NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
EPA proposes scaling back cleanup of Portland Harbor
PORTLAND (AP) —
The U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency has
proposed to scale back
the scope and cost of a
planned $1 billion cleanup
of a 10-mile stretch of Ore-
gon’s Willamette River as
it winds through Portland’s
industrial area.
Five years of research
shows one contaminant
in the Portland Harbor is
less toxic than previously
thought and scaling back
cleanup plans for that con-
taminant could reduce the
cost of the overall project
by $35 million, the agency
said Monday.
The
cancer-causing
chemical in question is
benzo(a)pyrene and comes
from burning things like
coal and oil. It’s part of a
larger class of pollutants
known as poly aromatic
hydrocarbons, or PAH.
The Portland Harbor
Superfund site is highly
contaminated with dozens
of pollutants from a century
of industrial activity.
The EPA spent 16 years
developing a $1 billion
cleanup plan for the site.
“Today’s
proposal
ensures that the cleanup
plan is current with the lat-
est science to protect peo-
ple’s health and the envi-
ronment,” acting EPA
Administrator
Andrew
Wheeler said in the state-
ment. “We are moving the
cleanup forward to return
the Lower Willamette to a
healthier working water-
way for all.”
The proposal changes
the target levels for cer-
tain PAHs in the river’s
beaches and sediment, so
the cleanup will require
less dredging and capping
of soil. It also will shrink
the footprint of the overall
cleanup area by about 17
acres out of the total 2,200
acres, according to the EPA.
Portland Harbor project
manager Sean Sheldrake
AP Photo/Don Ryan, File
In this July 6, 2017 photo, late afternoon sun sparkles off the Willamette River in
Portland. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to scale back the
scope and cost of a planned $1 billion cleanup of the Portland Harbor superfund site
because the agency says new research shows one contaminant is less toxic than
previously thought, reducing the cost of the project by $35 million.
told Oregon Public Broad-
casting that it’s unusual for
new research to show that a
chemical is less toxic than
previously thought.
“Where we thought we
had to do more to make
things safe with respect to
this chemical we can actu-
ally do less active cleanup,”
he said. “The state of the
science is indicating it’s not
as hazardous as we previ-
ously thought.”
Sheldrake said the find-
ings don’t mean there won’t
be any cleanup of PAHs in
the river, but there will be
less than planned.
“Adjustments in our
level of knowledge of toxic-
ity do happen regularly,” he
said. “It just usually doesn’t
go in this direction.”
Bob Sallinger, conserva-
tion director with the Port-
land Audubon Society, said
his group believes addi-
tional cleanup is needed
and he’s upset with the
EPA. “We were hopeful
we were moving into the
cleanup phase now,” he
said. “This feels like a big
step backward. It weakens
the plan.”
The EPA extended the
public comment period on
the proposal to Dec. 21,
OPB reported.
Kickbacks, scheme sends energy tax credit consultant to prison
energy tax credits, has
been sentenced to nearly
four years in federal prison
and owes hundreds of thou-
sands in unpaid taxes to the
Internal Revenue Service.
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
A solar consultant, who
illegally profited off the
sale of Oregon business
Martin J. Shain, 61, of
Seattle, was a consultant
to solar project builders at
several Oregon University
System campuses.
Between June 2012
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Nice with periods
of sun
Mostly cloudy
Some sun, a
shower in the p.m.
Sun and clouds
Times of clouds
and sun
63° 43°
65° 49°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
68° 43°
61° 36°
60° 45°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
65° 42°
65° 47°
69° 41°
64° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
59° 41°
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
59/51
60/40
63/36
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
64/47
Lewiston
61/50
66/43
Astoria
60/49
Pullman
Yakima 62/38
58/47
63/43
Portland
Hermiston
62/49
The Dalles 65/42
Salem
Corvallis
63/41
La Grande
Yesterday
Normals
Records
61/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
63/42
60/36
64/39
Ontario
68/40
Caldwell
Burns
63°
37°
62°
37°
80° (1933) 20° (1935)
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
63/44
0.00"
1.14"
0.46"
6.29"
7.80"
7.02"
WINDS (in mph)
67/40
62/26
0.00"
1.39"
0.75"
7.91"
13.70"
9.69"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 61/36
63/46
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
63/43
64/43
63°
38°
60°
38°
82° (1933) 19° (1916)
In April, Colello was
sentenced to five years
in prison and ordered to
pay $81,000 in restitu-
tion. He pleaded guilty to
one count of conspiracy to
engage in monetary trans-
actions in property derived
from unlawful activity,
one count of conspiracy to
defraud the United States
and one count of filing a
false income tax return.
According to court
records,
Colello
pro-
vided Shain with names
of energy tax credit sell-
ers and interested buy-
ers — information he was
privy to as a Department of
Energy employee. Colello
then contacted the sell-
ers and buyers to nego-
tiate credit transfers and
deceived them into believ-
ing that Shain had bro-
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
67/40
Thu.
WSW 4-8
W 4-8
SW 4-8
SW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
61/29
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
7:24 a.m.
5:54 p.m.
6:27 p.m.
7:07 a.m.
Last
New
First
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 94° in Thermal, Calif. Low 5° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
Oct 24
Oct 31
Nov 7
Nov 15
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
BRIEFLY
Elections officials find no
wrongdoing in Brown-
Nike deal
PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon elec-
tions officials have found no wrongdo-
ing and have closed an investigation into
a ballot initiative agreement negotiated
by Gov. Kate Brown, Nike and public
employee unions.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported
Tuesday that elections director Steve
Trout sent letters Oct. 19 notifying the
governor, Nike and public employee
union leaders that he was closing the case.
Trout wrote that statements from them
outweighed information provided in the
complaint filed by Portland resident Rich-
ard Leonetti alleging that the initiative
deal was illegal.
Nike approached the governor in June
about keeping the unions’ “corporate
transparency” initiative off the Novem-
ber ballot. The unions then decided to
drop the effort, and Nike threw its sup-
port behind campaigns to defeat several
conservative ballot initiatives and re-elect
Kate Brown.
The unions’ initiative would have
required large companies to disclose their
taxes in state filings or pay a fine.
Restaurant stops dinner
after $1 million in fines for
taking tips
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
60s
cold front
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
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East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and
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Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group
kered the deals.
Shain founded a sham
company — RC Shain and
Associations — under the
name of a relative where
he funneled commission
payments and concealed
the income from the IRS.
He charged sellers a 1-
to 2-percent fee, undercut-
ting brokers who typically
charged 10 percent for
similar transfers. During
the three-year conspiracy,
Shain deposited more than
$1.3 million in income
from the scheme.
Colello accepted a por-
tion of the profits as a kick-
back from Shain. The kick-
backs came in biweekly
cashier’s checks. In total,
investigators
estimated
that Colello received more
than $300,000 in kick-
backs from Shain.
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
59/46
Aberdeen
57/40
61/41
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
59/51
and March 2015, Shain
paid kickbacks to Joseph
Colello, former manager
of the energy tax credit
program, in exchange for
energy tax credit sales,
according to court records.
Shain was sentenced
Tuesday to 46 months in
federal prison, three years’
supervised release and over
$520,000 in restitution. He
pleaded guilty in June to
one count each of conspir-
acy to defraud the United
States and tax evasion.
“Treating a government
program as a personal ATM
risks the integrity of all
public servants who have
responsibility for protect-
ing Oregon’s resources,”
said Renn Cannon, Special
Agent in Charge of the FBI
in Oregon, in a statement
Tuesday.
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
PORTLAND (AP) — A Portland
restaurant will halt dinner service Satur-
day, several weeks after its chef-owner
was fined nearly $1 million for taking tips
and splitting them between kitchen staff,
salaried managers and the general man-
ager, among other violations.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports
Park Kitchen will remain open for private
events.
The instances of wage theft took place
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at Park Kitchen and its sister restaurant,
the now-closed Bent Brick.
In 2016, a federal court ruled that the
practice of “tip pooling” — used as a way
to balance wages between higher-paid
restaurant servers and cooks — was ille-
gal. That year, Scott Dolich eliminated
tipping.
The Multnomah County case shows
that Park Kitchen and Bent Brick man-
agement retaliated against at least one
employee who complained about the tip
pool.
The jury awarded Holly Rice $50,000
in non-economic damages.
Candidate for sheriff
remains on ballot after
death
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A man
who died in a motorcycle crash last month
remains listed as a candidate for Spokane
County Sheriff on the November ballot.
KREM reports that Scott Maclay, who
legally changed his name to Dumpozzie
Dot Com, was set to face incumbent
Ozzie Knezovich.
Maclay died Sept. 3 in a crash in
Benewah County, Idaho.
State law says that if a deceased can-
didate wins the election, the affiliated
party will select three candidates to send
to the Board of County Commissioners to
decide the winner.
Spokane County Elections Auditor
Vicki Dalton says Maclay preferred the
independent party.
Maclay garnered 13 percent of the
votes in the May primary race.
Corrections
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