‘GRIT AND INK’ CHRONICLES
THE HISTORY OF LOCAL NEWS
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FOR NATIONAL DOG DAY
BUSINESS, A7
HERMISTON’S LERTEN HAS A
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AUGUST 24-25, 2019
WEEKEND EDITION
143rd Year, No. 222
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WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
B2H power
line costs
hover near
$100 million
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The massive
Boardman to Hemingway Transmis-
sion Line has cost around $100 million
without the installation of a single util-
ity pole.
The 300-plus-mile, 500-kilovolt
line will be ready to carry juice as
early as 2026 at a cost of $1 billion or
more.
Idaho Power, Pacifi cCorp and Bon-
neville Power Administration teamed
up on the project, and Idaho Power
is spearheading the local, state and
federal permitting work. Sven Berg,
Idaho Power spokesperson, explained
that is because the company identifi ed
the need for a big transmission line in
its 2006 Integrated Resource Plan —
or IRP — which projects for future
electrical needs and how to meet those
needs.
Idaho Power, however, has the
smallest share of the line capacity and
thus the project costs at 21%, while the
BPA has a 24% share and Pacifi cCorp
the remaining 55%.
In other words, Berg said, if the line
costs an even $1 billion, Idaho Power’s
portion of the tab is $210 million.
The $100 million the 13-year-old
project has cost so far is for staff time,
attorneys and the reams of paperwork
to wade through the lengthy permitting
processes. That includes with the Ore-
gon Department of Energy, which on
Thursday closed the public comment
period on its “draft proposed order”
recommending the state Energy Facil-
ity Siting Council approve Idaho Pow-
er’s application for a site certifi cate for
the line.
Berg said the company’s team is
reviewing the comments.
“We’re anticipating a contested
case,” he said.
That is, opponents to the project,
namely the La Grande-based Stop B2H
Coalition, who spoke out in a series
of public hearings in early summer
and provided additional comments in
writing by the Thursday 5 p.m. dead-
line. Anyone who met either of those
requirements has the standing to chal-
lenge or contest the proposal.
Berg said Idaho Power has until
Sept. 23 to respond to those com-
ments, then would come the “quasi-ju-
dicial” appeals process.
EO SPOTLIGHT
From 2006 to 2012 Oregon received more than 1.3 billion prescription pain pills
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Hydrocodone pills are laid out on a counting tray to be counted at Murray’s Drug in Heppner on Friday afternoon.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Where the drugs went (Opioids in Umatilla, Morrow counties, 2006-12)
MATILLA COUNTY — In the
year 2006, the world was mourn-
ing the death of Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin, arguing about Al
Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”
and buying their fi rst Blu-ray discs.
In the medical industry, doc-
tors were being told that too many
patients were in pain after being denied
their “right” to prescription painkillers
known as opioids.
“In 2006 there was a lot more focus on
pain control,” pharmacist Ann Murray said,
calling it a “push” in the early 2000s.
Murray, who runs Murray’s Drug in
Heppner, Boardman and Condon with her
husband, John Murray, said there wasn’t
the same level of awareness around opioid
addiction back then.
Opioid overdose deaths in Oregon
peaked that year, at 238.
After waging a yearlong legal bat-
tle, the Washington Post recently obtained
U
Rank/location
Millions of pain pills
1. Rite Aid, Pendleton
3.1 million
2. Safeway, Hermiston
2.48
2.38
3. Rite Aid, Hermiston
2.14
4. Walmart, Hermiston
2.04
5. Bi-Mart, Pendleton
1.81
6. Good Shepherd Pharmacy, Hermiston
1.51
7. Bi-Mart, Hermiston
9. Safeway, Milton-Freewater
10. Rite Aid, Milton-Freewater
11. Safeway, Pendleton
12. Walmart, Pendleton
0.71
13. Carlsons Drug, Umatilla
14. Murray Drug, Heppner
0.6
15. Boardman Pharmacy, Boardman
0.58
16. Good Shepherd Pharmacy, Boardman
Using data from
the Drug Enforce-
1.32
ment Administration,
the Washington Post
1.31
compiled a database
1.18
accounting for every
1.17
prescription opioid pill in
the country between 2006
and 2012. This is how many
pills each pharmacy in Umatilla
and Morrow counties received
during that time period.
1.42
8. Hermiston Drug, Hermiston
0.05
See Pain pills, Page A11
Source: Washington Post
EO Media Group graphic
See B2H, Page A11
Dems back off threat to fi ne Republicans for walkout
Democrats will push
bills to change the
quorum requirements
to a simple majority
By AUBREY WIEBER AND
CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — More than two
months after voting to fi ne protest-
ing Republican senators $500 per
day for walking off the job, Senate
Democrat leaders announced Fri-
day they will not make good on the
threat.
Instead, leaders said they are pur-
suing a constitutional amendment to
change Oregon’s quorum require-
ment from two-thirds to a simple
majority. That would allow the Sen-
ate to convene with 16 instead of 20
senators out of the body of 30. For-
ty-six states use the simple majority
requirement, according to a Senate
Democrat news release.
Twice during the 2019 Legis-
lature, Republicans brought the
Senate to a halt by walking out in
protest.
They were able to claim political
victories both times.
During the fi rst walkout, Gov.
Kate Brown killed bills regulating
guns and vaccinations to bring them
back, and during the second walk-
out, Democrats announced they
would no longer pursue a controver-
sial carbon pricing bill, though they
said that died because they didn’t
See Walkout, Page A11
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File
Lawmakers convene at the Oregon Senate in Salem on June 29, 2019, after
the minority Republicans ended a walkout they had begun on June 20 over a
carbon-emissions bill they said would harm their rural constituents.