NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Columbia River Treaty negotiations slow as election looms
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
RICHLAND, Wash. — Nego-
tiations to update the Columbia
River Treaty between the U.S. and
Canada continue, but are moving
slowly pending the U.S. election,
officials say.
The U.S. and Canada have
held 10 rounds of negotiations so
far, with the most recent on June
29-30, according to a source who
asked to be identified as a spokes-
person for Western Hemisphere
affairs for the U.S. Department of
State.
The U.S. seeks a modernized
treaty that will ensure the effec-
tive management of flood risk,
provide a reliable and economical
power supply and improve ecosys-
tem cooperation.
“While we cannot get into the
specifics of the meetings, we can
say that our conversations have
been productive and frank, and
we are working together to mod-
ernize the treaty regime in a way
that benefits both countries,” the
spokesperson told the Capital
Press.
“What everybody believes is
that the discussions and negotia-
tions have slowed down consider-
ably, with Canada wanting to wait
to see the outcome of the election,”
said Derek Sandison, director of
the Washington State Department
of Agriculture and former director
of the state Department of Ecolo-
gy’s Office of the Columbia River.
Activity is moving at a slower
pace in the meantime, Sandison
Nicholas K. Geranios/Associated Press, File
The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington state is one
of many federal dams included in the U.S.-Canada treaty governing oper-
ation of the river system.
said. The focus has been more on
the federal Columbia River sys-
tems environmental impact state-
ment and possible appeals, he
added.
The COVID-19 pandemic
hasn’t had an impact, the spokes-
person said, noting the U.S. nego-
tiating team conducted much of
its work virtually even prior to
COVID.
Under the treaty, the U.S. paid
Canada $64 million to construct
three dams in British Columbia
in exchange for 8.94 million acre-
feet of assured flood storage. The
storage would help prevent the
catastrophic floods that have taken
place along the Columbia River in
the past.
Under the existing treaty, Can-
ada’s assured flood storage would
change in 2024 to “called-upon”
and “effective use” storage.
That means the U.S. would first
have to make effective use of its
reservoirs for flood control before
calling on Canada to store addi-
tional snowmelt.
The change would have ramifi-
cations for the flow of the Colum-
bia River in addition to how much
power could be generated by U.S.
dams.
“2024’s not that far away,”
Sandison said. “Time is still of
the essence, but there is still time
to come up with a reasonable
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Sunny
Rain and drizzle in
the p.m.
Sunny and cold
Plenty of sunshine,
but cold
Cold with periods
of sun
51° 29°
50° 32°
56° 27°
49° 33°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
40° 18°
39° 25°
35° 18°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
46° 21°
43° 23°
41° 17°
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
53/39
Kennewick Walla Walla
51/32
Lewiston
56/37
56/28
Astoria
55/41
45/27
54/30
Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Pullman
Yakima 53/28
54/36
50/30
Portland
Hermiston
58/39
The Dalles 56/27
Salem
Corvallis
58/34
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
48/21
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
58/34
49/27
49/28
Ontario
58/26
55/27
48/16
0.11"
0.38"
0.40"
2.11"
4.94"
6.99"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
60°
41°
63°
37°
87° (2003) 19° (1928)
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
57/32
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 44/20
58/35
0.03"
0.47"
0.69"
9.22"
11.31"
9.67"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
51/29
58/33
56°
45°
61°
38°
88° (2003) 16° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
53/37
Aberdeen
45/26
50/33
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/41
Today
Medford
65/33
Fri.
NE 3-6
NW 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
E 4-8
SW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
54/21
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
7:22 a.m.
5:57 p.m.
2:14 p.m.
10:55 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Oct 23
Oct 31
Nov 8
Nov 14
approach going forward that alle-
viates or partially alleviates the
issues associated with the lack of
assured storage in Canada.”
“We do not know how long
negotiations will take,” the spokes-
person said. “We hope to main-
tain a negotiating schedule that
will allow us to move forward at a
steady pace while giving us suffi-
cient time to work on the technical
preparations necessary between
sessions.”
Sandison hopes to have the big
issues ironed out in the next year
or so.
“The sooner, the better, as far
as I’m concerned,” he said. “A pre-
dictable river system operation is
best for all of us.”
Boise Cascade Company announces
potential closure of Elgin plant
By SABRINA THOMPSON
The Observer
ELGIN — The Boise
Cascade
Company
announced it could shut
down its plywood plant in
Elgin in early 2021.
The wood products giant
notified the 230 employees
at the Elgin facility it may
reduce hours or close the
plant temporarily begin-
ning Jan. 1. Boise Cas-
cade spokeswoman Lisa
Chapman said the potential
reduction in hours and clo-
sure is due to a lack of logs
because of wildfires, as well
as an order from the Oregon
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality regarding the use
of wastewater at the Elgin
facility.
“We were notified by
the DEQ in April and after
lengthy discussions we
filed a lawsuit at the end of
August,” Chapman said.
“The DEQ said to limit our
water use due to the pres-
ence of dioxins.”
Dioxins are a group of
toxic chemical compounds
that are harmful to health.
The DEQ granted a per-
mit in 2018 for use of water
at the Elgin plant. Chapman
said there is no evidence
that use of the water, as the
permit allows, has caused or
contributed to an environ-
mental or human health haz-
ard. She said samples from
the water contain low levels
of dioxins.
Boise Cascade filed a
petition for reconsideration
with DEQ on May 4, arguing
the environmental regula-
tion agency was “attempting
to modify the permit with-
out following its required
procedural process.” DEQ
denied the request on mul-
tiple grounds, including the
company’s amendments to
the water use plan were not
inconsistent with either the
permit or Environmental
Quality Commission rules.
The company, filing as
Boise Cascade Wood Prod-
ucts LLC, responded on
Aug. 31 in Union County
with the lawsuit seeking a
judicial review.
Boise Cascade in the
court documents contended
DEQ knew the water the
Elgin mill would use con-
tained dioxins as reported in
a fact sheet provided to the
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality.
“Thus, DEQ issued the
2018 WPCF Permit know-
ing the dioxin-containing
leachate would be trans-
ferred to the ponds, and
then used in and around the
Elgin Mill,” according to
the petition.
The Elgin facility can-
not operate without the use
of a state-approved waste-
water system. Because of
the DEQ’s notice about
dioxins and requirements
for a new plan for water
usage, Chapman said the
mill in Elgin may need to
close while Boise Cascade
works through the litigation
process and determines a
solution.
“We are not sure yet
what the resolution will be,”
Chapman said. “We should
know by December if we
will have to cut back hours
or fully close the plant for a
while, but we will give the
employees in Elgin plenty of
notice.”
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 97° in El Centro, Calif. Low 0° in Scobey, Mont.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Corrections employees file
lawsuit against department
SALEM — Two employees at the Ore-
gon Department of Corrections are suing
the agency, accusing its leadership team of
misleading lawmakers and creating a cul-
ture of bullying and intimidation.
Gina
Raney-Eatherly
and
Mer-
ilee Nowak filed the lawsuit in Marion
County, KATU-TV reported. The state
filed a response in September denying the
allegations.
Gina Raney-Eatherly and Nowak have
four decades of experience at the agency
between them. The women say the direc-
tor and deputy director demoted them for
speaking up and pushing back.
Raney-Eatherly was a research analyst,
and Nowak was a policy analyst. Both are
now executive assistants.
“If these kind of things continue, worse
things are going to happen. An agency can’t
continue to work like this,” said Nowak.
The lawsuit refers to a state legislative
hearing from March 2019 in which the late
Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, asked Dep-
uty Director Heidi Steward and Director
Colette Peters if the agency’s drug treatment
program reduced a person’s likelihood of
re-offending.
— Associated Press
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
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cold front
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