NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Congress OKs bill to allow killing sea lions to help salmon
PORTLAND (AP) —
Congress has agreed to
make it easier to kill sea
lions threatening fragile runs
of salmon in the Northwest.
Oregon Public Broad-
casting reports that a bill
approved by the House
Tuesday changes the Marine
Mammal Protection Act to
lift some of the restrictions
on killing sea lions to pro-
tect salmon and steelhead
in the Columbia River and
its tributaries. The measure
had previously passed the
Senate.
Wildlife managers say
sea lion populations have
grown so large that they no
longer need all the protec-
tions that were put in place
for them in 1972.
The measure would
usher in a more stream-
lined process for Washing-
ton, Idaho, Oregon and sev-
Associated Press/Don Ryan
In this April 24, 2008, file photo, a sea lion eats a salmon in the Columbia River near
Bonneville Dam in North Bonneville, Wash. OPB reports that a bill approved by the
House on Tuesday changes the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lift some of the
restrictions on killing sea lions to protect salmon and steelhead in the Columbia
River and its tributaries. The measure had previously passed the Senate.
eral Pacific Northwest tribes
to capture and euthanize sea
lions. Sea lions deemed to
be a problem are captured
and euthanized.
Supporters,
includ-
ing the governors of Ore-
gon, Washington and Idaho,
fishing groups and tribes,
have said the bill will give
wildlife managers greater
flexibility in controlling
California sea lions that dra-
matically increased from
about 30,000 in the 1960s
to about 300,000 follow-
ing enactment of the 1972
Marine Mammal Protection
Act.
Jaime Pinkham, execu-
tive director of the Colum-
bia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission, said in a state-
ment that he was “grateful
Congress worked in a bipar-
tisan manner to give us the
local flexibility to protect
the tribal treaty resources
we share with others in the
Columbia and Willamette
rivers.”
Critics called the move
by Congress ill-conceived
and say it will not solve
the problem of declining
salmon, which also face
other problems such as hab-
itat loss and dams.
While there are sev-
eral thousand California
sea lions in the Columbia
River estuary, only about
200 to 300 swim more than
100 miles upriver from the
Pacific Ocean and would be
eligible for removal, state
wildlife officials say.
An orca task force con-
vened by Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee, a Democrat, also
backed the legislation to
boost the fish for the strug-
gling population of southern
resident killer whales.
Bentz asks WA lawmakers to ‘convince us if you’re for real’
up the approximate $3 bil-
lion Columbia River Cross-
ing project.
Oregon Sen. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, reminded his
Washington counterparts
on the panel that he put a
lot of political capital in
shepherding the first proj-
ect through the Oregon
Legislature.
“I can assure you I’m
By LAUREN DRAKE
Oregon Public Broadcasting
In the first meeting
between Oregon and Wash-
ington lawmakers to dis-
cuss a revived replacement
plan for the Interstate 5
bridge on Tuesday, Oregon
legislators made it clear
they aren’t over Washing-
ton’s 2013 move to blow
not enthusiastic about
going through that process
again,” Bentz said, adding
he was at the meeting to
listen and see if Washing-
ton lawmakers “can con-
vince us if you’re for real”
this time.
Talk of replacing the
100-year-old Interstate 5
bridge has long been one of
the most divisive topics in
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Mostly cloudy
Mostly cloudy
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
An afternoon and
evening shower
Mostly cloudy with
a little rain
53° 36°
50° 35°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
46° 36°
52° 37°
49° 42°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
53° 33°
50° 35°
49° 36°
53° 37°
47° 39°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Olympia
53/45
41/32
49/30
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
51/38
Lewiston
51/42
54/34
Astoria
53/46
Pullman
Yakima 47/32
50/38
48/32
Portland
Hermiston
52/40
Salem
The Dalles 53/33
48/33
53/34
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
40/30
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
53/35
50/32
44/32
Ontario
40/25
Caldwell
Burns
50°
42°
40°
27°
62° (1933) -5° (1972)
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
Eugene
0.17"
0.19"
0.62"
7.15"
8.77"
9.09"
WINDS (in mph)
40/28
34/14
0.19"
0.34"
0.55"
9.21"
15.33"
12.02"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
53/36
53/35
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
Pendleton 39/28
55/37
Corvallis
46°
40°
39°
26°
75° (1921) -23° (1919)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/38
Aberdeen
41/30
41/31
Tacoma
Today
Medford
53/32
Fri.
SW 4-8
S 7-14
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 6-12
SSW 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
44/28
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:27 a.m.
4:11 p.m.
11:47 a.m.
10:21 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 81° in Edinburg, Texas Low -11° in Presque Isle, Maine
ing brought it up.
Steve Wallace, from
Vancouver, told lawmak-
ers to remember his com-
munity wants “lanes, not
trains.”
Several
lawmakers
brought up the idea of pur-
suing more than one bridge.
Oregon Rep. Richard
Vial, R-Scholls, pushed
the idea of a new highway
west of Interstate 5 through
Washington County.
“It’s a missed opportu-
nity if we don’t include a
conversation of the need
of a westside solution,” he
said before the meeting.
Joe Cortright, a Portland
economist, told the panel
one of the reasons why
the first effort failed was
because some of the hard
decisions — how much it
will cost, who will pay for
it — were put off until the
end.
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/44
spent about two decades on
the project. “Do I feel like
we should? Probably.”
The CRC, as it became
known,
would
have
replaced the bridge, rebuilt
freeway interchanges and
extended light rail from
Portland to Vancouver,
until Washington backed
out of the project. Ore-
gon tried to pass a version
on their own, but the effort
failed in 2014. About $200
million was spent in a plan-
ning process that started in
2001.
One of the sticking
points between the two
states was mass transit. Ore-
gon said the project needed
light rail, while the Clark
County community pushed
back against the idea. Law-
makers didn’t speak of pub-
lic transit during their meet-
ing Tuesday, but several
commenters at the gather-
PENDLETON
TEMP.
Seattle
Clark County. After a group
of Washington lawmak-
ers torpedoed the Colum-
bia River Crossing project,
it’s taken years to convince
their Oregon counterparts
that they are committed this
time.
Twelve lawmakers —
some from Oregon, like
Bentz, and others from
Washington, like Sen. Ann
Rivers, R-La Center, who
was instrumental in killing
the CRC — sat at a long
table in a nondescript build-
ing in North Portland near
the Columbia River.
Oregon Sen. Lee Beyer,
a Democrat who chairs
the Senate Committee on
Business and Transporta-
tion, reluctantly agreed it’s
time to start addressing the
bridge once again.
“Do I want to spend
more time on this? No,”
Beyer said, noting they’ve
Legislature to weigh statewide
plastic bag tax, straw ban
SALEM (AP) — The Oregon Legislature
will consider a statewide tax on plastic bags
and a ban on plastic straws.
The Statesman Journal reports a Senate
committee voted to introduce both legisla-
tive concepts, or preliminary bills, during an
informational hearing Wednesday.
Both bills would help reduce plastic waste
that ends up in landfills and the environment.
“From our perspective, nothing we use
for 10 minutes should pollute the environ-
ment for hundreds of years,” said Celeste
Meiffren-Swango, state director of Environ-
ment Oregon.
One would impose a 5 cent per bag tax
on single-use plastic bags used by retail
stores selling food or alcohol, and require
the establishments to provide paper check-
out bags.
The tax wouldn’t apply to meat and vege-
table bags, or other non-checkout bags. And
customers who use vouchers and state bene-
fit cards would be exempt.
Money collected would go to the Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality, for a
new Plastic Clean-Up and Recycling Fund.
Fourteen Oregon cities have banned sin-
gle-use plastic bags.
The Legislature previously considered
banning plastic bags, in 2010, 2011 and
2012. All three bills died in committee.
This is the first time a tax, rather than a
ban, has been proposed. Because the bill
would raise revenue, it would require a
three-fifths majority approval.
Another measure would prohibit restau-
rants from providing single-use plastic
straws to customers unless they request a
straw.
The proposal specifically exempts straws
made from sugar cane, pasta and some other
natural ingredients.
Violators could be fined up to $25 per
day, with a cap of $300 per year.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Deadline looms for health care signups
By KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The window for Oregonians to enroll in
new health insurance closes Saturday night.
So far more than 73,000 people have
signed up. Last year 156,105 Oregonians
enrolled through HealthCare.gov.
Some experts predict lower enrollment
this year as the federal government cut the
advertising budget. But Oregon maintained
its budget and has been running plenty of
ads.
Elizabeth Cronin with the Oregon Mar-
ketplace says there’ll be an uptick in enroll-
ment as the Saturday deadline approaches.
“Sometimes people are surprised that
they qualify for financial assistance. Or they
don’t give it a shot because they assume
they make too much to qualify,” she said.
A family of four, that doesn’t get cov-
erage through a job, can make up to about
$100,000 a year and still qualify.
A study by the Kaiser Family Founda-
tion found that about 20 percent of Ore-
gonians are eligible for free bronze level
health insurance, after factoring in a tax
credit.
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
50s
ice
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— 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
EastOregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to 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
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
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.
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
EZPay
52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
Local home delivery Savings (cover price)
$14.50
41 percent
$173.67
41 percent
$91.86
38 percent
$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
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
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 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