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East Oregonian
Friday, February 21, 2020
Brown for $7.5 M in earthquake early warning system
Bill also creates
program to
improve readiness
of quarter-million
Oregon households
By SAM STITES
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon would
prepare 250,000 households
to become self-sufficient fol-
lowing a catastrophic earth-
quake under legislation
advancing in Salem.
The legislation, Senate
Bill 1537, also would double
the number of monitors that
would alert public officials to
an earthquake.
The proposals are the lat-
est effort to prepare Orego-
nians for what scientists say
is inevitable — a destructive
earthquake in the Cascadia
Subduction Zone that would
destroy buildings, roads and
more.
Some $3 million is being
requested by Gov. Kate
Brown to fund “Two-week
Ready Oregon” within the
state Office of Emergency
Management. The program
would be administered by the
Oregon Military Department
and aims to give 250,000
Oregon households the sup-
plies and expertise to be
self-sufficient for two weeks
following a natural disaster.
That means having enough
food, water, first-aid supplies
and other emergency items to
Photo courtesy of Oregon State University
Professor Doug Toomey is one of the foremost seismologists on the West Coast and oversees the University of Oregon’s
ShakeAlert program.
keep a household functioning
for two weeks.
The legislation, pending
before the Legislature’s bud-
get committee, would build
out Oregon’s ShakeAlert sys-
tem, a network of seismic
monitoring stations admin-
istered by the U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey along the Pacific
Coast. The network extends
from Northern Califor-
nia to British Columbia and
feeds into similar programs
at CalTech, the University
of California, Berkeley, and
University of Washington.
ShakeAlert
monitors
seismic activity and allows
the Geological Survey to
alert counties, cities, utility
companies and others before
shaking from an earthquake
begins. It gives people time
to methodically take shelter
rather than scrambling in a
panic. It also allows utilities
to take precautions and shut
down critical infrastruc-
ture that could be damaged
by shaking.
A total of $7.5 million
would be allocated to the net-
work, which currently has
around 120 sensors located
across the Willamette Valley
and Oregon coast. The goal is
to set up 250 sensors in Ore-
gon by 2023.
A team from the Univer-
sity of Oregon would install
and monitor the stations.
Eight team members at UO
work to install new stations
in the field and monitor activ-
ity. One of those on the team
is Professor Doug Toomey,
seismologist,
geophysicist
and one of the pioneers of
in the use of ocean-bottom
seismology.
“One of the remarkable
aspects about the project is
how collaborative and well
distributed it has been over its
development,” Toomey said.
“The University of Oregon
actually has one of the stron-
ger seismology departments
on the West Coast with five
active seismologists.”
According to Toomey, the
benefit of ShakeAlert is its
impact on protecting public
safety not only in Oregon, but
along the entire earthquake
zone.
“If you think of the
impacts we have locally in
terms of helping people and
helping a water utility save
water by shutting off valves,
that’s multiplied by many
hundreds along the West
Coast,” he said. “Funding
from the state is critical not
only just for Oregon, but our
performance within Shake-
Alert impacts the resiliency
of California, Washington
and British Columbia.”
Also packed within the
bill are provisions that would
review dam safety across the
state and update the state’s
resilience plan.
Airport: ‘We got an airport that’s $2 million in debt up there’
Continued from Page A1
clause would stifle business
at the airport by creating
uncertainty over whether
a business could stay long
term.
City officials countered
that the clause wasn’t new to
Pendleton airport contracts,
and the airport was merely
following Federal Avia-
tion Administration rules by
including it in leases.
Both sides seemed to
reach a compromise over
the summer of 2019, when
the city approved language
that allows tenants to avoid
reversion by either paying a
“reversion deferral fee” equal
to the value of the property at
the end of their lease, or pay
twice the standard ground
lease rate over the life of the
initial agreement.
But Pendleton Aircraft
Service mechanic Jeff Guen-
ther and Wildhorse Helicop-
ter Co. owner Brad Wahl,
representing airport busi-
ness owners, went to Tues-
EO file photo
A U.S. Army AH-64 attack helicopter makes an approach to land at the Eastern Oregon Re-
gional Airport in April 2018 in Pendleton.
day’s council meeting to say
the lease policy hasn’t been
implemented in the way they
thought it would.
Reading from a pre-
pared statement, Wahl told
the council that airport staff
weren’t offering existing ten-
ants the reversionary options
spelled out when trying to
negotiate a new lease.
“We are not aware of
any existing or new long-
term tenants that have been
signed since the policy was
passed,” he said. “The com-
munity is missing out on
new business development as
well as expansion of existing
businesses because poten-
tial investors are holding out
until the uncertainty in the
leasing policy is resolved and
the outcome is known.”
Rather than scrap the new
lease policy, Wahl and Guen-
ther asked the council to send
it back to the airport commis-
sion to clarify the law. Air-
port Manager Steve Chris-
man and several members of
the airport commission were
sitting in the audience.
Mayor John Turner called
it a “reasonable request,” but
warned that airport busi-
ness leaders would need to
include specific examples of
the way the policy is hurting
businesses.
“We got an airport that’s
$2 million in debt up there
and I’m leaning on Mr. Chris-
man all the time to pay it
back,” he said. “Understand,
there’s not a huge profit mar-
gin up there yet.”
The council voted 7-1 to
refer the policy back to the
airport commission, with
Councilor Becky Marks,
an ex-officio member of the
commission, voting against.
Chrisman didn’t speak at
the meeting, but in an inter-
view Thursday, he continued
to defend the reversionary
clause.
He said the FAA sup-
ported the clause because it
ensured the airport contin-
ues to be used for aviation
purposes and it can lead to a
self-sustaining operation.
Chrisman added that the
FAA has granted Pendle-
ton $23 million for opera-
tions and infrastructure since
1995, and he didn’t want to
do anything to jeopardize
that source of income.
While admitting the
reversionary clause had
become a contentious issue,
he said it was within every-
one’s best interest that the
airport commission and the
business community are on
the same page.
Legislation: Impact of bill uncertain without economic study
Continued from Page A1
small businesses and farm-
ers I’ve talked to have, and
they’re nervous,” Linsday
said.
Russell said the bill has
been complex and confus-
ing since the concept first
was put to paper, but what he
believes he knows about it is
that there will be an unmea-
sured impact on local econo-
mies and that its benefits are
unclear.
“This bill has been
amended and changed dras-
tically again and again and
again,” he said. “For me,
how do you even know what
it says? I can’t be in favor of
something that is constantly
changing so much that I
can’t understand it.”
While this year’s legis-
lation remains largely the
same as last session’s House
Bill 2020, which prompted
Senate Republicans to leave
the state and deny Demo-
crats a quorum to vote on
the bill, it also includes some
changes directed at eas-
ing the economic burden on
rural communities, and par-
ticularly residents and busi-
nesses in Eastern Oregon.
One key amendment dic-
tates that transportation fuel
suppliers in the Portland
area purchase allowances
starting in 2022, while the
requirement would expand
to all fuel suppliers in coun-
ties west of the Cascades in
2025.
Remaining
counties
would have the choice to opt
into the program, which is
expected to raise gas prices.
The funds raised will be
used for climate investments
but will only be eligible to
participating counties.
that an amendment would
be added that would pro-
tect food processors from
the costs of regulations pro-
posed in cap and trade but
he’d yet to see it be added.
“WE’RE CONCERNED ABOUT
THE FACT THAT LANDMARK
LEGISLATION OF THIS TYPE WAS
NEVER INTENDED TO BE PASSED IN
THE SHORT SESSION.”
— George Murdock, Umatilla County commissioner
“That doesn’t move the
needle for me at all,” Russell
said of the amendment.
Russell said he’d been
told by a sponsor of the bill
Food processor Lamb
Weston recently opened two
plants in Morrow County
and Russell said he’d been
told by the company that
had they known of the costs
they’d incur from a cap-and-
trade bill, they’d have opened
them in Pasco, Washington,
instead.
But in addition to oppos-
ing what the legislation
would do if passed, Morrow
and Umatilla county com-
missioners are opposed to
how the Legislature is trying
to pass it.
“We’re concerned about
the fact that landmark legis-
lation of this type was never
intended to be passed in the
short session,” Murdock said
Wednesday. “And further,
that the inclusion of an emer-
gency clause basically pre-
cludes future input from the
citizens of Oregon.”
Critics of cap and trade
have consistently high-
lighted that the 2020 legis-
lative session, which is sup-
posed to last just 35 days
and end on March 8, wasn’t
designed for transforma-
tional bills, such as SB 1530.
The emergency clause
attached to the bill has
remained
controversial
because it allows Gov. Kate
Brown to sign it into law
immediately after it passes
the Legislature. Support-
ers have argued the bill’s
purpose, battling climate
change, remains an emer-
gency. But those in opposi-
tion still wish for the deci-
sion to be up to the people.
“This legislation has been
extremely divisive for Ore-
gon,” Russell said. “Some-
thing this divisive should be
voted on by the public.”
Graduate: More than 12,000 associates working toward degrees, certifications
Continued from Page A1
transportation and logistics
management.
“It aligns perfectly with
what we do here,” she said.
Live Better U currently
offers about 30 different
degrees, as well as cer-
tifications such as phar-
macy technician, through
various institutions, with
Walmart picking up most
of the tab. In Palmer’s
case, her degree comes
from Bellevue University.
She started coursework in
October 2018, with new
courses every six weeks
involving homework, tests,
video presentations and
discussion boards.
Palmer said her cohort
of online classmates were
from multiple states and
represented a diverse array
of Walmart positions, from
trucking to cashiers to
working at corporate head-
quarters. She said the net-
work she built has given
her access to different per-
spectives, allowing her to
bounce ideas off of associ-
ates in other locations and
jobs.
“I now have friends
from all across the country
that I’ve worked on projects
with,” she said.
Charles Crowson, a
spokesman for Walmart,
said right now there are
more than 12,000 associ-
ates taking advantage of
Live Better U. After asso-
ciates finish their degree or
certification, there are no
strings attached — some
are putting their knowledge
to use in furthering their
career with the company,
while others are using it to
get a job elsewhere.
“If people pursue (some-
thing else), there is no ill
will,” Crowson said.
He said many of
Walmart’s future leaders
will likely come from Live
Better U.
“It’s a wonderful oppor-
tunity for our associates,”
he said. “It’s really encour-
aging for our company to
see so many people become
engaged in it.”
Palmer feels the same
way, and as a human
resources manager, she
said she is in a good posi-
tion to spread the word
to other employees about
the benefits of pursuing a
degree while they are in a
position to do so for only
$1 per day. So far, she said,
there are a handful of other
people in Hermiston who
have signed on.
“Any time we invest in
ourselves and broaden our
thinking, it makes us bet-
ter,” she said.