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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Friday, December 6, 2019 Environmentalist calls for discussions on Snake River dams Environmental groups say dams impact federally protected wildlife “I don’t think it’s some- thing we do overnight, I don’t think it takes 10 years,” he said. “I think we can, with a plan and political leadership and support and buy-in of key stakeholders, this is some- thing that can be done in three to five years.” Bogaard pointed to “a lot of evidence, analyses and studies that have looked at the science and econom- ics” around the dams, argu- ing they are “high-cost and low-value dams with services that, while they’re import- ant and there’s communities that rely on them, they are replaceable.” “There’s quite a bit of evi- dence that suggests that some of the services, maybe all of the services currently pro- vided by the dams, can be fea- sibly and affordably replaced, if we work together (and) put together the kinds of plans that involve timelines, dollars and programming to ensure the communities that cur- rently rely on those dams or reservoirs can transition to alternative means of delivery, say irrigation water or mov- ing transportation on land rather than on the river, or electricity,” he said. Advocates for maintaining the dams argue that taking them out would not benefit salmon or orcas to the degree that environmentalists say, and would negatively affect trade. Barges use the Snake By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SALEM — Stakeholders need to begin talking about the possible impacts to North- west communities if four dams on the Snake River are removed, says the leader of a group that advocates their removal. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t make a transi- tion to a free-flowing lower Snake River and do so in a way that leaves agricultural communities either whole or with additional opportuni- ties,” Joseph Bogaard, execu- tive director of Save Our Wild Salmon, based in Seattle, told the Capital Press. Environmental groups have for years called for the removal of the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Lit- tle Goose and Lower Gran- ite dams, citing their impacts on federally protected salmon and, more recently, orcas. Bogaard said the conser- vation and fishing communi- ties are committed to finding ways to help ensure greater certainty for all involved, including fishing and farm- ing communities. Save Our Wild Salmon Photo Joseph Bogaard is executive director of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. Bogaard said the conservation and fishing communities are committed to finding ways to help ensure greater certainty for all involved, including fishing and farm- ing communities. and Columbia rivers and pass through the locks at the dams to take grain to market down- stream and supplies to farms upstream. Pacific Northwest Water- ways Association execu- tive director Kristin Meira recently called environmen- talists’ arguments simplistic, saying they are touting the idea that one action in one area would lead to species recovery. “It is hard, depending on the setting, venue and time allowed, to talk in detail about the kinds of changes Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Mostly cloudy Cloudy with a shower A passing shower in the morning Sun, then clouds Cloudy, a shower in the p.m. 45° 36° 48° 39° and details of what would be involved,” Bogaard said. “At the end of the day, the way many salmon, fishing and orca advocates see things: The salmon restoration activ- ities, the program over the last several decades, clearly have fallen short.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Bureau of Reclama- tion are preparing an envi- ronmental impact statement for the Columbia River sys- tem, including the effects of removing the dams. A draft 45° 30° 43° 34° 41° 28° 41° 34° 44° 38° 46° 31° 42° 32° 41° 29° 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 51/45 45/38 42/33 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 42/36 Lewiston 52/44 41/35 Astoria 52/44 Pullman Yakima 43/34 50/43 46/38 Portland Hermiston 52/44 The Dalles 41/34 Salem Corvallis 46/39 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 43/38 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 47/42 48/36 48/39 Ontario 46/35 Caldwell Burns 42° 26° 41° 29° 63° (1946) 1° (2013) 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 47/41 Boardman Pendleton Medford 57/42 0.00" Trace 0.27" 4.95" 6.97" 8.74" WINDS (in mph) 46/36 41/29 0.00" 0.01" 0.23" 11.59" 8.88" 11.70" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 42/35 47/41 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 45/36 39/36 42° 28° 41° 28° 66° (1944) 1° (1972) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 52/43 Aberdeen 41/35 38/32 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 54/46 Today Sat. NNE 3-6 SE 4-8 W 3-6 SSE 4-8 By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Oregon Capital Bureau 46/37 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full 7:20 a.m. 4:11 p.m. 1:48 p.m. 1:19 a.m. Last New First NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 84° in Llano, Texas Low -5° in Daniel, Wis. Dec 11 Dec 18 Dec 25 Jan 2 NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms SALEM — A federal civil rights watchdog has found “systemic deficiencies” in the state’s treatment of parents with disabilities. The Oregon Department of Human Services has agreed to comply with federal laws that protect people with disabili- ties from discrimination, the agency said Wednesday. The agreement was reached voluntarily after the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviewed Oregon’s operations, triggered by news reports and a com- plaint by an advocate regard- ing an Oregon couple with disabilities whose children were removed from their care. The couple had alleged the state agency removed their kids based on “stereotypical SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 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. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low La Grande police investigating death in storage unit LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to deny an appeal that has delayed the opening of the Union County Warming Station. Roughly 200 people attended the hear- ing for the shelter’s conditional use permit in the commons area at the La Grande Middle School. The council heard from dozens of res- idents on both sides of the issue over the span of almost four hours. Many in favor of the appeal said home- lessness is a major issue in the community, but a warming station at 2008 Third St. near downtown La Grande is not a good fit. Those against the appeal and in favor of opening shelter often stressed how urgently the home- less need the facility. City councilors for the most part said they needed to stick to determining if the shelter would create “serious adverse effects” in the neighborhood, but they had not heard con- vincing evidence to make that case. City Planner Mike Boquist at the end of the meeting said he would mail notifi- cations about the council vote to the par- ties involved, which would trigger a 21-day period to allow an appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. LA GRANDE — The La Grande Police Department is investigating the death of a man who was living in a storage unit. The victim was 59 years old, police Lt. Gary Bell reported Wednesday, adding all signs point to a natural cause of death, and the death was not recent. Police received a call at 12:47 p.m. Tues- day about a person who died in a storage unit at Eastern Oregon Storage, 1410 21st St. Bell explained an employee checked on the unit after rent was past due and found the body. “The person had a little apartment set up in the unit,” Bell said. The business owner was not aware any- one was living in the unit, which included a bed and the ability to lock the door from the inside. Bell said aside from the odd living sit- uation, this death investigation is routine. The man likely died in early October, Bell said, and did not release the man’s name, explaining police are trying to contact the man’s relatives. Bell also said the investigation is ongoing and following the process of any death inves- tigation, including the involvement of the medical examiner. — EO Media Group SUBSCRIPTION RATES Single copy price: $1.50 Tuesday through Saturday Circulation Dept. 800-781-3214 rights; and assure the federal government it is complying with parts of federal law that protect people with disabilities from discrimination. The state agency has to submit progress reports every six months. “A mother’s and father’s love can overcome a mul- titude of challenges, and a state should only remove chil- dren from their parents based on actual evidence of abuse or neglect, not stereotypes,” said Roger Severino, director of the Office of Civil Rights. “Parents with intellectual or other disabilities should not be presumed to be unable to care for their own children.” Severino said the office “appreciates” the state agen- cy’s “willingness to take affir- mative steps to ensure com- pliance” with federal law and “its recognition of the import- ant role of disability rights in the child welfare system.” La Grande City Council denies appeal on warming shelter Local home delivery Savings (cover price) $13/month 60 percent $173.67 41 percent $91.86 38 percent $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge beliefs and discriminatory assumptions” about them, according to the U.S. Depart- ment of Housing and Human Services. That department’s Office of Civil Rights asked for state agency data and visited the Oregon agency as part of its review. In examining Oregon’s child welfare division, the civil rights office “identified systemic deficiencies regard- ing … implementation of its disability rights policies, practices, and procedures to prevent discrimination against parents with disabil- ities in Oregon’s child wel- fare system,” according to a press release from the federal agency. The state agreed to obey disability rights laws regard- ing termination of paren- tal rights; update its policies and procedures; create a new training plan on disability BRIEFLY Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 EZPay 52 weeks 26 weeks 13 weeks But some salmon and steel- head stocks are getting close to recovery, said Michael Mil- stein, public information offi- cer for NOAA Fisheries. Many more Snake River fall Chinook salmon are returning to spawn each year than when they were listed as endangered species in the 1990s. “Also, we have not lost any populations,” Mil- stein said. “This is true even though predator numbers in the ocean and rivers are con- suming millions more salmon than they did decades ago. That is a lot of fish that do not make it back to the spawning grounds.” For example, sea lions line up along parts of the Colum- bia and Willamette rivers and eat salmon as they pass by. The dams do impact fish, Milstein said. “But lots of work has been done to reduce those impacts and get the fish through the dams safer and faster.” Bogaard said the organi- zation is open to discussions if there’s a way to help the salmon without taking out the dams. “If there are scientifi- cally credible stones that are left unturned. ... It’s got to be guided by law and science and with a commitment to fishing and farming commu- nities in finding a way for- ward that works for every- body,” he said. Department of Human Services agrees to comply with federal laws PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST environmental impact state- ment is slated for release in February. If the EIS finds no reason to remove the dams, would Bogaard and his organization accept it? “Based on everything I understand of the science, I would be surprised,” he said. “I think the science shows clearly that restoring the lower Snake River is neces- sary to protect Snake River salmon and steelhead popula- tions from extinction.” Salmon recovery is the organization’s top priority, Bogaard said. He said the science “so clearly reflects” that restoring the lower Snake River is the necessary path to protect the fish from extinction and recover their numbers. “The goal is the restoration of self-sustaining, abundant, harvestable populations of salmon and steelhead popu- lations in the Columbia Basin and Snake River Basin,” he said. What about low-cost options to removing the dams? A salmon “cannon” has been successfully used to get spawning salmon past dams and costs a fraction of the cost of taking out dams. Bogaard says $17 billion has already been spent in the last 25 years without recover- ing a single population. “I’m going to argue, we’ve tried,” he said. 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