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Thursday, September 2, 2021
East Oregonian
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Rivers:
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“This need of child care in our
community has been known for
years,” said Torrie Griggs, Board-
man Chamber of Commerce exec-
utive director. Griggs also is the
Boardman Community Develop-
ment Association executive direc-
tor.
She praised the Port of Morrow
for being a partner, building the
facility and bringing in other part-
ners, such as Boardman Foods and
Threemile Canyon Farms.
Brian Maag, an owner of Board-
man Foods, expressed the pleasure
he gets out of Family First. He said
he was blessed to be raised in a
happy, stable family, and he wanted
to give back to the community with
a program that assists the happiness
and stability of other families.
“We’re in a capital-intensive
business that takes a lot of machin-
ery, equipment and buildings to do,
but, at the end of the day, the people
are the most important,” he said. He
said he wants to reinvest in families.
He said Families First is more
than a babysitter; it is an educa-
tional center. If you can keep chil-
dren at grade level, they have a
better chance of success. He said
the center in general and Brenda
Profitt, director of Families First, is
doing an excellent job of educating
children.
Thomas J. Flaherty, also an
owner of Boardman Foods, added
he and Maag are from a family with
a 100-year-old history in Oregon.
They are, he said, “Oregonians to
the core.” As such, they care about
the state and the Boardman area,
and they like what they see in Fami-
lies First.
“This endeavor with this child
care center is probably more fulfill-
ing than anything we have ever
The group found that just
15% were actually labeled as
“rivers,” with most being identi-
fied as streams, gulches, draws or
unnamed tributaries.
The council, and other oppo-
nents have argued this is a misuse
of the Wild and Scenic Rivers
System — though Wyden coun-
tered that intermittent streams are
not only valid for protection under
the law, but necessary for water-
sheds.
“I’ve come to think that there’s
almost a transportation analogy
here that’s appropriate,” Wyden
said. “You don’t manage traffic
just by building highways. You
need connecting streets, alleyways
and sidewalks. The same, in fact,
applies to most river systems.”
Approximately 2 million Orego-
nians, or nearly half the state’s total
population, depend on intermittent
streams for clean drinking water,
Wyden added.
The bill also requires the U.S.
Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management to assess wildfire
risks in each wild and scenic river
corridor. The agencies would then
have up to six years to develop miti-
gation plans, working with local,
state and tribal governments.
The bill would create an annual
fund of $30 million to restore and
rehabilitate riparian areas that do
burn in a wildfire, Wyden said.
“What I see the River Democ-
racy Act doing is creating a multi-
ple-use toolbox so we have this
array of tools and we can build on
existing law,” Wyden said.
Supporters of the bill spoke
during the virtual town hall, includ-
ing representatives of the Nez Perce
Tribe and Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Kat Brigham, CTUIR chair,
said she is pleased with the River
Democracy Act, and that it rein-
forces stream restoration the Tribes
already have undertaken.
“It moves us closer to what we
are working toward — building,
protecting and enhancing cold,
clean water, not only for our first
foods, but for ourselves,” Brigham
said.
Others, however, say their ques-
tions remain unanswered.
In a memo released shortly after
the meeting, the AFRC pushed back
against the bill, arguing wild and
scenic designations would impose
restrictions on forest management
and actually increase wildfire risk
in the protected stream corridors.
The bill would also “dramati-
cally increase management costs
and complexity on-the-ground,
create conf licts between user
groups, and distract and overload
federal agencies already over-
whelmed by catastrophic wildfire
management and response,” the
memo states.
Prior to the town hall, the East-
ern Oregon Counties Association
sent a letter to Wyden outlining
similar concerns related to public
access, fire prevention and prop-
erty rights.
Going forward, Wyden said
that while people may have differ-
ences of opinion, he hopes to keep
the lines of communication open
to answer questions and provide
feedback.
“I’m committed to getting this
right,” he said.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Sen. Ron Wyden, left, listens to Debbie Radie, vice president of Boardman Foods, center, during a tour Tues-
day, Aug. 31, 2021, of the Neal Early Learning Center in Boardman.
done,” Flaherty said. Having gone
through difficult times, he is grate-
ful the Boardman community had
“stuck with” him. He also said he
appreciates Debbie Radie, Board-
man Foods vice president, whom
he called a “magical woman who
makes things happen.”
Radie said, though Families First
started in January, Boardman Foods
actually began caring for workers’
families 17 years ago. Back then, an
after-school program was started.
In that program, schools would bus
the workers’ children to a Board-
man Foods facility. There, the chil-
dren would snack and do homework
while their parents completed their
shifts.
COVID-19 increased the need
of the after-school program, Radie
said. With schools closed, chil-
dren needed more supervision and
educational resources. As a result,
after-school program hours were
extended.
The community spread word
of the after-school program, Radie
said. Soon, people who were not
even employed by Boardman Foods
were asking if they could enroll
their children.
Needing more space, she
received help from the Port of
Morrow, which made available
space in their new facility. With
this as well as help from Profitt, she
was able to move forward with the
new space.
The center also received assis-
tance from the Family First
Prevention Services Act. Wyden
and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
wrote the legislation was to help
people affected by the COVID-19
pandemic.
This is important work, said
Varon Blackburn, Threemile
Canyon Farms human resource
manager.
“Last year, I had mothers work-
ing at Threemile Canyon Farms
who couldn’t come to work because
they didn’t have a place for their
Plant:
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The process also is coming in
well under the original estimated
$75 million budget with the latest
estimate reading just more than $56
million. The majority of this comes
from savings in abatement and
demolition costs, which were more
than cut in half from $34 million to
$15 million. PGE also has been able
to sell roughly $1.7 million worth of
materials to scrappers.
As of the Aug. 27 meeting,
there were about 157,000 pounds
of hazardous waste removed and,
while PGE will retain the property
after demolition, there are about
650 acres on the Boardman prop-
erty that will be reusable.
According to Cope, Portland
General Electric has covered its ash
disposal area, removed 146 tons of
lead-contaminated soil, removed
two underground fuel tanks and
excavated 291 tons of soil from a
stormwater and equipment wash
pond. Additionally, the company
reclaimed more than 40,000 tons of
coal from its coal yard and revege-
tated it in January.
“The goal is for the site to
eventually kind of blend into its
surroundings and to just look like
another part of the Eastern Oregon
landscape,” Dobscha said.
Of the 67 workers employed
at the plant in October 2020, 11
transferred to new roles within
Cases:
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Meanwhile, the delta
crisis has unfolded with
grim consequences, plac-
ing a strain on hospitals
statewide. Umatilla County
set pandemic records for
COVID-19 deaths and hospi-
talizations in August and
reached its highest infection
rates since the pandemic
started. The county has
reported more than 400
COVID-19 cases for five
straight weeks.
Fiumara said this shows,
as more people are being
infected and being hospital-
ized, people are changing
their minds about the shot.
“People kind of thought
(the pandemic) was over,”
he said. “There were people
who were nervous about
the vaccine and wanted to
wait and see. And then all
the restrictions opened and
everyone didn’t want to
bother with it. Then case
numbers started going up and
hospitalizations and every-
thing — that’s what’s driven
it more than anything.”
More than one in seven
Umatilla County residents
Portland General Electric/Contributed Photo
Grasses grow at the former Boardman Coal Plant coal yard in April 2021,
several months after the facility shut down. Portland General Electric,
the plant’s former operator, is in the process of decommissioning the
facility.
the company, 37 were classified
as retired and 15 were laid off,
according to Cope. Four employees
remain at the coal plant to support
the site, down from an average of
110 when it was running.
“We’re really grateful for every-
one who’s involved in the decom-
missioning process,” she said, “and
then also for the dedicated employ-
ees who served Boardman during
its 40 years of operation.”
Boardman to Hemingway
The latest objections to the
Boardman to Hemingway Trans-
mission Line met their end at the
meeting.
The council dismissed recent
challenges to the 500 kilovolt power
line project — also called B2H —
that stretches roughly 300 miles
from the Hemingway Substation
southwest of Boise to Boardman.
Idaho Power is the company behind
the project and claims the line will
help link the Pacific Northwest
have contracted COVID-
19, according to the Oregon
Health Authority, yet less
than half of the county’s resi-
dents have been vaccinated
against the virus.
But Fiumara said he
believes the uptick has noth-
ing to do with the Food and
Drug Administration’s latest
approval of the Pfizer-BioN-
Tech vaccine on Aug. 23.
“I’m sure there are some
people who were legiti-
mately waiting for that and
are now going to get the shot,
and that’s fantastic,” he said.
“But I think most of the claim
around that was an excuse,
not a reason. And I think
now that that excuse is gone,
I think others are coming in
place.”
Breakthrough cases
The Oregon Health
Authority on Aug. 26
released its latest data show-
ing COVID-19 breakthrough
cases, or cases among people
who were vaccinated. Of
Umatilla County’s 5,765 total
confirmed COVID-19 cases
from Jan. 1 to Aug. 26, 278
came from people who had
been vaccinated.
Across the state, only
about 5.5% of COVID-19
cases in vaccinated individu-
with the Mountain West regions
and help share power.
Oregon and Washington use
the most electricity in the winter
months while Idaho and Montana
use the most in summer, accord-
ing to Idaho Power, and B2H would
allow the sharing of power during
each respective off-peak periods.
The B2H project first submit-
ted its notice of intent in 2010 and
filed its complete application in
2018. But the project cuts through
large swaths of public and private
land and has hit snags with issues
surrounding ownership, accusa-
tions over environmental regula-
tions and impacts on agriculture.
Landowners and environmentalists
alike have objected to the project,
with the largest opposition coming
from the Stop B2H Coalition, an
organization of “860 individuals
and a growing number of member
organizations,” according to its
website.
als have led to hospitalization
while less than 1% have died
— meaning the overwhelm-
ing majority of those hospi-
talized or who have died are
unvaccinated.
The number of break-
through cases didn’t surprise
Fiumara, who said no
vaccines are perfectly effec-
tive against stopping the
spread and the real power of
kids,” he said. He credited Radie
for solving this problem and Marty
Myers, visionary Threemile general
manager, for seeking a solution to
child care. Myers died December
2020.
“There’s no place like Families
First here in Boardman,” said Dan
Daltoso of Umatilla Morrow Head
Start, which also wants to offer its
support.
There is a need for physical
infrastructure, Wyden said, but
also a need to help people. Child
care needs to be more plentiful
and affordable and needs more
programs such as Family First. He
said this is not just an urban issue,
but also a rural issue.
“Supporting kids is a hugely
important statement about our
values as Oregonians,” Wyden said.
“We want to make sure that the little
ones in our families are taken care
of.”
Wyden also said that is a moral
and an economic issue.
The council at the meeting
first took on the accusation from
La Grande’s Irene Gilbert, who
claimed the case’s hearing officer,
administrative law Judge Alison
Greene Webster, demonstrated
incompetence and bias in her judg-
ments. At the Aug. 27 meeting, the
siting council dismissed Gilbert’s
challenge.
The second challenge came
from Michael McAllister, also of
La Grande, who argued for his
role in the process and alleged the
proposed Morgan Lake Alterna-
tive route did not comply with fish
and wildlife habitat standards, soil
protection standards and whether
the visual impacts of the project
“are inconsistent with the objec-
tives of the Morgan Lake Park
Recreation.”
The council dismissed the fish
and wildlife habitat standards and
the soil standards issues for lacking
material evidence. However, Jesse
Ratcliffe, the Oregon Department
of Justice senior assistant attorney
general, said there was some mate-
rial evidence that the project had
a visual impact on Morgan Lake
Park.
“Theoretically,” Ratcliffe said,
“there could be a diminishment of
the value of that recreational oppor-
tunity.”
The council overruled the hear-
ings officer’s rejection of McAllis-
ter’s appeals on the visual impacts,
reinstated that issue and reinstated
McAllister as a party for that issue.
vaccines comes from when
the majority of the commu-
nity has chosen to partake.
“The vaccines are not
going to be 100% against
stopping all illness,” he said,
“but they do a very good job
at preventing illness, and
they do an even better job at
preventing hospitalization
and death.”
While most other vaccina-
tions are not perfectly effec-
tive, he said, most people
don’t see those illnesses
because the majority of
people are vaccinated.
Fiumara emphasized
that while the delta vari-
ant spreads more easily and
studies show it spreads faster,
the COVID-19 vaccines still
are very effective and it is
far safer to get vaccinated.
He said vaccinated people
don’t necessarily need to
be worried, but should be
cautious in their day-to-day
activities regardless.
“They can go about their
business,” he said, “but
watch for symptoms and if
you start getting sick, isolate.
Because we do want to try to
stem some of this spread as
much as we can.”
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