NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Ag leaders get look at lower Snake River dam issues
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
LEWISTON, Idaho — Leaders of
national and regional farm organiza-
tions rallied around efforts to protect
the four lower Snake River dams June
16, taking part in a day-long briefing
on the role the structures play in the
Pacific Northwest economy.
Among those joining the group
were Zippy Duvall, president of the
American Farm Bureau Federation
— the nation’s largest agricultural
organization — and Chandler Goule,
CEO of the National Association of
Wheat Growers.
Farmers shouldn’t let their guard
down when it comes to Idaho Rep.
Mike Simpson’s call to breach the
Snake River dams in the name of
salmon recovery, Goule warned.
Simpson’s $33.5 billion concept
is gaining momentum in Congress
heading into the mid-term elections,
Goule said.
Simpson, a member of the House
Appropriations Committee, has not
proposed any legislation, but he will
work to insert the money into an
appropriations bill without instruc-
tions to breach the dams, Goule said.
“If that money gets appropriated,
then that gets him a much stronger
hand to come back and actually get
the dams torn down,” Goule said.
Simpson used a similar tactic on
another issue 10 years ago, Goule
said.
“He already knows politically that
strategy is going to work,” Goule
said.
It would likely be in next year’s
Contributed Photo
Glen Squires, left, CEO of the Washington Grain Commission, and Idaho
wheat farmer “Potlatch Joe” Anderson, right, take photos Wednesday,
June 16, 2021, of the Lower Granite Dam navigation lock on the Snake River.
appropriations, Goule said. The bill
would have to go through the House
and Senate, and the president would
have to sign it.
Duvall, Goule and 43 others repre-
senting ag organizations, co-ops and
related businesses were hosted by the
Idaho Grain Producers Association
and the Idaho Farm Bureau.
Tour participants took a boat
through a navigation lock and
toured the dam complex, seeing fish
ladders and juvenile and adult fish,
and toured the Lewis-Clark Termi-
nal, owned by CHS Primeland, the
Pacific Northwest Farmers Co-op
and Uniontown Co-op.
Agricultural advocates say
breaching the dams isn’t the “silver
bullet” for salmon recovery that
environmentalists claim, noting that
mortality rates on the Snake River
are similar for salmon elsewhere on
the West Coast.
“I didn’t see today the problems
that (Simpson) described. ... I didn’t
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TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
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Mostly sunny,
breezy and hot
Mostly sunny,
breezy and hot
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very hot
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92° 65°
96° 64°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
93° 65°
102° 70°
97° 65°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
95° 71°
99° 67°
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106° 70°
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OREGON FORECAST
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PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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78/53
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65/54
Pullman
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80/53
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87/61
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
92/65
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Lake
79/52
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92/64
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W 10-20
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SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
86/49
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NATIONAL EXTREMES
see the science that supported that,”
said Duvall, of the American Farm
Bureau Federation.
Duvall compared Simpson to a
doctor who calls for a heart trans-
plant when some medicine will do.
“If we think about the $34 billion
and just take a portion of it, put it
in research and development of the
other problems that might be facing
the salmon, we can fix that problem
with a little medicine rather than
transplanting a heart,” Duvall said.
Breaching the dams would make
the lower Snake River “completely
unnavigable,” and require adding
38,000 more rail cars or 150,000
more trucks to replace barges, Goule
said.
About 60% of Washington’s and
Idaho’s wheat is shipped by barge,
according to the Lewis-Clark Termi-
nal. It takes 5½ hours to load one
3,600-ton barge, the equivalent of
120 truckloads of wheat.
A proposed transportation credit
or subsidy under Simpson’s plan also
could potentially be out of compli-
ance with World Trade Organization
regulations, Goule said, adding that it
could be considered trade distorting,
undercutting export competition.
The dams are critical for the West
Coast’s export and import markets,
said Jeff Van Pevenage, president
and CEO of Columbia Grain Inter-
national in Portland.
Some 60-65% of the wheat
exported using the Columbia-Snake
River system originates in the Lower
Snake River region, consisting of 13
barge facilities with more than 10
owners, Van Pevenage said.
“Without the current volume, you
will endanger the economic viability
of at least two of the export facilities
that exist in Portland,” Van Pevenage
said. Those facilities rely heavily on
barges and don’t have the ability to
expand rail capacity, he said.
Barging provides transportation
competition and alternatives to keep
freight rates in check, Van Peve-
nage said. Without it, rail costs for
grain shipments to Portland could
potentially more than double, partic-
ularly during the fall, when corn and
soybean shipments from the Midwest
are also heavy.
Without barging, many regional
farmers could find themselves in a
“captive shipping” scenario, similar
to one experienced today by Montana
farmers, Van Pevenage said.
“As an example, at times today,
you can ship wheat from eastern
North Dakota through Montana to
the West Coast for cheaper rates than
you can ship from Montana to the
PNW,” he said. “It’s very possible
those types of scenarios will exist
here without the competition.”
If the dams are breached, “what
will happen in the end is farmers will
be paying more and making less at the
end of the day,” Van Pevenage said.
Van Pevenage recommended the
industry organize similar tours for
other members of the House Appro-
priations Committee.
“...(T)hey could come out for
themselves and see that we don’t
need to spend $34 billion,” he said,
“that we don’t have to eradicate these
dams, we need to continue the work
that’s happening.”
Cyclist rides mountain bike for
8 hours as tribute to late father
LA GRANDE — La
Grande cyclist Elijah Romer
saluted his late father at the
Mount Emily Recreation
Area Sunday, June 20.
Romer rode his mountain
bike on MERA’s trails for
eight hours over a 12-hour
period as a tribute to his
father, Larry Romer, who
died 18 years ago.
Romer, who has three
children, made his Father’s
Day rides with fellow dads,
children and others. He
started his treks at 6:30 a.m.
and did not complete them
until about 6:30 p.m., cover-
ing 55 miles and climbing
a total of 10,000 feet. He
emerged from the rides ener-
gized.
“I feel awesome, a lot
better than I thought I would.
At the end, I almost wanted
to continue. I was in a zone,”
said Romer, who grew
up in La Grande and has
two degrees from Eastern
Oregon University, a bache-
lor’s degree in sociology and
a master’s degree in teaching.
Eighteen years ago Romer
was in no condition to do
what he did on Father’s Day.
He was at a low point in his
did after seeing his
life after his father’s
father’s
mountain
death. Romer then
bike.
saw something that
“A healthy you
almost made him
helps make a healthy
feel like his father
community,” he said.
was speaking to him
A community is
— a mountain bike
Romer
filled with people
his dad had left him.
helping
others,
Romer, then over-
weight, gave serious thought Romer said, something they
to taking up mountain biking cannot do unless they have
and soon did so after receiv- addressed their own needs.
“In order to take care of
ing strong encouragement
from his friend, Whit Hartz others, you must take care of
yourself first. Change starts
of La Grande.
“I decided I wanted to with you,” said Romer, who
take control of my own life spoke not only to people
and leap onto the bike,” he riding with him, but also to
those at the MERA’s Owsley
said.
Romer said the many long Canyon trailhead.
The cyclist described the
rides that followed helped
him cope with the loss of his challenge he took as epic in
nature. Romer said he wasn’t
father.
“It helped me with my sure if he was up to it. Romer
grieving. It put me on a path said it is important for every-
one to take on such chal-
toward healing,” he said.
Romer lost 40 pounds lenges because it leads to self
soon after becoming a seri- discovery.
ous cyclist and later became
“Once in a while it is
an elite amateur national important to do something
class cyclist.
you didn’t think possible,” he
The rides Romer led said. “When you push your-
at MERA were meant to self to your limit and beyond
encourage people to make you will find someone hiding
their mental and physical within. That person is your
health a priority, just as he true self.”
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 113° in Needles, Calif. Low 28° in West Yellowstone, Mont.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Oregon will miss
this week’s original
vaccine goal
SALEM — Vaccination rates in Oregon
have continued to plummet, with the seven-
day average number of doses dropping over
8% from Saturday, June 19 to Sunday, June
20.
Gov. Kate Brown announced earlier this
month that Oregon would end mask and
distancing requirements when 70% of adults
had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. As
of Friday, June 19, 68.5% of Oregon adults had
received at least one dose, leaving just 51,616
people in need of vaccinations to reach the
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