Friday, June 2, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
EOTEC: Fair and rodeo grounds TRANSPORTATION: Bill still open
to public hearings and amendments
set to be completed in July
Page 10A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
the center exceeded revenue
projections.
Smith said those numbers
only included salary, not
benefits, but EOTEC is not
a PERS employer and does
not offer health insurance so
benefit costs are low.
City
councilor
John
Kirwan said he liked the
idea of basing a part of the
general manager’s salary
on a commission or bonus
system tied to how much
revenue EOTEC makes each
year. Other councilors and
commissioners agreed.
Smith said it would be
tricky to find the right formula
between base salary and
incentive, but it was some-
thing the EOTEC board could
come up with.
Mayor David Drotzmann
said he was concerned it
would be difficult to recruit
a quality manager without
offering health insurance as
a benefit. Smith said he had
already begun looking into
if it was possible to add the
manager to the city’s health
insurance or find another
reasonable option.
During
the
public
comment section prior to
Smith’s presentation, several
neighbors testified they
were still seeing problems
generated by EOTEC in their
neighborhood.
Richard Meisner ques-
tioned the city’s decision
to lease water rights from a
Stanfield Irrigation customer
and said he was concerned
it would negatively affect
neighbors’ ability to get the
irrigation water they needed.
Other neighbors brought
up the thumping bass noise
they said they can hear until
midnight during events, and
that people often leave the
event driving recklessly.
“People coming from
these facilities are drinking
and driving, no doubt in my
mind,” Chris Waine said.
Commissioner
Bill
Elfering said he would discuss
the need for extra patrols after
events with Sheriff Terry
Rowan, who was present at
the meeting, and EOTEC
business manager Heather
Cannell said she would begin
sending event information
to the sheriff’s office so they
would know when large
parties were finishing up at
EOTEC.
The meeting ended with
a tour of the fair and rodeo
grounds, which are nearing
the home stretch of construc-
tion with a goal of being
completed in July.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
DAIRY: Will likely build up its herd to
30,000 cows over the next three years
Continued from 1A
mental Quality to take a closer
look at Lost Valley Farm and
either tighten protections or
reject the dairy outright.
Members of the coalition
include the Animal Legal
Defense Fund, Center for
Biological Diversity, Center
for Food Safety, Columbia
Riverkeeper, Food & Water
Watch, Friends of Family
Farmers, Oregon Physicians
for Social Responsibility,
Humane Oregon and Oregon
Rural Action.
Lost Valley Farm received
its confined animal feeding
operation permit on March
31. At the time, ODA and
DEQ claimed they had
crafted “the most protective
of any (CAFO) permit issued
to date,” requiring 11 ground-
water monitoring wells on
site — seven more than usual
— and a minimum of three
annual inspections, versus
one every 10 months.
The
permit
became
effective on April 20, and
a spokeswoman for Lost
Valley said the dairy is now
up and running at the former
Boardman Tree Farm. There
are currently 16,000 animals
at the farm, with about 8,700
being milking cows.
Regulators anticipate Lost
Valley will build up its herd
to a full 30,000 cows over
the next three years, making
it the second-largest dairy
in Oregon. Only Threemile
Canyon Farms is larger, with
70,000 head of cattle just
25 miles away in Morrow
County.
Part of the CAFO permit
outlines how Lost Valley will
manage an estimated 187
million gallons of wastewater
and manure produced each
year. And though the agencies
responded to 4,200 public
comments about the project,
opponents remain deeply
concerned about potential
contamination of surface
water and groundwater.
“This
mega-dairy
threatens to spew mega
pollution,
creating
an
environmental
nightmare
for the people and wildlife
unlucky enough to share the
landscape,” said Hannah
Connor, senior attorney with
the Center for Biological
Diversity.
Lost Valley Farm is
located within the Lower
Umatilla Basin Groundwater
Management Area, which
was designated in 1990 due
to elevated levels of ground-
water nitrates. Opponents say
adding another large dairy
in the area poses significant
health risks from further
groundwater contamination.
None of the petitioners
have had the chance to review
Lost Valley’s revised Animal
Waste Management Plan,
according to the petition,
which lays out how the dairy
will collect wastewater and
use it to irrigate feed crops.
Connor said the groups also
want to see a plan that takes
into account not only nitrogen
and
phosphorous
from
manure, but harmful antibi-
otic residue and pesticides.
“We really believe the
agencies have some signifi-
cant changes they can make
here,” Connor said.
ODA and DEQ have 60
days to reply to the petition,
or the groups say they will
likely file an appeal. Connor
said there is no indication yet
their concerns will be fixed.
Wym Matthews, CAFO
program manager for the
Department of Agricul-
ture, could not be reached
Thursday for comment.
Greg te Velde, owner of
Lost Valley Farm, defended
the operation’s management
practices and said he is confi-
dent the coalition’s challenge
is without merit. Te Velde has
been milking cows in the area
since 2002, having previously
established Willow Creek
Dairy on land leased from
Threemile Canyon Farms.
“We have worked in
Oregon for over 15 years,
and have consistently met
the state’s high standards,”
te Velde said. “Our operation
at Lost Valley Farm includes
protection for water quality
that go further than any other
dairy authorized by Oregon’s
CAFO program, and has
been closely vetted by state
regulators.
Tarah Heinzen, staff
attorney for Food & Water
Watch, described the petition
for reconsideration as one
step below a formal appeal
of the CAFO permit. The
petition also asks agencies
to stay Lost Valley’s permit,
though Heinzen admits that is
unlikely to happen.
While Heinzen said the
permitting agencies did make
some improvements between
the draft and final permit
for Lost Valley it falls well
short of what is required to
protect waterways. Approval
of Lost Valley could also
set a dangerous precedent
for Oregon dairies moving
forward, she added.
“We think this is a very
important test case for the
state to take a very close look
at the potential environmental
impacts of a facility this size,”
Heinzen said.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
TONYA’S HOUSE: Took in girls 13-18
Continued from 1A
The last resident of
Tonya’s House left May
16. White-Zollman said
the Oregon Department of
Human Services worked to
find the girl a foster home.
The nonprofit employed
five full- and part-time staff,
including Shawn MacGregor,
who came from northern
Minnesota in April 2016
as the new director. White-
Zollman said the staff stayed
to help close the home at 328
S.W. Court Ave. Their last
day was Wednesday.
ElRae Wells of Pendleton
founded Tonya’s House in
1997. Back then she worked
at Pendleton High School
with special needs students
and recalled stories about
teen girls who needed a
place to stay during tough
circumstances ranging from
drug-addicted parents to a
single mother dying of cancer.
“Students can’t learn
if they worry about where
they’re going to live, what
they’re going to eat,” Wells
said. “They can’t learn if they
have those worries. They
need a safe place to stay.”
Tonya’s house did not
emerge from a vacuum, she
said, but from the commu-
nity, which gave the nonprofit
money to buy a home in 1998
and then sweat, gifts and
more funds to allow it to open
about three years later.
“When we were working
on it, we thought if this helps
one girl, if it makes a differ-
ence in one girl’s life, then
we’ve done something really
good,” she said.
White-Zollman and Wells
said as far as they knew,
Tonya’s House was the
only nonprofit of its kind in
Eastern Oregon. Wells said
before Tonya’s House, girls
stayed with friends if they
were lucky or compromised
themselves just to sleep under
a roof. She called Tonya’s
House “God’s gift to Pend-
leton” and said the goal was
to “do a good enough job with
these girls that their daughters
didn’t have to knock on our
door.”
Tonya’s House went on
to provide girls with more
than 2,800 nights of housing,
according to information
from the nonprofit.
White-Zollman
said
Tonya’s House took in girls
13-18, and some suffered
from addictions and mental
health problems. Girls came
when they were borderline
suicidal. Sometimes they
arrived with nothing more
than the clothes they had on.
Wells said that’s why
the closing is so troubling.
Girls are out there in Eastern
Oregon who need Tonya’s
House — but there is no
longer a Tonya’s House.
“It’s a real loss,” she said.
White-Zollman
said
while there are foster homes
and mental health organiza-
tions, the need for Tonya’s
House continues even as
the nonprofit can no longer
afford to operate. She said
the board’s sincere hope is
another organization can step
into the role.
Wells said she also is
concerned about the small
endowment she and her
husband, Pete Wells, gave
to Tonya’s House years ago.
She said the idea was to build
that to a point the interest
from the money could cover
day-to-day costs.
White-Zollman
said
she did not know about an
endowment, but the board
hired the Pendleton firm of
Corey Byler Rew Lorenzen
Hojem to handle the legal
end of bringing an end to a
nonprofit. Part of that entails
donating all of the assets to
another charitable nonprofit,
she said, and in this case
the board voted to give
assets from Tonya’s House
to Pioneer Relief Nursery
of Pendleton, which helps
at-risk infants, toddlers and
families.
The donation includes the
house itself, White-Zollman
said, and Pioneer Relief
Nursery will determine what
to do with it.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
Continued from 1A
biking, while people are
riding Walmart bicycles
around town that cost less
than $500 but put just as
much wear and tear on the
street.
“You’re working on the
small guy but letting the
big guy go,” he said. “... If
you’re going to do that, do it
to everyone.”
He called the tax “kind of
a bummer” for his business
and said he felt the benefits
of increased bicycle lanes
would mostly go to the
metro area.
The largest projects
listed in the bill are located
in Portland and surrounding
metro areas, including
projects worth hundreds of
millions of dollars designed
to widen Interstate 5, Inter-
state 205 and Highway 217.
But Portland residents will
also be paying more, via
additional fuel taxes and
new tolls at the Washington
state line on Interstate 5 and
Interstate 205.
Revenue
The upside of raising
more money, of course,
is that there will be more
money to spend. Cities and
counties will see extra gas
tax money in the millions
of dollars over the 10 years
for road, bridge and culvert
improvements.
The legislature is also
setting aside money for
specific projects in each of
ODOT’s regions. Region
5, which covers most of
Eastern Oregon, will receive
$23.9 million, and there
will be another $10 million
set aside for joint projects
between Region 5 and
Region 4. That list covers
things like $3 million to the
city of Milton-Freewater for
“pedestrian and highway
improvements.”
City Manager Linda
Hall said the city doesn’t
have any actual highways,
but does have “roads wide
enough to be a highway that
are certainly showing wear
and tear,” especially after
the harsh winter.
“Streets that we thought
would be OK for another
five to 10 years are not OK
anymore,” she said.
Hall also said that the city
could also use the money
to add sidewalks to areas
where children are currently
walking to school along the
side of a busy road.
She said Milton-Free-
water is an example of a
“small city with limited
resources” that could really
be helped by the transporta-
tion package to do projects
that would not otherwise be
possible.
Projects
The following projects
in Umatilla County and
Morrow County are also
listed in the bill:
• The city of Hermiston
would receive funds to
widen and improve North
First Place and add traffic
signals to the road’s intersec-
tions with Highland Avenue
and Orchard Avenue.
• The Port of Umatilla
would receive funds for a
road project that General
Manager
Kim
Puzey
said will allow the port
to “improve access to
Columbia River import
and export terminals, most
especially the movement of
bulk commodities such as
grain and fuel products.”
• The Columbia Devel-
opment Authority would
receive funds for improving
access from Interstate 82
into the former Umatilla
Chemical Depot, which the
authority is planning to open
to industrial development
after the depot is transferred
from the Army to the
CDA. The Oregon Military
Department would also
receive funds for improving
the rail system on its section
of the depot.
• Umatilla County would
receive funds to pave and
improve Ott Road and East
Airport Road to provide
better access to the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
• Heppner would receive
$3 million for various
needed pedestrian and
highway improvements.
• The Port of Morrow
would receive funds for the
East Beach Industrial Park
rail expansion.
• Morrow County would
receive an extra $108,073
for road maintenance each
year.
Rep.
Greg
Smith,
R-Heppner, sits on the
Joint
Committee
for
Transportation Preservation
and Modernization and a
variety of other committees,
including as a co-vice chair
of Ways and Means.
He said District 57,
including Umatilla County
and Morrow County, did
“really well” in comparison
with other rural areas on the
amount of dollars coming in
for projects. He said it may
seem unfair to some other
cities and counties, but when
it comes to funding there
is a pendulum that swings
toward different districts
during different sessions.
“There are times that
legislators find themselves
in positions to help their
districts, and this is our
time,” he said.
Smith also said that proj-
ects that clear up congestion
in the Portland area benefit
Eastern Oregon by allowing
farmers and others to move
their commodities across
the state faster.
The projects listed in
House Bill 2017 are not a
done deal. The bill will be
the subject of public hear-
ings on June 6-7 and is still
open to amendments before
being passed on to the legis-
lature for a vote. And while
the committee is optimistic
that enough votes can be
found in the House and the
Senate to pass the bill, the
legislature was on its way to
passing a similar package in
2015 when negotiations fell
apart over disagreements on
the state’s low-carbon fuels
standard.
Even if the governor
signs the bill, a provision
inside states that if voters
challenge and repeal any
part of its revenue-raising
provisions, the entire bill
will be repealed so that
the state doesn’t end up
committed to paying for
projects it hasn’t raised the
money for.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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