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East Oregonian
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Climate Bill: Senate president’s remarks throw Capitol into chaos
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after the legislation passed
the House. There are 18
Democrats. The bill must get
16 votes to pass.
Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, was a solid no.
Sen.
Arnie
Roblan,
D-Coos Bay, was leaning no,
and on Tuesday told the Ore-
gon Capital Bureau he would
vote against the bill.
Sens. Laurie Monnes
Anderson, D-Gresham, and
Elizabeth Steiner Hayward,
D-Beaverton, were heavily
courted by both sides.
Brad Reed, a spokesman
for Renew Oregon, an envi-
ronmental group that lobbied
extensively for HB 2020, said
both told him they would
vote for the bill.
As of late last week, Dem-
ocrats pushing the bill said
they weren’t certain enough
votes were there, but they
wanted to put it out for a floor
vote to see what happened.
Courtney, however, is not a
fan of voting on bills without
knowing they will pass.
“I was personally one of
the ones who wanted this bill
on the floor because I wanted
to raise my hand and say
‘yes,’” Burdick said.
Burdick, a “fervent” sup-
porter of the bill, said that
Tuesday’s
announcement
wasn’t the end of the cap-
and-trade idea, but there was
no path left in the current
session, scheduled to end by
Sunday night.
Burdick said she wasn’t
surprised by Courtney’s
comments, but she knows
others weren’t aware of his
plan.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, said Tuesday morning
that he was “pleased” with
Courtney’s statement and
expected it would pave the
way for him and his Repub-
lican colleagues to return to
the Capitol before the end of
the week to wrap up the bud-
get process and other bills.
“We’re moving in the
direction of returning,” he
said.
He said while he and the
other senators were in differ-
ent locations (Hansell hasn’t
revealed his whereabouts)
they were working as a team
and communicating by phone
to decide on next steps.
Renew Oregon, a coali-
tion of groups agitating for
policies to address climate
change, had already planned
a rally outside the Capitol
for Tuesday. Thanks to the
fuel from Courtney’s state-
ments, environmental activ-
ists were chanting outside by
11:30 a.m. and had quickly
crafted signs condemning the
Senate president.
Sen. Michael Dembrow,
a key author of the cap-and-
trade bill, took to the podium,
giving a barn-burner speech
out of character for the typ-
ically reserved Portland
Democrat.
“It is hard to be green,
but it is so important for us
to keep pushing and push-
ing and pushing, because the
people who organized this
walkout, who have fled the
state, are counting on us just
giving up this battle,” Dem-
brow said, eliciting boos
from the supportive crowd.
“In fact, they’re saying that
House Bill 2020, our climate
action program, in general,
is set up to ruin the people
of their districts. And that’s
the rhetoric they’re using to
go away and to stay away. In
fact, that’s not true. That’s not
why they’re gone.”
He said he would con-
tinue to fight for the con-
cept, as would the Demo-
cratic senators with him as
he spoke: Shemia Fagan and
Kathleen Taylor of Portland,
Floyd Prozanski and James
Manning Jr. of Eugene, Sara
Gelser of Corvallis, Jeff
Golden of Ashland, and Rob
Wagner of Lake Oswego.
“We are looking at a cou-
ple of very difficult days
ahead of us,” Dembrow said.
“And I need to know that
everyone who is here around
me is committed to this
struggle. Are you? Because,
speaking for the people who
AP Photo
Gov. Kate Brown speaks to supporters of HB 2020 on the
steps of the Oregon Capitol on Tuesday.
are behind me, we are.”
Gov. Kate Brown, emerg-
ing from her office after
Courtney’s speech, declined
to speak with a reporter,
power walking toward the
rally on the Capitol steps to
urge lawmakers to pass the
climate bill.
“Let me make this per-
fectly clear: The Republicans
are not standing against cli-
mate change,” Brown told
the crowd. “They’re standing
against democracy. We need
to make sure that the legis-
lative branch operates, and
we need to make sure that
Republicans come back to do
their jobs.”
She asked the crowd if
they had the “passion” and
“persistence” needed to pass
the bill — cheers.
She raised her fist, then
turned on her heel and
stepped back into the Capitol.
Republican senators dis-
appeared after talks with
Democratic counterparts last
Wednesday didn’t produce
a deal. Republicans wanted
the environmental legislation
amended, including stripping
out an emergency clause so
the matter could be referred
to voters through petition.
Supporters of HB 2020
say Oregonians voted Demo-
crats into office to enact cli-
mate change policies.
“I think it just shows that
Courtney is not fit to lead, if
he’s not willing to stand up,”
said Oregon Business for Cli-
mate spokeswoman Devon
Downeysmith.
She added, “The kids are
here fighting for their future.
And with a supermajority
that we elected, where peo-
ple ran specifically on HB
2020, there’s no reason why
we can’t have it all.”
“Well, I just feel this bill
is so important,” said Jeanne
Chouard, a speech and lan-
guage pathologist from Ash-
land who came to Salem for
the rally Tuesday. “And I was
dismayed that the Republi-
can senators wouldn’t show
up to take a vote on that.
They’re trying to thwart our
democracy.”
“Because I work with
so many young children, I
think it’s really important to
think about our long-range
future,” Chouard said. “And I
know change is difficult, for
many people, we’re all going
to have to make changes.
But in Southern Oregon, we
are really feeling the effects
already of climate change in
our agriculture sector, in the
quality of our air, because of
the longer, hotter summers
that are drying out our for-
ests, we’re getting more and
more smoke.”
Opponents of the bill are
planning a Thursday morn-
ing rally.
A spokeswoman for Sen-
ate Republicans said Court-
ney’s remarks will “ramp
up” negotiations between the
Senate president and Sen-
ate Minority Leader Herman
Baertschiger Jr., R-Grants
Pass.
On Tuesday afternoon,
the lone person in the Sen-
ate Republican caucus office
was Justin Brecht, a policy
analyst.
He didn’t have updated
information on negotia-
tions, but said the Republi-
can senators had a confer-
ence call planned for Tuesday
afternoon.
Republicans didn’t seem
to be in any hurry to get back
to Salem.
“This is good news,”
Baertschiger said in a state-
ment. “However, we are still
trying to sort out the pro-
cess. The bill itself has been
second read and a vote will
have to take place. Repub-
licans must be assured that
the vote or motion will guar-
antee the bill’s complete end.
We need to have further con-
versations so that the Repub-
licans feel comfortable with
the process.”
Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stay-
ton,
said
Courtney’s
announcement was “won-
derful,” and he thinks there
will be further negotiations
between Democrats and
Republicans, but he wants
more concessions before he’s
willing to return.
“They want to jury-rig
the election that’s going to be
for the repeal of the gross-re-
ceipts tax. That’s not accept-
able,” Girod said, referring to
Senate Bill 116, which sched-
ules a January special elec-
tion if there’s a referendum
on the tax for public educa-
tion. “That’s one I would not
compromise on. And there
are several others.”
Burdick said the appar-
ent failure of HB 2020 wasn’t
a win for Republicans, and
their actions have frayed
already poor relationships
between the parties.
“This is not helping any-
one in our caucus, it’s not
helping anyone in the Leg-
islature and it’s not helping
anyone in Oregon,” Burdick
said. “This is an act of — I
don’t know what to call it —
I want to call it terrorism.
They are not doing their job
and it’s fractured the entire
institution.”
Burdick said Democrats
aren’t negotiating on any
bills with Republicans at this
point.
“You cannot negotiate
with someone who is not
here,” she said.
Sen. Mark Hass of Bea-
verton, a Democratic whip,
compared the climate bill to
others he spent multiple ses-
sions working to pass.
“Maybe that’s how these
things go,” said Hass, who
supports HB 2020. “I would
like to see it come up in a spe-
cial session.”
Several Republican sen-
ators have fled to Idaho,
including Sen. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, who lives near the
Idaho state line.
Bentz told the Malheur
Enterprise Tuesday that he’s
not sure how Republicans
will proceed after Courtney’s
announcement. He was non-
committal about returning to
Oregon.
“I don’t know what it
means,” Bentz told the
Enterprise.
Girod said he and his
wife are in Texas, although
he declined to say exactly
where. Even if Republicans
agree to end their boycott,
he’s not sure there is time
for all of them to return and
complete the Legislature’s
work.
“I think that we’re a lot
closer than we were before
the day started,” Girod said.
Baertschiger and Sens.
Brian Boquist of Dal-
las, Bill Hansell of Ath-
ena, Dallas Heard of Rose-
burg, Dennis Linthicum of
Klamath Falls, Alan Olsen
of Canby, Kim Thatcher of
Keizer, and Chuck Thom-
sen of Hood River didn’t
respond to requests for
comment Tuesday.
Echo: ERFPD covers a sizable
chunk of Umatilla County
Continued from Page A1
AP Photo/Russell Contreras
Travis Johnson, 27, and his girlfriend, Chanika Green, 18, sit in this Shelby, Mississippi, apartment
and talk with the nonprofit group Save the Children about their community’s fight against poverty.
Census: High-tech tools help with
2020 census in remote areas
Continued from Page A1
Steven
Romalewski,
director of the City Univer-
sity of New York’s Mapping
Service, said the criticism
is fair but credited the Cen-
sus Bureau for using its geo-
graphic and aerial technol-
ogy to gather needed data
about the most difficult pop-
ulations to count.
“The technology alone is
no guarantee that you will
have an accurate count,”
said Romalewski, who is
mapping “hard to count”
communities ahead of the
census. “But if you leverage
data with satellite imagery,
you have the best informa-
tion before you.”
That’s what census
employees intend to do
while avoiding the political
battles, Dillingham said.
“The culture of the cen-
sus dictates us to be impar-
tial,” the bureau director
said during a recent trip to
New Mexico, which has one
of the most difficult popula-
tions to accurately count.
The state has a sizable
Native American popula-
tion and the highest percent-
age of Hispanic residents in
the nation. Bishop said the
technology will especially
help such areas that have
struggled for accurate
counts.
Another is Mississip-
pi’s majority-black Bolivar
County, where only 59.7%
of households mailed back
their 2010 census question-
naire, according to CUNY’s
Center for Urban Research.
The national rate was
74% in 2010, according
to a Census Bureau news
release.
The bureau began using
the new imagery technol-
ogy in 2013, Bishop said.
Employees have been dou-
ble- and triple-checking sat-
ellite images and those cap-
tured by the Department of
Agriculture’s National Agri-
culture Imagery Program
during the growing seasons
in the continental U.S.
Around 100 techni-
cians are able to examine
the entire nation with satel-
lite and aerial images while
sitting at their computers.
They are assigned specific
neighborhood blocks and
look for growth and decline
in the number of residen-
tial buildings by compar-
ing images from 2009 to the
present.
Two hours of canvassing
in the field during the 2010
census now takes less than
two minutes in the office,
the bureau said.
“With that information,
we can then decide to use
our staff more efficiently”
to knock on doors of homes
that did not respond to
online or phone question-
naires, Bishop said.
The bureau gave a
demonstration of the new
technology at a conference
early this year. Employees
showed how they could ana-
lyze county subdivisions on
maps by looking up a cer-
tain percentage of Spanish
speakers or those making a
certain amount of money.
The specific addresses
pinpointed by the aerial
imagery are largely kept pri-
vate, but can be shared with
some tribal and city govern-
ments to help create bound-
aries and zoning areas,
Bishop said. After a certain
period, the information has
to be destroyed, she said.
nian reported in 2016 that
the county still has about
156,000 acres that lack
fire district protection.
“We have a river, a
freeway, a railroad. And
gas lines. We’ve got a lit-
tle bit of everything,” said
ERFPD Assistant Fire
Chief Janie Enright.
Gehrke said ERFPD
fights many grass fires,
and usually about one
structure fire a year.
Balls, a bell, and a
barbershop
Echo Rural Fire Pro-
tection District, one of the
largest fire districts in the
state, was formed more
than 100 years ago, when
a group of volunteer men
gathered in Carl Gilbert’s
barber shop in January
1905 with the interest of
starting a fire company.
The company initially
raised money by hosting
an annual Fireman’s Ball
at City Hall, according to
the city of Echo. Eventu-
ally the fledgling company
purchased a bell for a lit-
tle over $100 — almost
$3,000 today — and the
number of tolls notified
volunteers where the next
call would take them.
Instead of speeding to
the scene in a fire truck,
the volunteers took one of
three manpowered hose
carts in the area. And
although the hoses some-
times froze, the equip-
ment was all eventually
modified to be towed by a
pickup truck.
Echo Rural Fire Protec-
tion became a district that
could collect tax revenue
by 1950, when the first fire
truck was purchased.
Today, the ERFPD is
able to respond to emer-
gencies using an app called
Active911, which pro-
vides key dispatch details
right to a first responder’s
phone. But Enright, who
joined the fire district vol-
unteer crew in the early
1970s with her late hus-
band, Tom, who was fire
chief, remembers a differ-
ent time completely.
“When we joined, they
didn’t have a paging sys-
tem,” Enright said.“We
had less fire trucks and old
equipment.
Instead, there were
three fire phones —
including one at a local
tavern — and whenever
the district got a call, the
crew would run down to
the station to set off the
fire alarm.
Enright said the dis-
trict was somewhat of a
pioneer in the 1970s when
they began rigging pickup
trucks with water tanks,
a move that she said the
Heppner Fire Department
followed suit.
“We didn’t have a big
budget, that was the best
way for us to get out and
fight fires,” Enright said.
Trucking forward
Today, the district has
multiple stations and 16
fire trucks.
ERFPD will be replac-
ing one truck from
the 1970s with a 2009
Freightliner, which was
purchased at a low cost
through the Firefighter
Property Program, run by
the U.S. Forest Service.
Gehrke believes the new
truck will be rolling out to
calls by early July.
“Even though it’s not
new, it’s new to us,” he
said, “We run on a very
limited budget.”
Gehrke said the district
brings in about $96,000 a
year in tax revenue, with
Echo being the only city
in the district.
“It sounds like a lot,
but in this day and age, it’s
not,” Gehrke said.
It costs about $5,000
to properly outfit a single
new volunteer in structure
and wildfire gear alone.
The ERFPD relies in
part on grants from a num-
ber of federal agencies and
local entities. Last year,
a grant from the Echo
Community Benefit Fund
allowed the district to pur-
chase masks with built-in
thermal imaging systems.
“It certainly is more
efficient, a little easier for
them,” Gehrke said, add-
ing that thermal imag-
ing devices are usually
handheld, which can slow
down the firefighting
process.
But the new equipment
might not see as much
daylight as it could, since
the ERFPD is especially
strapped for volunteers
during working hours on
weekdays.
Those interested in
volunteering can contact
the district on Facebook
or reach out to Echo City
Hall. The process includes
a questionnaire and an
application. New volun-
teers undergo a six-month
training period.
Volunteers can help
with tasks, such as driv-
ing, recording medical
information and fighting
fires.
“It’s not about having to
do everything. It’s not like
you’re a paid firefighter.
You do what you want to
do, we’d just like to know
(what),” Gehrke said.
It can be hard to find
people who are willing
to give up their personal
time, Gehrke said.
“If you’re able-bodied
and willing to give up two
nights a month, get out of
bed at 2 a.m. and give up a
little bit of family time to
be on call,” Gehrke said.
“It’s the more the merrier.
It takes a lot of people to
effectively fight a fire.”