E O
AST
145th Year, No. 136
REGONIAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
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Weekly vaccinations double, unvaccinated hit hard
More than 95% of COVID-19 cases from Jan. 1 to Aug. 26
were among people who have yet to get the vaccination shot
By BRYCE DOLE AND
NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
PEN DLETON
—
Umatilla County’s weekly
COVID-19 vaccinations
have more than doubled since
mid-June, according to data
from the health department.
In addition, new state
data shows that people
who have been vaccinated
are less likely to get the
virus. More than 95% of all
confi rmed COVID-19 cases
from Jan. 1 to Aug. 26 were
among people who have yet
to get the shot, according to
the Oregon Health Author-
ity.
From late June to mid
July, the county reported
some of its lowest vaccina-
tion rates since eff orts began
in December 2020. For the
week of July 11, the county
reported just 591 vacci-
nations, its second lowest
all-time. By that point,
weekly vaccinations in the
county had declined for
four straight months, and
Umatilla County had one of
the lowest vaccination rates
in Oregon.
But for six consecutive
weeks now, weekly vaccina-
tions have increased, bring-
ing the county’s overall
COVID-19 immunity up by
a few percentage points after
it was entrenched below the
40% mark for months. Last
week, the county reported
1,212 inoculations, the high-
est weekly total since late
May.
“It’s a good trend,” said
Joe Fiumara, the county’s
public health director.
In addition, county data
suggests young people may
be driving the slight uptick.
According to Fiumara,
residents 20 to 29 had been
the least vaccinated age
group for months. That
changed two weeks ago,
Fiumara said, when the
group surpassed people
ages 30 to 39. Also, vaccina-
tions among youth under the
A MODEL FOR ALL
age of 19 are continuing to
increase, a promising sign to
health offi cials as school gets
underway.
The increase follows
national trends of increased
vaccinations as the delta
variant infects large swaths
of America’s unvaccinated.
In early August, all 50 states
reported their COVID-19
vaccinations rates were
increasing.
See Cases, Page A7
Wyden defends
River Democracy
Act in virtual
town hall event
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Sen. Ron Wyden, center, waves to students at the Families First Child Care Center during a tour Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, of the Neal Early
Learning Center in Boardman.
U.S. Sen Ron Wyden touts Boardman
child care center as a model for nation
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — The
Families First Childcare
Center in Boardman and
the people making it happen
impressed U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden.
“This is just incredible,”
Wyden said.
The Democrat visited the
center Tuesday, Aug. 31, and
afterward promised to bring
this success story to Wash-
ington.
The center serves 53 chil-
dren and has “maxed out” its
space at 255 Olson Road in
Boardman. It has four class-
rooms for students, who are
between six weeks old to 12
years old. It is open from
6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday
to Friday. It operates on a
$50,000 budget each month.
Sponsors provide $30,000 of
this budget.
The center fills a need
in its community to care
for children when their
parents are at work. This is
a local problem recognized
in communities throughout
the country.
“We need more supply,”
Wyden said, explaining
child care presents a supply-
side problem. This need is
particularly strong among
economically disadvantaged
people.
See Model, Page A7
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Dan Daltoso, associate director of Umatilla Morrow County Head Start,
right, shows Sen. Ron Wyden through the program’s operations Tuesday,
Aug. 31, 2021, at the Neal Early Learning Center in Boardman.
HERMISTON — Legislation that
would add nearly 4,700 miles of wild
and scenic rivers across Oregon would
have no impact on private land or exist-
ing property rights, according to the
bill’s chief architect, Sen. Ron Wyden.
Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, intro-
duced the River Democracy Act in
February based on more than 15,000
public nominations from all corners of
the state.
Wyden defended
the bill Tuesday, Aug.
31, during an hour-long
virtual town hall. The
legislation has faced
opposition from rural
counties over whether it
Wyden
would add new restric-
tions on grazing, timber harvest and
recreational access.
Speaking from Hermiston, Wyden
pledged the bill would not go forward
without “loophole-free, airtight” protec-
tions for private property.
Rather, he said it applies only to
federal lands and was written specifi -
cally not to interfere with existing prop-
erty, grazing and water rights.
“Protecting existing rights was part
of our eff ort to strike a balance,” Wyden
said.
If passed, the River Democracy
Act would roughly triple the number
of wild and scenic rivers in Oregon.
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System was established in 1968 to
preserve rivers with outstanding natu-
ral, cultural and recreational values.
The bill also widens protective
buff ers from a quarter-mile to half-mile
on both sides of designated streams,
adding up to 3 million acres of protected
land.
Earlier this year, the American Forest
Resource Council, a regional timber
trade association, conducted its own
analysis of waterways nominated for
inclusion in the bill.
See Rivers, Page A7
Boardman Coal Plant decommissioning moves along
Portland General Electric
reclaims more than 40,000
tons of coal from site
By NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — Portland General
Electric is decommissioning its old Board-
man Coal Plant ahead of schedule and
under budget.
The company gave an update of the
process on Friday, Aug. 27, during a virtual
meeting of the Energy Facility Siting Coun-
cil.
The Boardman energy production plant
is one of the oldest facilities under the juris-
diction of the council. Portland General
Electric’s original plans stretched poten-
tially into December 2022 according to
Lenna Cope, senior environmental special-
ist for PGE, but these plans have moved up
to the end of March 2022.
According to Cope, the company has
been prioritizing decommissioning the site
to make it safe for demolition, which is now
expected to start as early as October — a
few months ahead of schedule.
Allison Dobscha, a spokesperson for
PGE, said the decommissioning part of the
process “is basically complete,” as of Sept.
1, and is expecting to fi nalize a demolition
contractor by the end of September.
“The Boardman closure was a long-
planned closure that was a significant
step toward our decarbonization goals,”
Dobscha said. “And the decommissioning
process is going smoothly and according
to schedule.”
See Plant, Page A7
Portland General Electric/Contributed Photo
The sun rises near the Boardman Coal Plant on Oct. 15, 2020,
on its fi nal day of operations. Portland General Electric is in
the process of decommissioning the former power producing
facility.