NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
NW lawmakers clash over dam conversations with Gov. Brown
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SALEM — Idaho Congress-
man Mike Simpson and represen-
tatives of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
spoke for months about removing
dams on the Snake River, sparking
criticism from other members of
Congress from the region.
“I don’t know how many times
I have to say that I have not writ-
ten legislation,” Simpson said in a
press release. “What is available
to the public is what currently
exists.”
Lawmakers in Oregon and
Washington accused Simpson and
Brown, who supports removal of
the dams, of a lack of transparency.
They say it’s part of an eff ort to
push Simpson’s $33.5 billion plan
to remove the dams, in the name
of preserving salmon and benefi t-
ing agriculture, through Congress
without regional support.
Brown did not respond to
requests for comment.
A 397-page document contain-
ing conversations between Simp-
son’s office and Brown’s office
were released in response to a
public records request from the
Center for Biological Diversity,
an environmental group.
“It’s clear this proposal is not
just a starting point, but rather a
radical and fully-baked plan he is
actively seeking to put into law,”
Reps. Dan Newhouse and Cathy
McMorris Rodgers, of Washing-
ton, and Cliff Bentz, of Oregon,
said in a press release.
They asked why Simpson
Nicholas K. Geranios/Associated Press, File
Water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash., on April 11,
2018. Some Republican members of Congress from the Northwest are accusing a GOP Idaho lawmaker of con-
ducting secret negotiations with the Democratic governor of Oregon over a controversial proposal to breach
four dams on the Snake River to save endangered salmon runs.
Bentz
Brown
McMorris
Rodgers
WEDNESDAY
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Simpson
instead of the governor of
his state, Idaho’s Brad Little.
“Not only does this have
appears to be building
his plan behind closed doors, and
supporting Brown’s perspective,
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
Newhouse
FRIDAY
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harmful impacts on our regional
dialogue, but it also raises ques-
tions about the viability of the
‘Four Governors’ agreement
signed last year which was
purportedly intended to formalize
a collaborative platform to work
together to address these import-
ant issues in the Northwest,” they
stated.
Simpson asked how he could
be working on the plan in secret
Oregon will allow youth overnight
camps to resume this summer
By JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
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when he has been working on it for
three years, speaking with every-
one who would listen, including
Newhouse and McMorris Rodgers.
He said he wanted as many
answers as possible before going
public with the concept, and he is
traveling around the region taking
and incorporating feedback.
“I expected pushback when this
all started,” Simpson stated. “What
I did not expect was colleagues
with whom I have worked for a
number of years on a number of
issues to question my integrity,
to insinuate I have lied about my
motivation and in fact have nefar-
ious intentions to — what? Sabo-
tage the economy of my own state?
I have a strong record of public
service to the State of Idaho that
does not need to be listed here to
prove the absurdity of that notion.”
Simpson argued that “noth-
ing undermines regional dialogue
more than refusing to talk.”
Simpson called the Center for
Biological Diversity one of the
“extreme environmental groups”
that opposes his concept, “because
it would end their business model
of keeping the stakeholders in the
region in perennial litigation over
the four Lower Snake River dams.”
“It is interesting that Reps.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan
Newhouse and Cliff Bentz are
using this group’s work in their
eff ort to discredit me,” Simpson
stated.
Agricultural stakeholders and
power companies also oppose the
plan, saying removal of the dams
is a nonstarter.
SALEM — Oregon will
allow youth overnight camps
to resume this summer with
significant restrictions to
protect against the spread of
COVID-19.
The state allowed day
camps to move forward last
summer during the heart of
the pandemic, but banned
overnight camps for school-
aged children.
But the Oregon Health
Authority released new
guidance last month to allow
both day and overnight camp
operators to move forward
with programming this
summer.
All youth programs,
including day and overnight
camps, must put together
com mu nicable disease
management plans, imple-
ment enhanced cleaning
standards, screen for symp-
toms and require anyone
who exhibits COVID-19
symptoms to stay home,
split participants into stable
groups of no more than 30,
and require that both staff
and most youth participants
wear masks. The state will
not require children to wear
masks if they can’t wear them
due to medical conditions
or disabilities, or they are
unable to remove the masks
on their own.
Overnight camp opera-
tors must all ensure there is at
least 30 inches between beds
and that campers sleeper
head-to-toe. Camps must
limit use of cabins and tents
to a single cohort of no more
than 30.
Overnight camp operators
are also encouraged, but not
required, to restrict campers
and staff from leaving and
returning to camp during
sessions.
Daily coronavirus cases
and the number of people
hospitalized with COVID-
19 in Oregon had been rising
steadily since March, but
declined slightly over the
past week.
More than 36% of Orego-
nians over 16 have been fully
vaccinated, while nearly 16%
have received one vaccine
dose and still need to receive
a second dose. The vaccines
are currently only authorized
for people 16 and older.
IN BRIEF
Oregon’s embattled state
forester resigns
PORTLAND — Oregon’s state forester
and the leader of the long-struggling Depart-
ment of Forestry, Peter Daugherty, has
resigned eff ective May 31.
Daugherty submitted his resignation to
the state Board of Forestry, which oversees
the department, The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported on Friday, May 7.
Daugherty has led the agency since 2016,
and his tenure has been marked by depart-
ment fi nancial problems, a dysfunctional rela-
tionship with the Board of Forestry and the
loss of state lawmakers’ confi dence. That’s all
as the agency is looking for a large infusion
of new resources to better respond to increas-
ingly extreme wildfi re seasons.
Daugherty’s resignation comes follow-
ing a critical report from outside accounting
consultant MGO, which described a funda-
mental lack of fi nancial controls and oversight
within the agency. The report was reviewed in
a hearing this week before the Oregon Legis-
lature’s Natural Resources subcommittee of
Ways and Means, prompt-
ing some incredulity from
lawmakers.
Sen. Kathleen Taylor,
D-Portland, said she believes
the Legislature should be
overseeing the Department
of Forestry.
Daugherty
“The board has been
given this awesome responsibility by the
public ... and I’m concerned the board did not
do its duties of overseeing the department,”
she said.
Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said many of
the shortcomings revealed in the report had
been noted in a 2015 department audit by the
Secretary of State’s Offi ce.
“We are six years later dealing with the
same damn issue and I don’t see any improve-
ment,” he said.
In Daugherty’s resignation letter, he said
he had discussed the decision with the gover-
nor’s offi ce and decided it would be in the best
interest of the newly reconstituted board and
the department to select a new state forester.
— Associated Press
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