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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Friday, December 21, 2018 U.S. miscalculated benefit of better train brakes and ethanol in the U.S. and Canada. The deadliest happened in Canada in 2013, when an unattended train carry- ing crude oil rolled down an incline, came off the tracks in the town of Lac-Megantic and exploded into a massive ball of fire, killing 47 peo- ple and obliterating much of the Quebec community’s downtown. There have been other fiery crashes and fuel spills in Alabama, Oregon, Mon- tana, Virginia, West Virginia, North Dakota and Illinois. After the brake rule was enacted, lobbyists for the railroad and oil industries pushed to cancel it, citing the high cost of installing so-called electronic pneu- matic brakes and question- ing their effectiveness. But supporters of the brakes said the issue should be reconsidered given the miscalculation and concerns about other benefits that may have been ignored, including reducing the frequency of runaway trains and severity of train-on-train collisions, said Robert Duff, a senior adviser to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat. “This is not theoretical risk. We’ve actually seen these derailments,” Duff said. “We think there are potentially other benefits that have been left out. Shouldn’t By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — President Donald Trump’s administration miscalcu- lated the potential bene- fits of putting better brakes on trains that haul explo- sive fuels when it scrapped an Obama-era rule over cost concerns, The Associated Press has found. A government analysis used by the administration to justify the cancellation omit- ted up to $117 million in esti- mated future damages from train derailments that could be avoided by using elec- tronic brakes. Revelation of the error stoked renewed criticism Thursday from the rule’s supporters who called the analysis biased. Department of Trans- portation officials acknowl- edged the mistake after it was discovered by the AP during a review of federal documents but said it does not change their decision not to install the brakes. Safety advocates, trans- portation union leaders and Democratic lawmakers oppose the administration’s decision to kill the brake rule, which was included in a package of rail safety mea- sures enacted in 2015 under President Barack Obama following dozens of acci- dents by trains hauling oil KGW-TV via AP, File Smoke billows from a Union Pacific train that derailed near Mosier on June 3, 2016 in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. all this be redone, with all the benefits reconsidered? Show us that the costs still outweigh the benefits.” Unlike other systems where brakes are applied sequentially along the length of a train, electronic pneu- matic brakes, or ECP, work on all cars simultaneously. That can reduce the dis- tance and time a train needs to stop and cause fewer cars to derail. “These ECP brakes are very important for oil trains,” said Steven Dit- meyer, a rail safety expert and former senior official at the Federal Railroad Admin- istration. “It makes a great deal of sense: All the brakes get applied immediately, and Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY there would be fewer cars in the pileup.” Under Obama, the Trans- portation Department deter- mined the brakes would cost up to $664 million over 20 years and save between $470 million and $1.1 bil- lion from accidents that would be avoided. The Trump administra- tion reduced the range of benefits to between $131 million and $374 million. Transportation Department economists said in their analysis that the change was prompted in part by a reduction in oil train traf- fic in recent years, which meant there would be fewer derailments. The transport of crude Times of clouds and sun Cloudy with a couple of showers Rain and drizzle in the p.m. Mostly cloudy PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 44° 29° 44° 37° 50° 38° 41° 32° 45° 34° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 47° 28° 44° 35° 52° 37° 46° 32° 46° 36° OREGON FORECAST 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 47/40 37/27 45/26 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 46/33 Lewiston 46/37 48/30 Astoria 49/39 Pullman Yakima 44/28 45/35 45/30 Portland Hermiston 46/36 The Dalles 47/28 Salem Corvallis 46/30 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 37/23 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 48/31 37/23 35/21 Ontario 43/24 Caldwell Burns 48° 34° 39° 27° 63° (1933) -12° (1990) 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 46/32 Trace 0.36" 0.99" 7.32" 8.91" 9.46" WINDS (in mph) 42/24 34/12 Trace 0.61" 0.98" 9.48" 15.46" 12.45" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 35/18 48/33 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 44/29 46/30 60° 43° 39° 25° 66° (1900) -12° (1990) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 46/33 Aberdeen 37/25 42/27 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 47/38 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 45/26 Sat. WSW 7-14 WSW 8-16 NE 3-6 SE 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 38/18 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 7:33 a.m. 4:14 p.m. 3:43 p.m. 6:08 a.m. Full Last New First Dec 22 Dec 29 Jan 5 Jan 13 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 87° in Marathon, Fla. Low -8° in Daniel, Wyo. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Oregon is still on track to gain a sixth seat in the U.S. House, according to elections experts studying new Census Bureau pop- ulation estimates released Wednesday. Kimball Brace of Elec- tion Data Services in Vir- ginia said he projects that Oregon should gain another seat with about 140,000 people to spare. That’s relatively close, but not as close to the margin as it is for some states. “There are still some potential changes coming that could impact Oregon,” he said. These include pop- ulation changes caused by a disaster or an economic shock — or big differences in what the Census Bureau turns up when it attempts to count the entire population in 2020. Another firm, Poli- data in Vermont, also proj- ects that Oregon will gain a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both firms project that Washington will continue to have 10 congressional seats. But they say Califor- nia could lose a seat for the first time in its history. Under current Oregon law, it will be up to the state Legislature to redraw district lines in 2021. And if Democrats maintain con- trol of the Legislature, they will be able to send a bill Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -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 MEDFORD (AP) — The Oregon Health Authority is expecting to lift requirements that led to rationing the use of a $1,000-per-pill drug that can cure hepatitis C. Most patients covered by the Oregon Health Plan had to have liver damage in order to qualify for the hepa- titis C cure, the Mail Tribune reported Wednesday. The state plans to lift that stipulation in March, allow- ing the treatment before peo- ple sustain liver damage from the disease. About a quarter of the state’s population is covered by the Oregon Health Plan. The state authority has esti- mated that 95,000 Oregon residents have hepatitis C but about half don’t know it. New drugs released in 2013 and 2014 can cure most cases of the disease previ- ously thought incurable, but the price tag caused problems. Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences charged $84,000 for a 12-week treat- ment of Sovaldi, and it priced Harvoni at $94,500. Providing the drug to everyone with hepatitis C would have likely bankrupted the Oregon Health Plan and led to unaffordable premi- ums, health officials said. “It was a complete bank- breaker. There was no way individual insurance plans or governments could afford HILLSBORO (AP) — A man was has been killed after being hit by a MAX train in Hillsboro. Authorities say the eastbound train hit the man early Thursday morning 50 yards west 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 to Gov. Kate Brown — her term runs until early 2023 — even if Republicans object. If legislators can’t com- plete the job, the task goes to the federal courts. In addition, several groups are pushing to take redistricting away from the Legislature and give it to some type of independent commission. Oregon last gained a new congressional seat in 1980. Since then, the dis- trict lines have remained relatively unchanged. But an addition of a sixth seat could greatly scramble their boundaries. Currently, Demo- crats hold four seats while Republicans have one. Oregon Health Plan to end ration of costly hepatitis C cure Man struck, killed by MAX train in Hillsboro -10s However, excluding those potential damages means the difference between costs and benefits would have been much narrower. A 2015 act of Congress mandated that the Depart- ment of Transportation repeal the braking require- ment if an analysis showed more costs than benefits. Fraser said a correction to the agency’s findings will be published to the federal register, but the repeal will stand. “With the correction, in all scenarios costs still out- weigh benefits,” Fraser said. “Therefore, the outcome ... would not have changed.” The Association of Amer- ican Railroads declined com- ment on the agency’s cost benefit calculations. Spokes- woman Jessica Kahanek said the move to rescind the Obama rule was in line with the requirements set forth by Congress. John Risch, national leg- islative director for the Inter- national Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Trans- portation Workers, said elec- tronic brakes are overdue and would have prevented some accidents, including the deaths at Lac-Megantic. He added that the omis- sion of some derailments from the government’s find- ings further tilted a study that was already flawed. Oregon likely to gain a sixth seat in the U.S. House, forecast shows By JEFF MAPES Oregon Public Broadcasting Cooler with periods of sun on U.S. railroads peaked in 2014 when 540,000 tank cars shipped. That fell to about 210,000 carloads last year, most of it from the Bakken oil patch of North Dakota and Montana, according to industry figures. But in making their cal- culations, the economists left out the most common type of derailments in which spilled and burning fuel causes property damage but no mass casualties, the AP found. Equipping fuel trains with electronic brakes would reduce damages from those derailments by an estimated $48 million to $117 million, according to Department of Transportation estimates that were left out of the adminis- tration’s final tally. Including the omit- ted benefits reduces the net cost of the requirement to as low as $63 million under one scenario laid out by the agency. Transportation spokes- man Bobby Fraser said the omission was unintentional and would not have changed September’s decision to cancel the electronic brake requirement. Under the administration’s analysis, the cost of the brakes would have outweighed the ben- efits even when consider- ing estimated damages from derailments that were left out of the original findings. 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 the pill where it was priced,” said Jennifer Lind, CEO of Jackson Care Connect, a pro- vider of Oregon Health Plan coverage. The prices of the treat- ment are falling as more hep- atitis C drugs and generics hit the market. Gilead Sciences announced in September that it will release a generic ver- sion of Harvoni in January, pricing it at $24,000. “As those prices have gone down, you’ve seen peo- ple getting more and more access to the drug,” said Josh Balloch, vice president of government affairs for All- Care Health, another pro- vider of Oregon Health Plan coverage. of Northeast Cornelius Pass Road at the start of a train overpass. Shuttle buses served area stations. Sgt. Eric Bunday, a Hillsboro police spokesman, told The Oregonian/Oregon- Live that police were still trying to figure out why the man was on the tracks. The area doesn’t have a pedestrian crossing, he said. 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
