Tuesday, October 16, 2018
NORTHWEST
IN BRIEFLY
Buehlers invested $100,000 in BETC
Southern Oregon wildfire
guns, knives and batons.
credits before lambasting the program
The right-wing Patriot Prayer group
flares up prompting
East Oregonian
Page 2A
was holding a “Flash March for Law and
Order” when the counter-demonstrators,
some of whom identified themselves as
members of the militant group Antifa, con-
fronted them and scuffles broke out.
No weapons were seized, but the Port-
land Tribune reports police in riot gear
broke up fights.
evacuations
PORTLAND (AP) — A southern Ore-
gon wildfire burning for months has flared
up, prompting new evacuations and a decla-
ration from the governor that clears the way
for more resources to be sent to the blaze.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports
Klondike fire spokesperson Kale Casey
says people in about 40 homes were under
mandatory evacuation orders Monday
morning.
Gov. Kate Brown on Monday declared
a conflagration for the fire, which flared up
Sunday south of the community of Agness
in 20- to 30-mph winds and extremely dry
conditions.
Casey says winds picked up embers
from within the Klondike fire perimeter
and carried them up to 6 miles. He says the
fire remains active.
Fire marshal’s office personnel were
arriving Monday to protect homes and
buildings. Casey said there were no reports
of injuries.
Oregon man dies after being
shot in head
DALLAS (AP) — A Polk County man
died after being shot in the head during an
incident south of Independence.
The Statesman Journal reports Polk
County Sheriff Mark Garton says 31-year-
old Joseph Sieg died in the Thursday night
shooting.
A call came in at 8:38 p.m. notifying
authorities of the incident. Garton says
multiple attempts of lifesaving measures
on Sieg were successful.
Garton ruled out suicide, but says no
arrests have been made in the case.
Police probe brawl of
rightist, leftist Oregon
protesters
Snake River prison on
lockdown after assault on
staff
PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon author-
ities have launched assault investiga-
tions after a Portland street brawl erupted
between demonstrators with a right-wing
group and left-wing counter-protesters.
Media reports Sunday said there were
no immediate arrests following the clash
Sunday, but police say they are investigat-
ing and seeking help from witnesses.
KGW-TV reported four people received
medical attention.
Police say officers saw people at the
demonstration with hard-knuckled gloves,
ONTARIO (AP) — An Ontario, Ore-
gon prison was placed on lockdown hours
after an inmate allegedly assaulted a staff
member.
KTVB-TV reports that officials with the
Snake River Correctional Institution say
the assault happened around 10:30 a.m.
Saturday.
The staff member was taken to the hos-
pital with unknown injuries. Seven other
security personnel who responded to the
assault were taken to the hospital but have
since been released.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Plenty of sun
Plenty of sunshine
Brilliant sunshine
Plenty of sunshine
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
65° 37°
66° 39°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
69° 38°
69° 39°
70° 40°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
66° 33°
67° 36°
70° 37°
70° 38°
OREGON FORECAST
71° 38°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
72/46
63/37
68/34
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
65/42
Lewiston
75/41
66/34
Astoria
73/48
Pullman
Yakima 66/32
69/36
66/39
Portland
Hermiston
76/48
The Dalles 66/33
Salem
Corvallis
78/37
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
64/33
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
78/38
67/33
68/35
Ontario
64/33
Caldwell
Burns
64°
29°
66°
39°
84° (1963) 20° (1969)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
78/37
0.00"
1.14"
0.26"
6.29"
7.19"
6.82"
WINDS (in mph)
62/33
64/24
0.00"
1.39"
0.49"
7.91"
12.55"
9.43"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 63/32
79/40
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
65/37
70/38
64°
33°
64°
40°
84° (1991) 23° (1897)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
68/37
Aberdeen
61/34
65/41
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
69/48
Today
Medford
81/42
Wed.
NE 3-6
N 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 3-6
NNW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
70/30
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Knute Bue-
hler stumped on the floor of
the Oregon House of Rep-
resentatives to decry the
state’s controversial busi-
ness energy tax incentives.
Buehler, now the Repub-
lican nominee for gover-
nor, left out one fact in his
speech.
He and his wife once
had personally invested in
$100,000 of the tax credits
that later mushroomed into a
multi-million dollar scandal
at the state Energy Depart-
ment, according to agency
records.
Buehler didn’t respond
to a telephone message Fri-
day seeking comment. His
campaign instead issued
a statement in response to
questions from the Oregon
Capital Bureau.
“The Buehlers purchased
tax credits years before he
was a lawmaker and before
state mismanagement of the
program forced the legisla-
ture to repeal the program,”
campaign
spokeswoman
Monica Wroblewski said.
The
Bend
surgeon
invested in the state’s busi-
ness energy tax credit pro-
gram — referred to as
BETC, pronounced “Betsy”
— that was designed to
encourage businesses to
develop renewable energy
projects.
Nearly 30 years after its
creation in 1979, the incen-
tive became a boondoggle
for the state. Lawmakers
questioned the program in
2008, when the state issued
$180 million in credits, tri-
ple the amount of the previ-
ous year.
The state shut off the
credits in 2014 and soon
after it became a talking
point for state lawmakers
who didn’t like how the state
was managed. That included
Buehler.
In 2015, the then-fresh-
man lawmaker from Bend
lambasted the incentives
during a debate on the state’s
low carbon fuels standard on
the House floor.
He said a proposed fuels
program was “another risky
taxpayer financed energy
jobs scheme having zero
credibility.”
He said the state had
“presided over a scandal-
ous and perhaps even crim-
inal waste of tax credit
giveaways that mostly ben-
efit out-of-state corporations
and well-heeled investors at
the expense of Oregon tax-
payers, and more import-
7:13 a.m.
6:08 p.m.
2:31 p.m.
11:50 p.m.
First
Full
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New
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Oct 24
Oct 31
Nov 7
EO Media Group file photo
Representative Knute Buehler, the Republican can-
didate for Oregon governor, invested $100,000 with
his wife in the business energy tax credit program in
about 2008, and later as a legislature harshly criticized
the program as a “scandalous and perhaps even crimi-
nal waste of tax credit giveaways.”
ant funding priorities like
K-12.”
In about 2008, accord-
ing to state records, Buehler
bought $50,000 in tax cred-
its for $33,500. His wife,
Patricia, had an identical but
separate transaction at the
same time.
In purchasing the credits,
the couple were pass-through
partners in an arrangement
that allowed them to buy
tax credits at a discounted
rate from SeQuential-Pacific
Biodiesel LLC, for a new
biodiesel production plant,
according to Energy Depart-
ment records.
Buehler’s
campaign
didn’t respond to written
questions about when the
purchases were completed
or whether the tax cred-
its were claimed on his tax
returns. The credits would
offset other tax liabilities.
A year ago, Buehler criti-
cized the tax credit program
again in an opinion piece he
wrote for The Oregonian.
“Oregon is just beginning
to clean up the mess from its
notorious business-energy
tax credit scandal, which
sent millions of tax dollars
to energy speculators and
well-to-do investors that
could have been better spent
on Oregon students,” Bue-
hler wrote on Oct. 22, 2017.
Oregon
Gov.
Kate
Brown’s campaign said in
a statement that Buehler
should release all of his tax
returns. He disclosed his
2016 and 2017 tax returns in
June.
“We’ve been calling on
Knute Buehler to release his
tax returns for this very rea-
son,” said Christian Gaston,
a spokesman for the Brown
campaign. “Voters need to
be able to see what other
special tax breaks he’s taken,
and what else he’s hiding.
It’s amazing that he took
advantage of these cred-
its, and then turned around
and decried that well-to-do
investors were benefiting.”
The infamous tax credit
was back in the spotlight this
week, as the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice announced
it was recouping $13 mil-
lion from Tesla Energy
Solutions.
Tesla Energy Solutions
bought SolarCity, a solar
energy company that the
state said reported inflated
project costs to get more
tax credit money from the
state.
“The BETC program
was meant to channel pub-
lic funds to help local busi-
nesses, create clean energy
jobs, and stimulate the econ-
omy during a period of eco-
nomic uncertainty. Unfor-
tunately, some companies
abused the program,” Attor-
ney General Rosenblum said
in a statement Thursday.
■
Reporter Claire Withy-
combe: cwithycombe@
eomediagroup.com or 503-
385-4903. Withycombe is a
reporter for the East Ore-
gonian working for the Ore-
gon Capital Bureau, a col-
laboration of EO Media
Group, Pamplin Media
Group, and Salem Reporter.
Corrections
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and
sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in
the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
GROCERY STORE TOUR!
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 93° in Brownsville, Texas Low -8° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
Join Registered Dietitians,
Christine Guenther and
Melissa Naff, for this
FREE interactive tour!
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
We will help you:
• Understand food labels
• Eat healthy on a budget
• Make better choices
from aisle to aisle
Thursday, October 18, 2018 • 10:00-11:30 AM
Safeway – Pendleton • 203 SW 20th Ave
(Meet at the store in the produce section)
Space is Limited – Call (541) 278-3235 to register.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
cold front
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