HIGH SCHOOL
TEENS GET A TASTE
OF THE FAB LIFE
RESURRECTING
PENDLETON’S
BOB WHITE FIELD
REGION, A3
SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
144th year, No. 90
REGONIAN
Friday, February 21, 2020
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
• IMBIBE @ BLUE,
BMCC Student Union
• MARDI GRAS FUNDRAIS-
ER DINNER/AUCTION,
Hermiston Community
Center
• ZWICKELMANIA,
Ordnance Brewing
FOR TIMES AND LOCATIONS
CHECK COMING EVENTS, A5
Weekend Weather
FRI
SAT
SUN
53/31
54/38
57/35
AP Photo/Anna Reed, File
airport
lease
dispute
lingers
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — The Pend-
leton City Council was on the
verge of significantly raising a
street maintenance fee, but the
crowd who filled council cham-
bers Tuesday night weren’t there
to complain about their utility
bills.
airport business owners
and their supporters came out
in force for the public comment
section of the council meeting
to object to the way staff from
the eastern Oregon regional
airport were negotiating leases
with tenants near the airfield and
surrounding industrial park.
The issue has been ongoing
for more than a year and came to
a head when the airport commis-
sion was updating the airport’s
lease language and included a
“reversionary clause,” a piece
of contract language that allows
the airport to take back rented
land once the tenant’s lease is
over.
airport business owners
argued that the reversionary
The Senate Chamber is viewed on the first day of the short legislative session at the Oregon Capitol in Salem. Critics of Senate Bill
1530 have argued that the session, which should last just 35 days and end on March 8, wasn’t designed to pass transformational
legislation like cap and trade.
‘A horrible piece of legislation’
Oregon counties voice opposition to cap and trade
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
U
MaTiLLa COuNTy — While
tensions continue to boil on both
sides of the aisle in the Oregon
Legislature over cap and trade,
eastern Oregon counties are making it
clear where they stand.
On Wednesday, the umatilla County
board of Commissioners voted unan-
imously to issue an official letter of
opposition against cap-and-trade legis-
lation, while Morrow County Commis-
sioners Melissa Lindsay and don rus-
sell recently signed a letter of opposition
issued by the eastern Oregon Counties
association.
“This is a horrible piece of legisla-
tion,” russell said. “it’s just bad.”
The eOCa letter, which all three
of umatilla County’s commissioners
signed too, includes signatures of rep-
resentatives from all 14 eastern Oregon
counties and 34 commissioners in total.
along with those in eastern Oregon,
nine other counties have proclaimed
opposition to the bill across the state.
as of Thursday, 64% of Oregon’s
counties have issued official opposition
to cap and trade. Those counties make
up 82% of the state’s land mass.
Senate bill 1530, this session’s
revised cap-and-trade bill, would cap
carbon emissions for transportation,
Lindsay
Murdock
Russell
“I UNDERSTAND
THE STATE HASN’T
PERFORMED A
FISCAL ANALYSIS
YET, BUT THE
SMALL BUSINESSES
AND FARMERS I’VE
TALKED TO HAVE,
AND THEY’RE
NERVOUS.”
— Melissa Lindsay, Morrow County
commissioner
manufacturing and utility companies
throughout the state and require those
companies to obtain allowances for each
metric ton of emissions per year. Those
allowances could be purchased from
companies that remain under the cap,
with the idea that available allowances
will dwindle as the state moves toward
its goal of cutting emissions by more
than 80% by 2050.
Lindsay said Morrow County
received the notice about declaring offi-
cial opposition from the eOCa on too
short of notice this week, so the board
was unable to bring it to a vote and issue
a letter on behalf of the county.
umatilla County opted to draft a let-
ter of its own and made a late addition to
Wednesday’s agenda in order to vote on
it. Commissioner George Murdock said
he reworked a few portions provided in
the eOCa letter to tailor their opposi-
tion specifically to SB 1530 rather than
any potential environmental legislation
to be considered in the future.
“We’re concerned about the eco-
nomic impact study that has not been
conducted with respect to Senate bill
1530,” Murdock read from the letter at
Wednesday’s meeting. “it’s a premature
legislative action. We think it has a neg-
ative impact on eastern Oregon.”
both Lindsay and russell listed the
lack of an economic study as primary
reasons for their opposition as well.
“i understand the state hasn’t per-
formed a fiscal analysis yet, but the
See Legislation, Page A8
See Airport, Page A8
Hermiston associate takes advantage of program
ashli Palmer one of the
first to graduate using
Walmart’s Live better u
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HerMiSTON — ashli Palmer’s
Walmart career has funded two dif-
ferent college degrees, but the com-
pany had a much more direct hand
in the most recent one.
Palmer started at Walmart at age
20, working as an overnight stocker
in their La Grande store to help pay
her way through a bachelor’s degree
in business from eastern Oregon
university.
Now, more than 15 years later,
she is the first Oregonian to graduate
through Walmart’s Live better u,
which offers Walmart associates the
opportunity to earn a college degree
or other certifications for only $1 per
day.
“i push this program to every-
one, because it’s designed for people
who are working and have lives,”
she said. “They made it so easy for
working professionals, and at such a
great cost.”
Palmer has done “a little bit of
everything” for the company over
the years, but currently works as
the human resources manager at
the Walmart distribution Cen-
ter in Hermiston. When Walmart
announced Live better u in 2018,
she jumped at the chance to increase
her knowledge by pursuing a bach-
elor’s degree in supply chain,
See Graduate, Page A8
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Ashli Palmer, the operations manager at the Walmart Distribution Center
in Hermiston, recently completed Walmart’s Live Better U program, a pro-
gram that allows Walmart employees to get a college degree for $1 a day.