
had a sign in her yard and supported the
bond, but heard others complain about
another tax increase when there were
already other bonds still to pay.
But she said Rocky Heights is in need
of the proposed repairs.
“It’s 56 years old,” she said, recalling
some issues with the school’s roof. “It’s
just worn down.”
Both Anderson and Sharon said they
had not heard much chatter about the
bond, but most of what they had heard had
been in support.
Other parents said they would have
supported the measure, but didn’t vote or
forgot to turn in their ballots.
“Especially because our own kids go
here,” one woman said. “You see it more
at this school than others. And all the
schools have multiple portables.”
Heather Beal, a parent at Rocky
Heights, said most parents she knew
supported the bond, because they see
problems with the facilities on a daily
basis.
“It’s so crowded,” she said.
In a statement the day after the bond
failed, Maiocco said the district would
continue to serve its growing population,
using existing facilities and modulars.
“With no separate funding for the
procurement of modular classrooms, any
move to expand our temporary facilities
will have to be paid with the same funding
we use to pay for classroom supplies
and materials, textbooks and employee
wages,” he said.
–——
Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at
541-564-4534
or
jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Protecting irrigated farmland is the goal behind establishing a single transmission corridor for
multiple renewable energy projects, as opposed to having multiple power lines criss-crossing
the landscape.
corridor project is still in its
conceptual phase, she imagines
it would run along Bombing
Range Road connecting wind
and solar developments at the
south end of the county to elec-
trical substations at the north
end.
But there are a number of
hurdles to clear first.
The county is still awaiting
the final record of decision from
the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment and U.S. Navy on routing
a portion of the Boardman to
Hemingway transmission line
on the west side of Bombing
Range Road — part of the
Navy’s Boardman Bombing
Range — as opposed to the
east side. Stephanie McCurdy,
a spokeswoman for B2H devel-
oper Idaho Power, said those
decisions are expected within a
matter of months.
If all goes according to plan,
then McLane said it may be
possible for the local Umatilla
Electric Cooperative to upgrade
its transmission system on the
other side of Bombing Range
Road to accommodate the green
energy corridor. She figures it
would take a 230-kilovolt line to
handle the anticipated capacity
of proposed new wind and solar
developments.
“We’re not done,” McLane
said. “B2H is a big piece of the
puzzle.”
UEC is already exploring
building the line, which would
initially hook up to the new
500-megawatt
Wheatridge
Wind Energy facility that was
issued a site certificate in April.
Wheatridge is approved for 292
turbines near Heppner, with a
portion of the project extending
into southern Umatilla County.
Robert Echenrode, UEC
general manager, said one large
corridor would be a more stra-
tegic effort to plug renewable
energy projects onto the grid,
as opposed to landowners being
inundated with requests for
power lines.
“We listened to the land-
owners in this corridor area, and
I believe we were successful
in finding common ground,”
Echenrode said.
Tamra Mabbott, Umatilla
County planning director, said
they will be watching Morrow
County closely to see if the
green corridor model can be a
success.
“Certainly, we’re looking for
a win-win and that’s what we
hope Morrow County will come
up with,” Mabbott said.
When the state went all-in on
renewable energy, McLane said
nobody thought about the conse-
quences for Oregon farms. But a
green energy corridor might just
be the answer to Morrow County
keeping their agricultural base
whole.
“For rural counties, (renew-
able energy) does bring an
economic benefit. But how do
we protect these other things
that are important?” McLane
asked. “It would be nice if the
local jurisdiction could be the
balancing authority for that.”
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0825.
FOUNDATION: $2,350 grant was given to CAPECO
Continued from 1A
Larios.
“Throughout
the
process, I didn’t think any of us
imagined how it would impact
us or our community.”
On Tuesday evening at the
Pendleton Center for the Arts,
the teens presented checks to
representatives from their six
chosen organizations. One by
one, they stood at the micro-
phone in front of a Harold and
Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foun-
dation backdrop and addressed
grantees, a smattering of parents
and three representatives from
the Schnitzer Foundation.
Club president Abby Rine-
hart told the audience that the
year of trying out the role of
philanthropist changed her.
“This club has really opened
my eyes to what many don’t see
— homelessness, hunger and
suffering,” Rinehart said.
One recipient, Susie Stuvland
of CAPECO (Community
Action Program of East Central
Oregon) said she choked up
during the phone call from a club
member telling her of a $2,350
award to purchase supplies for
Project Community Connect.
On Tuesday, she accepted the
check with a solemn expression.
“We will do good work with
this,” Stuvland promised the
students.
The CAPECO grant was the
biggest dollar amount. Others
ranged from $500 (awarded to
the Oregon East Symphony for a
scholarship that will be matched
with another $500) to $2,000
(awarded to the Pioneer Relief
Nursery for diapers and hygiene
items). Altrusa of Pendleton
accepted $1,000 to purchase an
assortment of items and services
for homeless students. Neighbor
2 Neighbor, which runs the
Pendleton Warming Station,
received $650 for sheets for
bunkbeds. The Blue Mountain
Community College Foundation
got $1,500 to help financially
struggling students with small
scholarships for such things as
food, fuel and even haircuts.
“It makes a huge difference,”
said Margaret Gianotti, of the
BMCC Foundation. “When they
get to the end of the month, $25
is a lot.”
Neighbor 2 Neighbor coor-
dinator Chris Clemons had led
club members on a tour through
the warming station, answering
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Dania Larios, a member of the CommuniCare Club at PHS, stands back and listens after
presenting a grant award check to Chris Clemens of Neighbor 2 Neighbor Tuesday night at the
Pendleton Center for the Arts.
“This club has
really opened
my eyes to what
many don’t see
— homelessness,
hunger and
suffering.”
— Abby Rinehart,
CommuniCare Club president
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Abby Rinehart, president of the fledgling CommuniCare Club
at PHS, shakes hands with Debbie McBee of Altrusa during
the club’s first grant award ceremony Tuesday night at the
Pendleton Center for the Arts. Rinehart presented three
Altrusa representatives with a $1,000 check for a program that
helps homeless students.
questions about the facility and
the homeless people stay there.
Their professionalism made an
impression.
“They took it seriously. They
are the people who are following
us,” he said. “They will continue
to carry the baton.”
Advisor Jill Gregg drew the
biggest laugh of the night after
the awarding of the final check.
“So we are now out of
money,” she said.
The club will rev up again
next year with the one non-se-
nior member (freshman Emily
Rinehart) and a new crop of
young philanthropists.
The Harold and Arlene
Schnitzer CARE Foundation
started CommuniCare about
20 years ago in the Portland
metro area. Pendleton is the
only
non-Portland
school
participating. The foundation’s
executive director, Barbara Hall,
explained that the couple’s son,
Portland businessman Jordan
Schnitzer, has a special relation-
ship with Pendleton.
“Jordan has a strong connec-
tion with Pendleton and felt
strongly about giving back to
this community,” Hall said. “So
we made an exception.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com or
call 541-966-0810.