G17 WEEKEND EDITION 8/9/17 10:51 AM Page 1 A TASTE OF ROUND-UP HERMISTON HOME OPENER SPORTS/1B FOUR MORE DAYS MAGAZINE INSIDE LIFESTYLES/1C SEPTEMBER 9-10, 2017 141st Year, No. 235 Dems see path to carbon ‘cap and invest’ in 2018 By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM – Demo- cratic lawmakers say they may fi nally have enough momentum to enact a “cap and invest” carbon dioxide-reduction program in 2018. Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, and Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, are convening work groups Sept. 21 to help refi ne a proposal that has evolved over the past few years. “I think there is a path to get this done in 2018,” Dembrow said. “The sooner we do it, the sooner we can do the work and get the invest- ment going.” House Speaker Tina Kotek and Gov. Kate Brown have both backed the effort. Similar to a program in California, the Oregon proposal would limit the amount of carbon dioxide a business could emit each year. After exceeding the cap, the business would be required to buy market- priced allowances for any additional emissions. The payments would encourage businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. Meanwhile, proceeds from the competitive auction of those allowances could yield an estimated $700 million per year to invest in projects that slow climate change, supporters say. At the end of the 2017 session July 7, Kotek identifi ed the program as an unfi nished priority. And one week later, the governor announced that she would seek to pass a state “cap and invest” bill next year. She made the announcement at a screening of former Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Sequel” hosted by environmental See CARBON/13A $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD A DREAM DISRUPTED Contributed photo by Nolan Calisch Staff photo by Kathy Aney LEFT: Yessica Roman, who arrived in the United States at age fi ve and barely remembers her life in Mexico, graduated from Hermiston High School and is studying to become a nurse. RIGHT: Heldáy de la Cruz is a Hermiston High School graduate who was brought to the United States illegally at age 2. He is a graphic designer in Portland. Young people shielded by DACA face uncertain future as Trump administration announces plans to dismantle program By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Heldáy de la Cruz has no memory of Mexico. The Hermiston High School graduate, 26, was two years old when he left the country of his birth. He hasn’t been back since. His friends are American. So is his college degree and the company where he works as a graphic designer. None of that matters in the eyes of the law now that the Trump Administration has announced the end of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals Inside: program that has allowed Congress at fault young, undocumented for DACA rescind “Dreamers” like de la OPINION/4A Cruz to work legally in the United States. Unless Congress acts, he will be vulnerable to deporta- tion once his most recent work permit expires. “It would be a total readjustment of my life,” he said. There is no path to citizenship for Dreamers, and only some of the 787,000 registered for DACA have a way to obtain a green card, if they were brought into the United States by certain methods and have a parent, spouse or child who is a citizen and can sponsor them. Others are out of luck unless laws change. Although de la Cruz’s parents brought their toddler son to Hermiston without going through legal immigration channels, his childhood was a fairly average one once he arrived in Eastern Oregon. “It was all pretty normal — it felt normal, anyway — up until I was 14 and started thinking about getting my driver’s permit at 15,” he said. “I realized that was not a possibility for me.” Contributed photo by Kiana McCune Heldáy de la Cruz, a Hermiston High graduate, speaks at a Dreamer rally in Portland. Soon he started missing out on other rites of passage that his friends were experiencing. He couldn’t apply for a summer job at McDonald’s, or get fi nancial aid to help cover tuition at a university. His good grades drew a sizable scholarship offer from one school, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the loss of federal fi nancial aid, and in end he turned it down in order to get a transfer degree from Blue Mountain Community College. He considered moving to Mexico, because it was hard to imagine a graphic design company ignoring his undocumented status to hire him. But then his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and he didn’t want to leave her. When then-President Barack Obama announced the DACA program 2012, See DACA/13A “It’s really discouraging so many people are against it. They don’t see the good, they only see us leeching off the United States.” — Yessica Roman, nursing student and DACA recipient