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Saturday, April 17, 2021
East Oregonian
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Curated: The Wave served 29,000 hot meals in 2020
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tribally sourced and cooked
salmon at the University of
Oregon’s Autzen Stadium.
They worked to get local
salmon on the menu, while
simultaneously giving
community vendors a chance
to network and grow, showing
off their products.
Jeffrey Mora — a fellow
co-founder of The Wave,
former executive chef for
the Los Angeles Lakers and
CEO of Food Fleet — says
they worked tirelessly to
meet the needs of both the
tribal communities, as well as
those on the business side of
the university. They believed
that a launching pad, such as
Autzen, could be a proving
ground for their model to help
support local businesses. They
aimed to assist farmers, fish-
ermen, restaurants and trans-
portation. Anything involved
with getting food to people,
specifically to assist and lift
up BIPOC communities.
“Local, to me, is more
regional than local,” Mora
said. “It doesn’t necessarily
have to be 10 miles, 20 miles,
30 miles right? There’s local,
there’s hyper-local, there’s
regional. Supporting the food
system as a whole, regionally,
is more the key.”
Quantity over quality
After historic floods in
February 2020 wrecked areas
of Pendleton, Elliott says the
reservation was prompted to
help its neighbors.
Just as they were recover-
ing from the floods, COVID-
19 hit. The reservation’s
Wildhorse Resort & Casino
closed and 800-plus commu-
nity employees were out of
work. Elliott says the tribe
allocated money toward food
relief as the reservation began
buying food in bulk from
Sysco through the USDA’s
program.
It became quickly appar-
Energy:
Continued from Page A1
nomah County Circuit Court
on April 5 stating the project
would cease construction and
the company would ask the
Energy Facility Siting Coun-
cil to terminate the project’s
state-issued permit.
“We think this is a huge
win for the climate,” said Erin
Saylor, an attorney for Colum-
bia Riverkeeper. “Hopefully it
shows developers that Oregon
is just not a place for new fossil
fuel infrastructure.”
The subject of the groups’
lawsuit, Perennial-Wind-
Chaser LLC, is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Peren-
nial Power Holdings. Peren-
nial Power Holdings did not
return an email requesting
confirmation of its plans to
cancel the project.
Court records available
online regarding the lawsuit
do not include the letter, but
do note that a hearing on the
company’s motion to dismiss
the lawsuit was canceled
on April 6 as “stipulated by
parties.”
The hearing on April 6
would have presented oral
arguments before the Mult-
nomah County Circuit Court,
where Columbia Riverkeeper
and Friends of the Columbia
River Gorge had filed a peti-
tion for judicial review against
Perennial and the Oregon
Department of Energy.
The groups alleged the
state violated its own rules
by allowing Perennial to
begin construction without
obtaining proper permits and
approval from the Energy
Facility Siting Council, which
is staffed by the ODOE.
Critics say the company
rushed to begin construc-
tion and meet the regulatory
deadline to avoid millions
of dollars in emissions fees
under Gov. Kate Brown’s
latest executive order on
climate change.
The plant would have emit-
ted more than 1 million tons
of greenhouse gases per year,
according to news reports,
making it one of the state’s
largest sources of greenhouse
gas emissions. Only a few
other power plants produce
more.
Saylor said that environ-
mental health in Eastern
The Wave Foundation/Contributed Photo
Volunteers assist in distributing The Wave Foundation food boxes, USDA food boxes and bot-
tles of water to CTUIR members at a drive-thru distribution site in Mission on Dec. 30, 2020.
ent to Elliott, however, that
the food being offered by the
USDA wasn’t nutritional.
While the dairy products
were suitable, Elliott says the
protein options were a red flag.
She recalls several batches of
“chicken” taco meat that she
believed was fake.
“If that’s all you’re gonna
send us, we don’t want it,” she
said. “It didn’t look real to me.
(It looked) awful, I wouldn’t
even feed that to my dog, if I
had a dog.”
Despite the discontent,
nothing changed. Elliott says
the USDA never made direct
contact with the community.
The reservation continued to
take anything and everything
they could get, often donating
the unwanted proteins to the
Salvation Army.
“I think that’s where the
issue is particularly poignant
when you think of communi-
ties of color, because it’s one
thing to be given a box of food
this month that has things in
it that you kind of think, ‘Eh,
I don’t really want to eat that,
it’s not what I’m used to,’”
Edwards said. “But if month
after month that’s what you’re
getting, that’s bad right?
Maybe even harmful to your
health?”
Zeulner and his associates
worked to provide sustainable
options to target communities.
In July 2020, the reservation
became one of The Wave’s
first long-term clients.
Oregon will benefit from
Perennial’s decision to aban-
don the project.
“Not just the greenhouse
gas emissions associated with
it, but all the particulate matter
and other associated pollut-
ants that would have come out
of this facility are not going to
be happening now,” she said.
And for Hermiston resi-
dents, Saylor said the change
means that “their city won’t
become a dumping ground
for these plants.”
The project was proposed
in an area outside of Herm-
iston near where two gas
power plants currently stand
— the Hermiston Power Proj-
have to reapply for a new site
certificate from EFSC if it did
not begin construction on the
project by Sept. 23, 2020. To
meet that deadline, Perennial
began construction of a road
despite not having a required
stormwater permit from the
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality.
Jennifer Kalez, commu-
nications director for Oregon
Department of Energy, told
the East Oregonian in Octo-
ber 2020 that DEQ could
choose to take enforcement
action against Perennial for
being out of compliance with
its rules, but that the permit
was not one of the “precon-
Curated with care
The Wave and members of
the reservation had a previous
relationship. The Wave had
bought fish from their Tribes’
fisheries in the past, which
Elliott says created a favorable
template for the two sides to
work together the second time
around.
The Wave’s partner,
Food Fleet, headed by Mora,
works alongside The Wave
to craft healthy and sustain-
ably-sourced food box compo-
“WE THINK THIS IS A HUGE WIN
FOR THE CLIMATE. HOPEFULLY
IT SHOWS DEVELOPERS
THAT OREGON IS JUST NOT A
PLACE FOR NEW FOSSIL FUEL
INFRASTRUCTURE.”
— Erin Saylor, attorney for Columbia Riverkeeper
ect, owned and operated by
Calpine Corporation, and the
Hermiston Generating Proj-
ect. Perennial Power Holdings
is a co-owner and operator of
Hermiston Generating Proj-
ect, a 474-megawatt natural
gas plant.
In an interview with the
East Oregonian in 2015,
David Daley, speaking as
Perennial Power Holdings’
senior vice president of oper-
ations and development, said
while the proposed Perennial
Wind Chaser project was a
natural gas plant, its primary
goal was to support renewable
energy in the area. The plant
would be able to power up in
as little as 10 minutes, he said,
as a way to quickly and reli-
ably backfill other sources of
energy when, for example, the
wind stops blowing at an East-
ern Oregon wind farm.
The project received
its site certificate from the
Energy Facility Siting Coun-
cil in 2015, but it finally broke
ground in September 2020,
when developers started clear-
ing land for a road at the site
to meet a regulatory deadline.
According to the lawsuit
filed by Columbia Riverkeeper
and Friends of the Colum-
bia Gorge, Perennial would
struction” conditions that
Perennial was required to
meet in order to meet EFSC’s
Sept. 23, 2020, deadline.
The project was the last
of several proposals for
new gas-fired power plants
in Oregon that have been
canceled over the past five
years, and now, “no propos-
als to build any new gas-fired
power plants in Oregon
remain pending with” the
state, according to environ-
mentalists.
Saylor said it’s “very likely
this will be the last proposed
gas-fired power plant that we
see in Oregon” because of the
political and social climate
and clean energy bills moving
through the Oregon Legisla-
ture.
“Just five years ago, several
proposals for new gas-fired
power plants threatened to
harm air quality in the Colum-
bia River Gorge and exac-
erbate climate change, but
public opposition to each of
these projects has prevailed,”
said Nathan Baker, an attorney
for Friends of the Columbia
Gorge. “We hope and expect
that Oregon’s future begins
today, free of new fossil fuel
power plants, which are dirty
dinosaurs of a bygone era.”
nents. Before the reservation
had even started working
with the USDA, The Wave
provided the community
with monthly food box distri-
butions. The boxes included a
vast selection of fresh produce,
some of which the community
members had never seen or
tried, and ultimately, declined
to eat, Elliott said.
But The Wave was bring-
ing nutritional options. So,
the reservation upscaled its
collaboration with The Wave
through fall and winter as it
too changed its approach.
Elliott said The Wave not
only began bringing more
food — nearly 700 boxes a
month with biweekly distribu-
tions — but came to the table
with a community-oriented
approach that differed greatly
from other programs.
For Zeulner, Mora and
their Wave counterparts, it’s
just the type of implementa-
tion they envisioned.
“That’s a coalition, right,”
Zeulner said. “A coalition is
one that welcomes the masses
and says, ‘How can we help
you? You know we’re in this
together.’”
Elliott recalls a story she
heard from a fellow commu-
nity member about an after-
noon that Wave workers spent
with tribal elders learning how
to prepare salmon using tribal
techniques. She says the elders
taught The Wave members
how to clean and filet salmon
before showing them how to
properly can the fish.
“The (Wave) chefs said
they would never look at
salmon the same way again,”
Elliott said. “I really like that
they were willing to learn and
didn’t step in and say, ‘Well
that’s not how you do it.’ They
were willing to learn how we
do it. They’re great people
and they’re genuine, which is
pretty important to us.”
Despite the possibility of
an extension as The Wave
awaits further grant funding,
the reservation is set to work
with The Wave until April
2021. Even if that were to be
the last time the parties work
hand-in-hand, Elliott feels
confident that The Wave has
left a lasting impression.
A model built to last
In partnership with The
Wave, Food Fleet has applied
to become a licensed distrib-
utor through the USDA’s
Farmers to Families Food
Box Program. Zeulner said
if granted, the organization
plans to bring its model to the
USDA’s operation in hopes
of expanding to the national
scale.
According to The Wave’s
2020 annual report, the coali-
tion served more than 143,000
meal equivalents and over
29,000 hot meals in the last
year.
As food security continues
to plague the nation, dispro-
portionately skewed toward
BIPOC communities, Zeul-
ner said The Wave is seeking
continued grant-sourced fund-
ing that could enable them to
extend community support
from May to December of
2021. In conjunction with the
drive for further funding, The
Wave plans to begin serving
Tribal Nation members in the
Portland-metro region, as well
as communities and tribes in
the Spokane, Colville and
Puget Sound areas of Wash-
ington.
The Wave has a vision
outside of the Pacific North-
west as well. Zeulner said
they are exploring branching
out south toward Los Ange-
les where they could impact
and serve Latino commu-
nity members in addition to
African American and Tribal
Nation members living in
Central and South Los Ange-
les neighborhoods.
Zeulner said they are
presenting their model to
stakeholders within the Biden
administration, Congress and
USDA with the intent to land
a national pilot which would
“encompass 20 markets and
focused primarily on Tribal
Nation communities.”
“We don’t want to waste
time,” Zeulner said. “We
want to be laser focused as an
aggregate and a community
on the things that matter the
most. And once we get those
accomplished, we’ll move on
to the next one.”
———
This story was devel-
oped as part of the Catalyst
Journalism Project at the
University of Oregon School
of Journalism and Commu-
nication. Catalyst brings
together investigative report-
ing and solutions journalism
to spark action and response
to Oregon’s most perplexing
issues. To learn more visit
Journalism.UOregon.edu/
Catalyst or follow the project
on Twitter @UO_catalyst.
BMCC:
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budget and hierarchy the last
time she was in charge of
BMCC in an interim capac-
ity, between the tenures
of Cam Preus and Dennis
Bailey-Fougnier in 2019.
But at the time, Green
said, the BMCC Board of
Education wanted her to keep
everything in place so that
the next president could make
the necessary decisions. The
board went on to hire Bailey-
Fougnier, who recommended
eliminating 23 positions,
including 11 layoffs.
When she returned
i n Ma rch fol low i ng
Bailey-Fougnier’s abrupt
resignation, Green knew
more budget cuts would be
needed to make up for a $1.9
million shortfall, and this
time, the board empowered
her to work with staff to make
more structural changes.
As a part of the planned
changes, BMCC will cut
16 positions, including 11
layoffs. Among the layoffs,
BMCC is looking at laying
off seven people in super-
visory roles, three faculty
members and one assistant.
One of the trends that
necessitated the layoffs was
the college’s declining enroll-
ment, Green said.
According to the Oregon
Higher Education Coordinat-
ing Commission, BMCC saw
its enrollment nearly halved
from 2012 to 2019, shrinking
from 4,142 students to 2,185.
In 2020, the first year of the
COVID-19 pandemic, enroll-
ment fell to 1,561.
But Green isn’t just
overseeing another round
of layoffs, but a complete
restructuring of the college’s
administration.
Instead of a team of
five vice presidents who
report directly to the presi-
dent, Green is recommend-
ing reducing the number of
administrators directly under
the president to two — an
executive vice president and
a chief operating officer.
Under the new organiza-
tional chart, Vice President
of Instruction John Fields
would become executive
vice president, overseeing
all departments related to
student services and instruc-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
BMCC plans on cutting 16 positions in its next budget as it
looks to restructure some of its top jobs.
tion. David Shellberg, the
vice president of administra-
tive services, would transi-
tion to chief operating officer,
managing less front-facing
departments like finance,
human resources, technol-
ogy and facilities.
There are also changes
further down the super-
visory tree, with all deans
being asked to reapply for
their jobs because their roles
are changing and BMCC is
outsourcing its grant, market-
ing and disability services to
the InterMountain Education
Service District.
Green maintained that
the layoffs and restructur-
ing had nothing to do with
individual employee perfor-
mance and was instead a part
of a process of “right sizing”
BMCC for future growth.
But not everyone on
the faculty agrees with the
college’s decisions.
Sheri Jordan, an English
instructor, said she was one
of the faculty members who
was informed that she was
slated to be laid off over the
summer.
Working her fourth
year at BMCC and nearing
tenure, Jordan said she felt
more a sense of sorrow than
bitterness.
“It feels like a cheap shot
from the college,” she said.
Jordan remembers her
endeavor to assign free online
resources instead of text-
books to save students money
and her efforts during the
pandemic to keep students
engaged as classes moved
online, trying to put students
first.
Ki Russell, the co-chair of
the writing department, said
Jordan’s impending layoff
would also be a blow to the
whole department. Jordan
teaches the college’s reme-
dial writing courses, critical
classes for students trying to
get a GED or play catch-up
as they work on their associ-
ate’s degree. Without Jordan,
Russell said she doesn’t
know how she’ll offer those
courses, much less continue
to offer other popular courses
like literature and philoso-
phy.
“This will hurt our most
vulnerable and marginalized
students,” she said.
Pete Hernberg, a math
instructor and the president of
the college’s faculty union, is
in the midst of negotiating the
layoffs with BMCC’s admin-
istration.
Hernberg said BMCC
has less of a budget problem
and more of an enrollment
problem. He added that the
college could use the money it
received over multiple rounds
of federal stimulus to keep
BMCC whole over the next
few years, using the extra
time to work on its recruiting
and retention efforts.
Under the plan Green and
the staff put together, BMCC
would direct stimulus funds
to create temporary jobs
that worked on outreach to
lapsed college students and
high school students and the
creation of an unmanned
aerial systems certification
program. Laid off staff would
get first pass at filling these
jobs.
The BMCC board was set
to meet on Friday, April 16,
to approve the administra-
tive restructuring. Following
that, the board is scheduled
to meet next on May 5, where
some staff and students are
planning to speak in favor of
faculty.