SOFTBALL: Hood river overpowers pendleton in 5 innings | SPORTS, A8
E O
AST
143rd year, no. 130
REGONIAN
Wednesday, april 17, 2019
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
State not ready to declare local scenes emergencies
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Oregon Office of
emergency Management is
not ready to declare emer-
gencies for two eastern Ore-
gon counties due to flooding.
state sen. Bill Hansell
of athena and state rep.
Greg Barreto of Cove, both
republicans, wrote a let-
ter Monday urging Gov.
Kate Brown to declare a
state of emergency for Uma-
tilla and Wallowa counties.
Lawmakers
detail gas
tax credit
to offset cap
and trade
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
For months, the conver-
sation around Oregon’s pro-
posed carbon program has
revolved around how it will
impact industrial polluters.
On Monday, a public
hearing focused on miti-
gating anticipated gas price
increases to soften the
new environmental poli-
cy’s affect on low-income
Oregonians.
The public hearing on
House Bill 3425 kept the
Joint Committee on Carbon
reduction busy as legisla-
tive lawyers worked through
the scores of amendments.
Under the cap and trade
proposal, the state would
limit certain carbon emis-
sions. selected industries
emitting at least 25,000 met-
ric tons of greenhouse gas-
ses per year would have to
pay for every ton of pollut-
ants. To do that, they would
buy allowances from the
state through an auction.
Commodities, such as
energy, natural gas and
gasoline, are expected to
become more expensive.
The cap and trade pro-
gram has a built-in mech-
anism of free allowances
to natural gas and electric
utilities to keep Oregonians
from feeling the full extent
of those price increases.
after weeks of pub-
lic hearings in salem and
around the state, the com-
mittee repeatedly heard
concerns from low-income
Oregonians afraid of how
the program would push gas
prices.
The department of envi-
ronmental Quality esti-
mated that if cap and trade
went into effect in 2021,
there would be an immedi-
ate 15 to 16 cent per gallon
See Cap&Trade, Page A7
Hansell said he heard about
the flooding from Umatilla
County Commissioner John
shafer, then reached out
Barreto’s office. They con-
ferred with more officials
in Umatilla, Wallawa and
Union counties, and his and
Barreto’s office drafted the
letter.
“i hand delivered it about
11:30 Monday morning,”
Hansell said.
“These counties are in
need of state and federal
assistance as they work to
combat rising waters and
the aftermath of flooding,”
the lawmakers stated in the
letter to Brown, a dem-
ocrat. “a state of emer-
gency declaration from your
office is needed in order for
these counties to prepare
and recover from the wide-
spread flooding they are
experiencing.”
Hansell said they also
emailed the letter to nik
Blosser, Brown’s chief of
staff, as well as a link to the
city of pendleton’s video
showing the flooding along
McKay Creek.
later Monday, Hansell’s
chief of staff, evan Bryan,
got a call from andrew
phelps, the director of the
Oregon Office of Emer-
gency Management, who
denied the request.
phelps explained his
office’s decision during a
call Tuesday.
“There’s just not the jus-
tification for it,” he said.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
See Flood, Page A7
A shed is enveloped by McKay Creek on Saturday near Com-
munity Park in Pendleton.
Tripping
the light
fantastic
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Addison Schulberg dances the foxtrot with his partner Sara Sharples, from the Utah Ballroom Dance Company, on the way to winning Dancing
With Your Pendleton Stars on Saturday night at the Vert Auditorium.
Dancing With Your Pendleton Stars boosts community charities
rita rosenberg puts aside
worries about her flooded
home to dance
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
One of the dancers in saturday
night’s dancing With your pendle-
ton Stars broke away from her flooded
home to perform.
The night before, with flooding on
the way, rita rosenberg and her sig-
nificant other, Kelly Kincaid, family
and friends transferred everything in
the basement to the upstairs. rosen-
berg fell into bed after midnight and
got back at it early.
Water flowed down their street
(southwest 41st) saturday morning
and seeped into the basement. six
people with shop vacs couldn’t stem
the flow, so they added two pumps.
a sandbag line formed to place
bags delivered by friends and strang-
ers into a barrier around the home.
Friends helped move furniture and
other items inside the house.
rosenberg broke away to attend an
afternoon rehearsal, having forgotten
her costume.
“i arrived in muck boots,” she said.
“i hadn’t showered.”
afterward she returned to the
sandbag line until “they kicked me out
about 4:30.”
she showered at a friend’s house,
got hair and makeup done and arrived
at the Vert auditorium with 40 min-
utes to spare.
“The distraction of the flooding
See Dancing, Page A7
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Rita Rosenberg and her partner Andrew Gryniewicz, from the Utah Ballroom Dance Company,
won most points from judges and $1,000 for her chosen organization during Dancing With Your
Pendleton Stars on Saturday at the Vert Auditorium. Addison Schulberg pulled out the win,
which along with the judges’ scores included money donated from audience members.