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
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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
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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.
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First
Full
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New
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Jan 5
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
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60s
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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-
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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
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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
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lawmakers deliver the doc-
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“The court vacates the
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“Appeal dismissed.”
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