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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Friday, December 7, 2018 U.S. to ease drilling controls protecting sage grouse By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — The Trump administration moved forward Thursday with plans to ease restric- tions on oil and natural gas drilling and other activities across millions of acres in the American West that were put in place to protect an imperiled bird species. Land management docu- ments released by the U.S. Interior Department show the administration intends to open more public lands to leasing and allow waivers for drilling to encroach into the habitat of greater sage grouse. Critics warned the changes could wipe out grouse colonies as drilling disrupts breeding grounds. Federal officials under Pres- ident Barack Obama in 2015 had adopted a sweeping set of land use restrictions intended to benefit the birds. Interior Deputy Secre- tary David Bernhardt said the agency was responding to requests by states to give them more flexibility in how public lands are managed. AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File In this April 20, 2013 file photo, male greater sage grouse perform mating rituals for a female grouse, not pictured, on a lake outside Walden, Colo. He said the goal to conserve sage grouse was unchanged. “I completely believe that these plans are leaning for- ward on the conservation of sage grouse,” Bernhardt told The Associated Press. “Do they do it in exactly the same way, no. We made some change in the plans and got rid of some things that are simply not necessary.” The changes drew a sharp backlash from conservation groups and wildlife advo- cates, who warned exces- sive use of drilling waivers could push the birds onto the endangered species list. “If you allow excep- tion after exception, that might make sense for a par- Corrections Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Low clouds, fog breaking Mostly cloudy and chilly Mostly cloudy and chilly Mostly cloudy with a bit of snow Mostly cloudy 32° 23° 36° 24° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 42° 30° 44° 36° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 34° 24° 37° 24° 36° 29° 42° 30° OREGON FORECAST 43° 36° 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 44/38 33/24 36/21 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 32/26 Lewiston 43/36 33/24 Astoria 48/41 Pullman Yakima 33/21 42/32 35/24 Portland Hermiston 44/37 The Dalles 34/24 Salem Corvallis 42/33 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 33/23 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 43/35 37/24 35/24 Ontario 33/21 Caldwell Burns 33° 18° 41° 28° 62° (1945) 1° (2013) 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 43/33 0.00" 0.01" 0.32" 6.97" 8.77" 8.79" WINDS (in mph) 32/20 26/10 0.00" 0.01" 0.27" 8.88" 15.33" 11.74" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 31/18 43/33 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 32/23 36/28 32° 20° 40° 27° 65° (1987) 0° (2013) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 42/31 Aberdeen 30/21 32/22 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 45/38 Today Medford 48/34 Sat. NE 3-6 NW 4-8 Boardman Pendleton NE 3-6 N 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 37/23 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 7:22 a.m. 4:11 p.m. 7:32 a.m. 4:53 p.m. First Full Last New Dec 15 Dec 22 Dec 29 Jan 5 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 83° in Edinburg, Texas Low -31° in West Yellowstone, Mont. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY 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 — 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 www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. 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 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front representatives pushed the administration to give more recognition to changes in drilling practices that reduce how much land is disturbed for wells. “We can do both — pro- tect sage grouse and move forward with responsible energy development,” said Kathleen Sgamma with the Western Energy Alliance, which represents more than 300 oil and gas companies. “We’ve reduced the size of well pads, reduced the numbers of wells. And we had done all these things and the prior administration assumed development was taking place like it was 20 years ago.” Governors from sev- eral western states previ- ously raised concerns over a related federal directive that would limit a type of land swap that can be used to pre- serve habitat for the birds. Following Thursday’s release of environmen- tal studies analyzing the changes in each state, gov- ernors and the public get another chance to weigh in before a final decision is expected in early 2019. Task force backs controversial opioid pain treatment plan 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. 38° 29° ticular project in a particu- lar spot, but you add them all together and you have death by a thousand cuts,” said National Wildlife Asso- ciation vice president Tracy Stone-Manning. The ground-dwelling grouse ranges across about 270,000 square miles in parts of 11 western U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Its numbers have plummeted in recent decades. Under President Donald Trump, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has vowed to lift obstacles to drilling, and grouse protections have long been viewed by the energy industry as an obstacle to development. Sage grouse are large, ground-dwelling birds known for an elaborate mat- ing ritual in which males strut around breeding grounds with large, puffed- out air sacs protruding from their chests. They once numbered in the millions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now estimates the population at 200,000 to 500,000. Energy development, disease and other causes have decimated populations in some areas. The Trump administra- tion’s proposal would reverse or modify the Obama-era protections in seven states — Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California, Idaho and Oregon. The oil and gas industry chafed at the old rules. Once Trump took office, industry 110s high low BEND (AP) — An Ore- gon proposal to expand alter- native treatments for certain chronic pain conditions while limiting the use of opioids has moved forward with mini- mal changes, despite outcries from chronic pain patients and criticism from pain experts across the country. The Bulletin reports that the state’s Chronic Pain Task Force, an ad hoc committee providing recommendations on treatments for chronic pain under Oregon’s Medic- aid program, backed a pro- posal Wednesday to provide coverage for five chronic pain conditions currently not covered by the Oregon Health Plan. That would allow patients to receive services, such as physical therapy, acupunc- ture and other types of treat- ment. Opioids would be cov- ered in limited doses for some of the chronic pain conditions, but not for fibro- myalgia or centralized pain syndrome, a central pain processing disorder that can heighten the response to painful stimuli. The task force concluded patients to taper off painkill- ers within a year. After hear- ing from patients and provid- ers, Oregon Health Authority staff reworked the proposal to soften the language and pro- vide patients and their doctors more flexibility in the rate of tapering. “We at OHA believe that health care delivery is really dependent on the trust- ing relationship between a patient and provider,” Dr. Dana Hargunani, chief med- ical officer at OHA, told the task force. “All of the pro- posal elements, particularly addressing the opioid tapers, including the timelines, the rates and the ultimate suc- cess in getting to zero, are intended to be flexible and to meet individual patient needs based on the patient and doctor relationship.” Oregon Health Authority officials estimated that about 67,400 people would gain coverage to alternative pain treatments under the pro- posal and that between 600 to 1,200 patients would need to have their opioid treat- ments reevaluated by their providers. Legislature to release sexual harassment records SALEM (AP) — After losing an appeal, leaders in the Oregon Legislature said Wednesday they’ll obey a judge’s order to turn over documents to the state’s labor commissioner, who is investigating sexual harass- ment at the Capitol. Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek said they would do so only reluctantly. Their decision came just hours after the Oregon Appeals Court dismissed their appeal of a lower court’s ruling that they comply with Labor Commissioner Brad Avaki- an’s bid to get the materi- als. Courtney and Kotek had said they were worried about protecting the anonymity of those who came forward and didn’t want to be identified. The #MeToo campaign that swept the nation felled one lawmaker in the Oregon statehouse, Sen. Jeff Kruse, who was accused of inap- Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Circulation Manager: Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828 that opioids are not benefi- cial and can be harmful for those conditions. Overprescribing of pre- scription opioids has been blamed for the ongoing over- dose epidemic nationwide. Patients who are already taking doses above the opi- oid limits would be required to begin a taper of their med- ications at rate determined in conjunction with their doc- tor. Patients with fibromyal- gia or centralized pain syn- drome would be required to taper off opioids completely. “This is basically more extreme and draconian than any approach in the coun- try. It goes against all of the guidelines,” said Kate Nich- olson, a civil rights attor- ney from Colorado and a chronic pain advocate. “And importantly, it does so with- out regard for any attempt to measure potential harms or benefits to patients.” The proposal is the sec- ond try by the task force to craft the chronic pain cover- age guidelines. A previous proposal would have limited opioid cover- age to 90 days and required propriate behavior by sev- eral female lawmakers and interns. The Republican senator announced his res- ignation in February, after an independent investiga- tion verified many of the complaints. Avakian, the commis- sioner of the bureau labor and industries, known as BOLI, sent shock waves into the Capitol during the sum- mer when he accused Court- ney and Kotek, both fellow Democrats, of allowing a sexually hostile environ- ment and of being slow to protect women from Kruse. Courtney and Kotek denied Avakian’s accusations and said his investigation would have a chilling effect on oth- ers to come forward when they face harassment. “I worked as hard as I could to protect those who had come forward about working conditions,” Court- ney said in a statement ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Wednesday. “Sadly BOLI and the courts have ordered the Legislature to hand over all confidential records of these individuals.” Kotek said she hopes Ava- kian can protect the confiden- tiality of all those who are identified in the records and who want to remain anony- mous. Labor agency lawyer Nena Cook earlier said the alleged victims’ information would be kept private under a protective order. James Nass, a state appeals court commissioner, late Tuesday terminated a temporary stay on a Mult- nomah County Circuit Court judge’s decision that the lawmakers deliver the doc- uments, and he tossed their appeal. “The court vacates the order granting a tempo- rary stay and denies appel- lants’ motion for stay pend- ing appeal,” Nass wrote. “Appeal dismissed.” Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: 541-966-0822 COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
