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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2019)
OFF PAGE ONE Thursday, June 27, 2019 East Oregonian A7 River: Friends of Oxbow help keep restoration area clean and safe Continued from Page A1 pulled out a collection of stolen bicycles, the “party camp” where she found peo- ple singing around an illegal campfire, and the “hole-in- the-ground camp” where someone dug a 10-foot hole and covered it with tin sheets. One woman kept a mat- tress in a grove of trees that Laramore suspected might be used for prostitution. Then there was the “Taj Mahal,” which included makeshift walls from sal- vaged items, and an impres- sively well-hidden bivouac put together by a man Lar- amore called the Camou- flage King. “I shook the hand of the Camouflage King because he had the best camp I had Staff photo by Benjamin Lonergan The Friends of Oxbow have worked to pick up trash and clear invasive species throughout the Oxbow area. ever seen in my life,” she said. Laramore said she was sympathetic to the plight of those she encountered, and sometimes helped them with food or clothing. But their living situation put the restoration area’s eco- system at risk from fire, garbage and other hazards. Many were also putting themselves at risk by using unsanitary water from the Hermiston Ditch, which collects stormwater run- off, for hygiene or washing clothes. “Most of the homeless were pretty good about moving on, but the criminal minds just went deeper into the bush,” she said. Now that the camp- ing and illicit activities are mostly under control, Lar- amore has gone back to focusing on other projects, such as planting milkweed to attract monarch butter- flies. Friends of Oxbow is aggressively removing puncture vine and garlic mustard, an invasive weed that chokes out native plants and releases chemicals into the soil that discour- age other plant growth even Overdue: Athena library ditches late fines Continued from Page A1 of them had committed to it yet. According to a 2017 arti- cle in Slate, this kind of internal debate has been happening all over the nation as public libraries try to compromise their bud- get realities with their duties to be an open resource for communities. Fine-free proponents argue that overdue fees hurt the patrons that need the library the most. A 1990s study done in California found that the average child in Beverly Hills had four times as many books as a child in Comp- ton had in their classroom library. One librarian in a journal article argued that an unpaid late fee cost far less than the social cost of trying to con- vince a patron and their chil- dren that the library is still a worthwhile place to return to. Fine-free supporters can also rely on a growing body of evidence to support their claims. In 2015, a library dis- trict in Colorado eliminated all fines except for overdue DVDs and replacement fees. Fine revenue did drop drastically, but it was bal- anced out by no longer hav- ing to pay for credit card and change counting machines. In the meantime, circula- tion increased and staff hap- piness rose as confrontations with patrons upset over late fees subsided. Removing the threat of fines didn’t deter patrons’ sense of responsibility either: 95 percent of mate- rials were returned within a week of their due date. A fine argument The library directors of the Pendleton and Herm- iston libraries said they’ve explored a fine-free model, but both offered a defense of a traditional overdue policy. Both libraries charge Staff photo by Benjamin Lonergan Cooper Funderburk, 6, checks out a book from the Athena Public Library Wednesday af- ternoon. The library has stopped charging late fines for overdue books in an effort to increase the number of library users. 20 cents per day for over- due books, with borrowing privileges suspended once a patron owes $5 or more. Hermiston takes it a step further, sending the overdue bill to a collection agency if it exceeds $50. Athena isn’t going to take a big financial hit from doing away with its overdue fines — fine revenue com- prised less than 1% of the library’s budget. And although revenue from library fees and fines isn’t a large part of either Pendleton or Hermiston’s budgets, the directors said something would need to be cut if it went away. Pendleton Public Library Director Jennifer Costley said the $14,000 the library collects annually is enough to support a position. The pair also argued that a surplus of late and over- due library items meant that fewer patrons could access them. Even if someone owes a large library fine, Rose said it wouldn’t preclude them from enjoying the Staff photo by Benjamin Lonergan DJ King, 6, reacts to a renewable energy experiment at the Athena Public Library. The experiment was part of a travel- ing exhibit put on by the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. library’s other services and programming. Both Rose and Costley encouraged patrons with outstanding fines to come into the library and negoti- ate a payment plan or some other kind of deal. And for patrons wor- ried about a fine that went unpaid long ago, Rose said there comes a point where the library will leave it in the past. “It’s not like it’s capi- tal punishment,” he said. “We don’t hold onto that for perpetuity.” Riverkeeper, Friends of Family Farmers, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Humane Voters Oregon, Food & Water Watch, the Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diver- sity, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Forward and Factory Farm Awareness Coalition. In its comments to DEQ, the coalition argued that Threemile Canyon is a sig- nificant source of air pollu- tion and the permit should take into account all air emissions at the dairy — not just the digester. “Mega-dairies like Threemile Canyon contin- uously emit numerous air pollutants, including par- ticulate matter, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and odors,” the coalition wrote. “These pollutants can cause sig- nificant public health risks and environmental impacts, including contributing to climate change.” DEQ maintains the per- mit only regulates digester gas emissions. Emissions limits will not change under the modified permit, allow- ing for up to 74,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, which is equivalent to 57,608 passenger cars. Threemile Canyon has not come close to exceed- ing that limit, emitting just 32,529 tons of greenhouse gases in 2017. Tarah Heinzen, staff attorney for Food & Water Watch, said DEQ is “shirk- ing its responsibility to reg- ulate Threemile’s overall air pollution emissions.” “Threemile and its digester are a major source of almost entirely unreg- ulated air pollution, and DEQ’s dismissal of these serious concerns is unac- ceptable,” Heinzen said in a statement. She said the coa- lition is reviewing DEQ’s decision and will decide whether to appeal. Anne Struthers, spokes- woman for Threemile Can- yon Farms, said the project should be finished by later this year. She said natural gas that will be produced at the dairy is “100% con- tracted,” though buyers are confidential. Marty Myers, general manager of Threemile Can- yon, previously said the farm plans to sell the gas to make fuel for vehicles in California. The dairy is working with Equilibrium Capital, a Portland investment firm, on funding for the $30 mil- lion digester expansion. Struthers said they have not received any state financing. According to the Amer- ican Biogas Council, Ore- gon has seven biogas pro- duction systems on farms, handling 8 million gallons of manure per day. Wash- ington has eight systems on farms handling 7.2 million gallons per day. Patrick Serfass, executive director of the organization, said there are 2,200 biogas systems spread across all 50 states, including farm, wastewater and food waste digesters. He said there is enough raw organic mate- rial to build another 14,000 projects, including 8,000 manure digesters on farms. “That’s a pretty con- servative number,” Serfass said. “We’re looking at just the biggest (producers) of organic material.” Serfass said these sys- tems not only produce renewable energy, but are actually a net positive on the environment because they reduce methane emissions, kill pathogens, reduce odor and create a safe soil amend- ment to spread on cropland. “We can make a farm of any size be more environ- mentally friendly, respon- sible and make great prod- ucts that will protect our air, water and soil,” he said. increasing age and health problems keep her from putting in so many hours each week. “We need more peo- ple in the group, because I don’t know how many more miles I’ve got left in me,” she said. Whoever carries the torch next, it’s hard to imag- ine they would be as pas- sionate as Laramore, who spent much of Wednes- day’s hike waxing poetic about the “stunning” trees and “amazing” wildlife she finds on her walks. The paw prints of a mother raccoon and her babies on the river bank are enough to make “even cranky old me” melt, she said. “Every section of Oxbow is very different,” she said. “It has personality.” Walkout: Republicans continue walkout Continued from Page A1 Manure: Threemile Canyon Farms gas project Continued from Page A1 after it has been pulled up. In April, spring runoff caused the Umatilla River to overflow its banks and come rushing through the Oxbow area. Between the flood damage and the work of some literal busy bea- vers, Laramore said some parts of Oxbow are now more difficult to access. Laramore is a passionate environmental advocate, and said she finds Herm- iston a frustrating “black hole” when it comes to interest in environmental issues. She disbanded a pre- vious endeavor called Tour of Knowledge due to lack of help. Most of her help at Oxbow comes from peo- ple fulfilling court-ordered community service hours. She worries about what will happen when her despite the bill being dead. Talks don’t seem to be progressing. “Each day we lose is crit- ical,” Carol Currie, spokes- woman for Senate Presi- dent Peter Courtney, said Wednesday afternoon. She said she wasn’t sure whether Courtney had spoken with Senate Republicans since the day before and other- wise declined comment on Courtney’s next moves. Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said Courtney continues to have conversations with Republican Leader Her- man Baertschiger, R-Grants Pass, “but nothing has come of it.” Courtney, a Salem Dem- ocrat, said Tuesday morn- ing that he doesn’t have the votes to pass HB 2020, the cap-and-trade proposal that Republicans repeat- edly cited as their reason for decamping from the Cap- itol — leaving the Senate without enough members to meet and take up legislation. The announcement was a dramatic concession to minority Republicans, and it sparked renewed chatter about whether Republicans would return to Salem from their out-of-state hideaways in time for the Senate to vote on bills before they die. One challenge is that the legislation they oppose tech- nically remains alive. It was scheduled for a third read- ing on the Senate floor — the prelude to a final vote. That’s where the bill is stuck until senators act. They can vote on the bill, amend it or send it back to a commit- tee. Each option requires a quorum so Democratic sen- ators can’t alone bury the legislation. Opponents of HB 2020 still plan to rally outside the Capitol on Thursday morn- ing, along with a convoy of logging trucks and other heavy vehicles. The theme of the rally is “stay strong, stay gone,” encouraging Senate Republicans to con- tinue their boycott. While Courtney has beseeched the Republicans to return, others in the Cap- itol seem to have run out of patience. The “terrorists” remarks that angered Thatcher came from at least two sources: Burdick, who lik- ened Republicans’ refusal to allow the Senate to meet to “terrorism” during a Tues- day press conference, and Rep. Paul Evans, D-Mon- mouth, a U.S. Air Force vet- eran who took to Twitter to criticize Courtney, writ- ing that his “military expe- rience taught me the dif- ference between respectful diplomacy and giving in to terrorists.” While other lead- ing Democrats refrained from such a comparison, their remarks were hardly conciliatory. “Senate Rs have been threatening our democratic institution and subverting the will of Oregon voters who know we need to act now,” House Speaker Tina Kotek tweeted. “Their walk- out has come at immense cost to our institution and potentially the planet.” “Are they against cli- mate change legislation or are they against democ- racy?” Gov. Kate Brown asked of Senate Republi- cans in a statement. “If they are not back by Wednesday afternoon, we will know the answer.” Senate Republicans weren’t back by Wednesday afternoon. None of them responded to emailed ques- tions from the Oregon Capi- tal Bureau. Republicans have a bevy of other complaints, too. Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stay- ton, is inclined to stay away from Salem unless Dem- ocrats spike several other bills he dislikes, including a plan to schedule a possible voter referendum on a busi- ness tax and education fund- ing plan for January 2020 instead of November 2020. “There’s probably half a dozen bills that will die if we stay out ‘til the end that we don’t like,” Girod said. Girod, Thatcher and other Republicans are also unhappy with the way Dem- ocrats have tried to force them back to the Capitol. The Constitution gives leg- islators the right to “com- pel” absent colleagues to attend so they can hold a vote, but Republicans have excoriated Courtney, Bur- dick and Brown for enlist- ing the Oregon State Police in their effort to bring the wayward senators back. Senate Republicans are also accruing a $500 fine each day they don’t show up to work. Once they return, the Legislature will give them a bill with a deadline to pay it. If senators refuse, the Legislature could sue them. Exactly how they pay those fines has become the talk of the Capitol. Some wonder if the sena- tors would tap their political action committees, by law to be used for campaigning and official duties. Tom Powers, adminis- trator for the Senate Dem- ocrats, said if Republicans use campaign money to pay fines, they could face inves- tigation by the state Elec- tions Division. Rep. Marty Wilde, D-Eu- gene, introduced a bill Tues- day that would explicitly prohibit lawmakers who get fined for being absent from resorting to their campaign accounts. The bill isn’t going anywhere, he admitted, but he decided now would be a good time to call attention to the issue. “It would look really bad if you started getting fined, then you started getting contributions at the same time from someone who had an interest in you staying away,” Wilde said. “Without pointing fingers, any time you’re paying someone to not do their job when they’re an elected official, that’s a bad look. I’m not saying it’s illegal. I’m saying maybe it ought to be.”
