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East Oregonian
Friday, December 13, 2019
House panel debates late for historic Trump impeachment vote
By LISA MASCARO
AND MARY CLARE
JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
House Judiciary Committee
lumbered toward a historic
vote late Thursday night to
approve articles of impeach-
ment against President Don-
ald Trump, splitting sharply
along party lines in a gruel-
ing session. It was expected to
end with charges being sent to
the full House for action next
week, before the holidays.
The committee, made up
of some of the most strident
Democrats and Republicans
in Congress, clashed for more
than 13 hours as Republicans
insisted on lengthy debate
on amendments designed to
kill the two formal charges.
They kept up the late-night
endeavor though they won no
votes from the majority Dem-
ocrats and had no hope of
winning any.
Trump is accused, in the
first article, of abusing his
presidential power by ask-
ing Ukraine to investigate
his 2020 rival, Joe Biden,
while holding military aid as
leverage, and, in the second,
of obstructing Congress by
blocking the House’s efforts
to probe his actions.
Trump is only the fourth
U.S. president to face
impeachment proceedings
and the first to be running
for re-election at the same
time. He insists he did noth-
ing wrong and blasts the
Democrats’ effort daily as a
sham and harmful to Amer-
ica. Republican allies seem
unwavering in their opposi-
tion to expelling Trump, and
he claims to be looking ahead
to swift acquittal in a Senate
trial.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
sounded confident Thursday
that Democrats, who once
tried to avoid a solely partisan
effort, will have the votes to
impeach the president without
Republican support when the
full House votes. But she said
it was up to individual law-
makers to weigh the evidence.
“The fact is we take an oath
to protect and defend the Con-
stitution of the United States,”
Pelosi told reporters. “No one
is above the law; the president
will be held accountable for
his abuse of power and for his
obstruction of Congress.”
The outcome poses poten-
tially serious political conse-
quences for both parties ahead
of the 2020 elections, with
Americans deeply divided
over whether the president
indeed conducted impeach-
able acts and if it should be
up to Congress, or the voters,
to decide whether he should
remain in office.
The president has refused
to participate in the proceed-
ings, tweeting criticisms
as he did Thursday from
the sidelines, mocking the
charges against him in the
House’s nine-page resolution
as “impeachment light.” But
Pelosi said the president was
wrong and the case against
him is deeply grounded.
Democrats contend that
Trump has engaged in a pat-
tern of misconduct toward
Russia dating back to the 2016
election campaign that special
counsel Robert Mueller inves-
tigated. And they say his deal-
ings with Ukraine have ben-
efited its aggressive neighbor
Russia, not the U.S., and he
must be prevented from “cor-
rupting” U.S. elections again
and cheating his way to a sec-
ond term next year.
“It is urgent,” Pelosi said.
But Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell
said late Thursday on Fox
News, “There is zero chance
the president will be removed
from office.” He said he was
hoping to have no GOP defec-
tions in the Senate trial next
year.
The Judiciary Commit-
tee session drew out over two
days, with both sides appeal-
ing to Americans’ sense
of history — Democrats
describing a duty to stop what
one called the president’s
“constitutional crime spree”
and Republicans decrying
what one said was the “hot
garbage’’ impeachment and
what it means for the future of
the country.
Depot: CDA’s plan would include picnic area and information kiosks
Continued from Page A1
for industrial development.
“I’m presenting a minority
report,” he told the board.
The CDA — a partnership
of several local governments
— negotiated for months
with the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation to come up with the
official programmatic agree-
ment submitted to the Army.
The agreement to protect or
mitigate culturally significant
sites must be signed by the
Army, the federal Advisory
Council on Historic Preser-
vation and the Oregon State
Historic Preservation Office.
The CDA’s plan is to pre-
serve the branch of the Ore-
gon Trail that runs through
the northern part of the depot
as part of the wildlife pre-
serve that will be run by the
tribes. For the fork on the
southern side, a 200-yard
section would be preserved
and a parking lot, picnic area,
restrooms and educational
kiosks would be added to
encourage the public to visit
and learn about the trail.
Baskins said the Ore-
gon Historic Trails Advisory
Council’s proposal would be
to place kiosks on a small
section in a different area of
the depot, and then to pre-
serve just shy of a mile of the
southern trail.
“We ask that you do not
Contributed photo
Oregon Trail ruts can be seen on the southern portion of the former Umatilla Chemical Depot.
expend money on parking
lots, restrooms or a picnic
area,” he said. “Protect it by
covenant and simply let it be.”
He said there could be an
option to bring school chil-
dren out on scheduled field
trips, but not allowing gen-
eral public access would help
with security issues with
the trail being so close to
National Guard facilities.
Don Russell, chair of the
CDA board, said he hasn’t
been able to see any visi-
ble signs of the trail when he
has gone out and looked at it.
He questioned why it was so
important to save so much
of the trail that settlers of
European decent walked on,
when there probably wasn’t
a single portion of the depot
that hadn’t been crossed by
ancestors of area tribes.
“What makes this piece of
history more valuable?” he
said.
Board member Kim
Puzey said regardless of
his personal opinions on
trail preservation, Congress
has mandated that if the
land is transferred from the
Army to local control, the
CDA must use that land for
economic development.
Smith said the CDA had
gone “above and beyond”
what was expected in plan-
ning to preserve as much of
the trail ruts as it plans to.
Baskins said he understood
the importance of the jobs that
major industrial development
on the site would bring, but
he felt “honor bound” to do
what he could to persuade the
Army to require more preser-
vation, and to require a bind-
ing covenant that would apply
to any future owners of the
land as well.
During Thursday’s 2-1/2-
hour meeting, board mem-
bers also discussed a variety
of other topics in preparation
for receiving the depot land
after a programmatic agree-
ment is approved. An engi-
neer from Anderson Perry &
Associates presented possible
road configurations along the
industrial part of the depot,
which could be paid for using
the $9 million the CDA has
been given by the Legislature
using funds from the 2017
transportation package.
The money is only avail-
able for transportation uses,
however. Smith reminded
the board that they will need
to find alternative sources of
funding for water, sewer and
electricity installed under the
new roads.
He said they also need
to have further discussions
on how to develop the water
rights and wells that will
transfer to the CDA along
with the property.
J.R. Cook, of North-
east Oregon Water Associa-
tion, said he was glad to hear
Smith acknowledge the issue
was “complicated.” Area
farmers didn’t want to stand
in the way of the transfer of
the depot, he said, but they
were concerned about what
pulling more groundwater
out of the aquifers would do
to the depot’s neighbors.
“I do get concerned about
paper rights, and people think-
ing that paper rights mean the
water’s there,” he said.
When the CDA receives
the depot it will also inherit
a large cache of equipment,
from tools to construction
vehicles.
Smith said unfortunately
the Army has just let the
vehicles sit for years, so he
is not sure how usable they
would be, but noted that
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict 1 had asked for a back-
hoe, forklift and flatbed
trailer for training purposes.
The Port of Morrow is also
interested in a large genera-
tor in exchange for in-kind
services to the CDA. And
other equipment could possi-
bly be used to set up a career
technical education center
for area students.
Board member Bill Elfer-
ing said he would like a pro-
fessional to appraise the vehi-
cles and generators before the
CDA considers making any
deals to give them away —
something other board mem-
bers agreed with and Smith
said he would do.
The board wrapped up its
meeting with an executive
session to discuss real estate
negotiations, after which
they approved a motion
directing Smith to work with
the CTUIR and Innergex
Renewable Energy on a
potential agreement related
to the depot.
Changes: ‘It’s an old facility. It hasn’t kept up with the new requirements’
Continued from Page A1
maximum daily load stays
below 69.9 degrees.
What’s changed since
the last time Pendleton
renewed its permit with
DEQ is a federal court rul-
ing that lowered the criteria
to 64.4 degrees to protect
salmon habitat.
Van Meter said that’s dif-
ficult to do on the Umatilla
River, especially during the
warm weather months from
May to October.
Although temperature
standards are still up in
the air, the city expects the
state to address tempera-
ture rules on the Umatilla
River by 2027.
If DEQ does require the
lower temperature stan-
dard, the city wants to be
prepared, but Van Meter
said some solutions, like
chilling the water before it’s
discharged into the river,
might be too expensive.
Instead, city staff and
their consultants are rec-
ommending the city reduce
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Wastewater flows through a set of aeration basins at the wastewater treatment plant in
Pendleton on Thursday afternoon.
what it discharges into the
river.
“We’re not recommend-
ing to get out of the river
for six months,” Van Meter
said. “What we’re saying
is, maximize the amount
of water you can put in the
river, and then have another
plan. Try to diversify your
investment portfolio.”
Instead of discharging
into the Umatilla during
warm-weather months, Pat-
terson said the city could
direct wastewater to a
green belt around Interstate
84 or transport the sewage
elsewhere for agricultural
uses.
But the wastewater treat-
ment plant’s discharge isn’t
the only thing at the plant in
need of potential upgrades.
With the sewer plant in
continuous operation at
the confluence of the Uma-
tilla River and McKay
Creek since the early 1950s,
Wastewater
Superinten-
dent Mark Milne said some
of the infrastructure at the
facility is starting to show
its age while other parts are
in need of upgrades.
“It’s an old facility,”
he said. “It hasn’t kept up
with the new requirements.
It’s pretty expensive. It’s
not cheap to upgrade the
building.”
Over the next 20 years,
Murraysmith
recom-
mended the city spend
$22.1 million on wastewa-
ter treatment plant repairs
and improvements.
All the projects are sep-
arated into four phases,
and Patterson said the $2
million first phase, which
includes money for second-
ary digester and gas stor-
age, can be paid for with
existing city funds.
But should the city
decide to change the way it
handles its sewer discharge,
Patterson said the costs of
storing and transporting
wastewater haven’t been
fully calculated.
Patterson said it will be
more expensive than what
the city does now, but it’s
too soon to see how that
will affect sewer rates.
The city is in the midst of
a five-year rate hike that’s
set to end in 2020. Once
it ends, Patterson said the
city will reanalyze sewer
rates to determine whether
they’ll meet the needs of the
system.
Poverty: 126 students recorded as homeless last year, 20 more than year prior
Continued from Page A1
(2019), after being eligible
in (2018), were all ineligible
because their poverty level
decreased to below 20 per-
cent,” an official from the
U.S. Department of Educa-
tion stated in an email to the
East Oregonian.
The U.S. Department of
Education uses the most cur-
rent available data from the
U.S. Census Bureau’s Small
Area Income and Poverty
Estimates available to deter-
mine which agencies make
the cut.
This year’s funding was
determined by 2016 esti-
mates, which showed a
decline in poverty rates that
some administrators found
surprising.
In Hermiston, the 2015
poverty estimates put the
district at 24.4% of students
coming from low income
families. The 2016 estimates
put that number just under
17%.
Next year’s eligibility
will be determined by 2017’s
poverty rates, according to
the U.S. Department of Edu-
cation. In 2017, Hermiston’s
estimated rate showed just
over 17% of students came
from families with incomes
below the poverty line.
“But our need seems to
be growing,” Browning said.
And according to 2018
U.S. Census Bureau esti-
mates, she’s not wrong. The
district’s poverty rate neared
20% last year.
Last year, the Mor-
row County School District
received an allotment of more
than $33,000 from the Rural
and Low Income Schools
grant. And according to
Superintendent Dirk Dirk-
sen, the district has received
funds since he took on his
current position in 2011.
“We use the rural
schools grant for teacher
professional development
as well as Friday school
and summer school activ-
ities that we do,” he said.
“As we process in working
through this, it’s kind of a
balancing game.”
Dirksen said the district
will dip into general funds,
and hopefully utilize Stu-
dent Success Act funding to
fill the gap.
“It was a surprise to me,”
he said. “I know the Title
programs are always up and
down.”
Dirksen pointed out
that five of the district’s
schools have high rates of
low income students that
make them part of Ore-
gon’s Community Eligi-
bility Provisions program.
The CEP makes lunch free
for all students at those
schools.
“Homelessness is obvi-
ously up,” he added.
The district recorded 126
students as homeless last
year, an increase of 20 from
the year prior.
Ultimately, 24 Oregon
school districts were allo-
cated Rural and Low Income
Schools funding. Last year,
the state allocated funds to 46.
Many of the districts eli-
gible for the grant this year,
including Athena-Weston,
were also eligible for
the Small, Rural School
Achievement Program for
districts with smaller pop-
ulations and opted for that
funding instead, according
to the Oregon Department
of Education.
Poverty estimates for
2018 from the U.S. Census
Bureau put Oregon’s pov-
erty level below the 17%
national average, at 14.3%.
Umatilla County’s 2018 esti-
mate was at 19.8%.