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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Thursday, July 11, 2019 New report warns of potential radiation release at Hanford By ANNA KING Oregon Public Broadcasting RICHLAND, Wash. — A new federal report says that a massive building at the Hanford Nuclear Site is worse off than managers thought. The so-called PUREX — Plutonium Uranium Extraction — plant isn’t clean. Starting in 1956 the plant processed loads of plutonium. Its walls are up to 6 feet thick, and it’s as long as three football fields. PUREX is located within Hanford’s 200 East Area. It’s about 7 miles from the Columbia River and 5 miles from State Highway 240. Locals call these large buildings with deep under- ground walls “canyons.” They’re also called “Queen Marys” because of their long shape resembling ocean liners sailing amid the sagebrush. Now, the behemoth can- yon is slowly degrading. Final cleanup isn’t slated for more than a decade, around 2032. After study- ing the PUREX plant, the federal government has just released a new plan that would stabilize the build- ing for now. But it’s hard to AP Photo, File The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Wednesday authorized killing some members of a wolf pack that are preying on cattle in the northeastern corner of the state. Contributed Photo, File A new federal report says that a massive building at the Hanford Nuclear Site is worse off than managers thought. balance all the urgent clean- ups on the site, according to Theresa Howell with the Washington State Depart- ment of Ecology. There’s 56 million gallons of radioac- tive sludge stored in aging underground tanks, too. “It’s an ongoing strug- gle at Hanford to continue to get funding to address all of the risks out there,” Howell said. “So this is one way to get a little bit of movement forward.” If not dealt with soon, Washington state officials say they worry the PUREX plant will contaminate the environment. The new federal report underscores that worry, saying: “the 202A Building [PUREX] has degraded. Spread of contamination has been observed through- out the building and has the potential to continue as the facilities degrade.” Besides PUREX, there are three similar facili- ties at Hanford that need to be torn down: U Plant, REDOX and B Plant. Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Partly sunny Partly sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny and pleasant Rather cloudy 87° 60° 90° 61° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 90° 63° 84° 59° 86° 60° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 92° 63° 94° 65° 95° 66° 89° 61° 90° 63° 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 72/58 81/55 87/56 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 88/62 Lewiston 77/59 91/63 Astoria 71/57 Pullman Yakima 88/59 76/55 89/63 Portland Hermiston 81/63 The Dalles 92/63 Salem Corvallis 79/57 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 84/57 Bend 83/57 82/52 87/58 Ontario 99/68 Caldwell Burns WINDS (in mph) 95/65 89/52 Boardman Pendleton Medford 89/61 0.00" Trace 0.07" 4.55" 5.10" 5.77" Today Fri. WSW 6-12 WNW 6-12 WSW 6-12 WNW 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 86/49 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 5:17 a.m. 8:44 p.m. 3:55 p.m. 1:40 a.m. Full Last New First July 16 July 24 July 31 Aug 7 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 112° in Thermal, Calif. Low 29° in Angel Fire, N.M. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY some members of the pack alive. Conservation groups con- tend that repeatedly killing wolves in the same area does not stop cattle depredations. “Instead, our wild- life agency should walk its own talk about using innovative solutions,” said Sophia Ressler of the Cen- ter for Biological Diversity, which opposes the killing of wolves. “State and federal offi- cials could find an alternate grazing allotment that isn’t such fantastic wolf habitat,” she said. Wolves were wiped out in the state by the 1930s on behalf of livestock inter- ests. But the animals started returning to the state early this century from surround- ing areas. Most of the wolves live in the northeastern cor- ner of the state, where they have prompted numer- ous conflicts with livestock producers. The WDFW said the state had a minimum of 126 wolves in 27 packs with 15 successful breeding pairs last year. For the first time, a wolf pack was found living west of the Cascade Range. Gray wolves are no lon- ger listed as an endangered species under federal protec- tion in Eastern Washington. They are still federally pro- tected across the rest of the state, although the federal government is considering lifting those protections. Susewind said the OPT pack has repeatedly preyed on cattle on federal graz- ing lands in the Kettle River Range. Last year, the OPT pack was involved in 16 dep- redations in less than two months. That prompted the WDFW to kill two members of the pack last September, leaving two members alive. The WDFW said the pack has since grown to five adult wolves and four pups. The rancher involved in this case has taken numer- ous steps to protect his live- stock from wolves, and efforts to kill some wolves will begin almost immedi- ately, the agency said. The agency said it will kill one or more wolves and then evaluate whether more need to be killed to prevent livestock depredations. Two rural Oregonians from #TimberUnity visit White House By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN Capital Press PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife on Wednesday authorized kill- ing some members of a wolf pack that are preying on cat- tle in the northeastern corner of the state. Agency director Kelly Susewind said the state will kill part of the OPT pack, for the second year in a row, in an effort to change the behavior of the pack. The action comes after a cow was found on Satur- day in Ferry County that had been killed and partially consumed by wolves. “This is a very diffi- cult situation for all those involved, especially given the history of wolf-livestock conflict in this area,” Suse- wind said. “Our goal is to change this pack’s behavior.” Wolf tracks were seen near where the cow was found, the agency said. Last year, the agency killed several members of the OPT pack that were preying on livestock, but left 86° 65° 88° 58° 106° (1975) 46° (2009) 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 80/58 0.00" 0.02" 0.10" 9.59" 6.49" 7.67" By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 80/54 80/59 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 87/60 83/61 85° 62° 88° 58° 106° (1975) 40° (1911) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 77/56 Aberdeen 82/59 84/61 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 77/60 State OKs killing of wolf pack members preying on cattle WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two representatives of Ore- gon’s #TimberUnity move- ment were at the White House Monday, where they had been invited to hear Pres- ident Donald Trump deliver remarks on “America’s envi- ronmental leadership.” The president had invited Todd Stoffel, of GT Stoffel Trucking, and Marie Bow- ers, of Bashaw Land & Seed, to represent Oregon’s truck- ing, logging and agricultural industries. “It’s not very often that you get invited to the White House, especially as a rural Oregonian,” said Bowers. “Just the honor of that was pretty astounding.” The president’s invitation came after the 2019 Oregon Legislative session, which brought thousands of rural Oregonians — along with their tractors and trucks — to the Capitol in Salem to protest controversial climate bills, such as House Bill 2020, a bill to limit carbon emissions. The group #TimberUnity, which Stoffel and Bowers represented at the White House on Monday, started as a grassroots effort to fight HB 2020 and is now a reg- istered political action com- mittee devoted to standing up for loggers, ranchers, truckers and other work- ing-class Oregonians. In his speech Mon- day, Trump focused on his administration’s environ- mental achievements. He said his priorities were pro- moting the “cleanest air,” “crystal clean” water, reduc- ing carbon emissions and “being a good steward of public land.” The president invited his various administration offi- cials, including Environ- mental Protection Agency Chief Andrew Wheeler and Interior Department Chief David Barnhardt, to take turns at the lecturn. Trump has raised the ire of environmental groups by rolling back more than 80 environmental regula- tions and withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate change accord. In his speech, the presi- dent said he withdrew from the Paris agreement because it disadvantaged American workers and taxpayers. “Punishing Americans is never the right way to protect the environment,” he said. “We will defend the environment, but we will also defend American prosperity.” Trump also said that he does not support the “Green New Deal” Democrats in Congress are pushing for, which he claimed would cost the U.S. nearly $100 trillion. “That’s not affordable even in the best of times,” he said. Bowers, who helped lead the fight to kill HB 2020 in Oregon, said she agrees with the president. “My biggest takeaway from this weekend is that you shouldn’t ‘fix’ the environment at the cost of jobs,” she said. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive.” Bowers said that she and Stoffel, along with the rest of the #TimberUnity move- ment leaders, are continu- ing to formulate what their movement means and what it will stand for moving forward. “There are a lot of issues we could stand for that don’t get attention,” she said. “The main thing is that we’ll be advocating for nat- ural resources and working people.” Stoffel couldn’t be reached for comment. 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. 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