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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2020)
WEEKEND EDITION LAWMAKERS UNHOLSTER NEW GUN-SAFETY PROPOSAL OREGON, A8 ELK HUNTING A KEY CONSERVATION STRATEGY ON ZUMWALT PRAIRIE HERMISTON’S CHASE ELLIOTT IS BACK IN ACTION LIFESTYLES, C1 SPORTS, B1 E O AST REGONIAN JANUARY 18-19, 2020 144th Year, No. 66 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Activist group claims GROUNDWATER ‘EMERGENCY’ Cap and trade dominates county talks George Murdock, Jim Doherty return from fi rst AOC meeting By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian EO fi le photo Workers attach milking units to the udders of organic dairy cows in the milking barn at the Cold Springs Dairy east of Hermiston on April 26, 2016. Signers of a petition to the EPA blame dairies in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Man- agement Area for elevated levels of nitrates in the area’s groundwater. Activists petition EPA to step in on groundwater nitrate levels in Umatilla, Morrow counties By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian U MATILLA COUNTY — A coalition of activist groups, known as Stand Up to Fac- tory Farms, fi led a petition with the Environmental Pro- tection Agency on Thursday asking the agency to take emergency action to address nitrate levels in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Manage- ment Area. The area, which was established in 1990 in response to elevated nitrate levels in the groundwater, covers 550 square miles of northwestern Umatilla County and northern Morrow County. Among the petition’s requested actions is banning all new Concen- trated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permits in the affected area, which would block Easterday Farms from its plans to open a dairy on the site of the former Lost Valley Farm mega-dairy outside of Boardman. “Raising and warehousing cows for milk and meat production — in extremely unnatural numbers for both the animals and the environment — is contaminating drinking water in East- ern Oregon,” Cristina Stella, senior attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said in a written statement. “The EPA must act to stop the contamina- tion and regulate factory farms like the industrial polluters that they are.” Lost Valley Farms went bankrupt in 2018 after owner Greg te Velde faced various criminal charges and the dairy racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fi nes for wastewater permit violations. Three weeks ago the Oregon Department of Agriculture declared that cleanup of the site was complete. The petition submitted to the EPA was signed by Food & Water Watch, Friends of Family Farmers, Water- Watch of Oregon, Columbia River- keeper, Humane Voters Oregon, Ani- mal Legal Defense Fund, Center for Food Safety and the Center for Bio- logical Diversity. They cite the possi- ble negative health effects from drink- ing water with nitrates above the EPA’s recommended level and blame CAFOs for most of the problem. Local participation Eileen Laramore, a Hermiston res- ident who founded local environmen- tal advocacy groups, such as Friends of Oxbow and Tour of Knowledge, is the only individual to sign. She said after she was contacted by one of the groups about signing, she had reservations about adding her name, since she doesn’t usually get involved with efforts by “out of town” groups and she formerly sat on the LUBGWMA committee. “The LUBGWMA people are great, they work really hard,” she said. “But they don’t have the people, don’t have See Groundwater, Page A11 SALEM — The snow at the start of the week didn’t keep East- ern Oregon county commissioners George Murdock and Jim Doherty from making Doherty their fi rst trip of the year to Salem as offi - cers of the Association of Oregon Counties. Though much of their roles include pro- moting the interests of all 36 Oregon coun- ties and representing Murdock their own to the Ore- gon Legislature, one of the biggest dis- cussions on Monday and Tuesday was whether there will be a legislative ses- sion to begin with. “The big question I found interest- ing was some serious discussion about whether the session will materialize at all,” said Murdock, a Umatilla County commissioner. According to Doherty, who rep- resents Morrow County, lobbyists described the session’s odds as a “coin fl ip” due to concerns that the divide between the state’s Democrats and Republicans over cap-and-trade leg- islation may lead to a similar result to last year. In June, Senate Republicans fl ed the state to prevent a vote on the bill that would have capped carbon emis- sions for Oregon businesses and required they obtain credits for each ton that they emit. The bill, known as House Bill 2020 during the 2019 leg- islative session, eventually died when some Senate Democrats withdrew their support. Murdock and Doherty were elected as offi cers in 2019 and will make repeated trips to work alongside the association’s other offi cers and meet face-to-face with legislators. As offi - cers, both also serve on the associa- tion’s board of directors, oversee its interests and provide guidance to staff on how to promote those interests within the Legislature. But with Gov. Kate Brown and Ore- See Cap and trade, Page A11 Thornes named Pendleton’s fi rst couple By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian PENDLETON — In a statement supporting Mike Thorne for Pendle- ton Man of the Year, state Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose said his great- est accomplishment was having the “intelligence to marry Jill, who is a force of nature herself” Apparently, the selection com- mittee for the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce First Citizens Banquet also had the intelligence to select Jill Thorne as the 2019 Woman of the Year. At the 64th Annual First Citi- zens Banquet & Business Excel- lence Awards at the Wildhorse Resort & Casino on Friday, the chamber gave both top slots to the Pendleton couple. A local wheat farmer, Mike Thorne represented Pendleton in the Oregon Senate from 1973 to 1991. After leaving the Legislature, Thorne spent more than a decade fi lling high profi le positions across the Northwest, fi rst as the executive director of the Port of Portland, and then as the CEO of the Washington State Ferry System. But he eventually returned to Pendleton and continued his commu- nity service by serving on the Pend- leton Airport Commission and as a member of the Pendleton Round-Up Association Board of Directors. Recent years have seen Thorne involved in the Round-Up facil- ity renovations and Blue Mountain Community College’s successful See First couple, Page A11 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Mike Thorne delivers a few remarks to attendees after being awarded Pendleton’s 2019 Man of the Year award at the 64th Annual First Citizens Banquet at Wildhorse Resort & Casino on Friday night.
