REGION
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Turbine blades stir up trouble for recycling business
By SHEILA HAGER
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
MILTON-FREEWATER
— A longtime Milton-Free-
water businessman has
appealed a recent state envi-
ronmental fi ne of $57,282.
Sam Humbert was issued
a fi ne for establishing a solid
waste disposal site without a
permit, Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality
offi cials said in a letter Sept.
1. Humbert appealed the fi nd-
ing Sept. 22.
The illegal dump is off
Eastside Road and was
started in 2019, DEQ spokes-
person Laura Gleim said last
week.
Humbert reported the
operation to the U.S. Army
Corp of Engineers that same
year, and that agency shared
the information with the DEQ.
An investigation revealed
discarded wind turbine blades
— with an overall measure-
ment of about 2,741 cubic
yards — had been placed on
the private property and were
adjacent to wetlands.
Humbert had not been
issued the necessary solid
waste disposal site permit
from the state for that
purpose, according to legal
documents.
The law was not broken on
purpose, Cindy Granger said
Wednesday, Dec. 1.
Granger is the daughter of
Sam Humbert and was speak-
ing on behalf of the windmill
recycling operation on her
father’s land.
“There was a lot of
miscommunication and
misunderstanding with
everyone involved,” she said.
The intention was to take
the blades from decommis-
sioned wind machines, of
which a multitude march
across the hills in Umatilla
and many other Oregon coun-
ties.
Land-based wind turbines
have been increasing in
manufactured size in the last
20 years, to an average of 295
feet — about the height of the
Statue of Liberty, accord-
ing to the federal office of
Greg Lehman, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, File
An evening rainbow east of the wind turbines on the south side of the Walla Walla Valley in
2015. Milton-Freewater businessman Sam Humbert is appealing a state fi ne of more than
$57,000 for disposing of wind turbine blades.
Energy Effi ciency & Renew-
able Energy.
The blades can measure
115-165 feet long.
Sam Humbert has been
recycling the copper and iron
elements in the blade metal.
The remaining parts have
been going to permitted land-
fi lls in Athena and Board-
man, Granger said.
However, the mistake
was made in not realizing
the Eastside property only
is permitted for “clean fi ll,”
such as old concrete, and that
the giant blades did not fi t the
designation, Granger said.
As soon as Humbert
received notice of the issue,
steps were taken to clean
up the site, and that work is
continuing.
“We want to get it done
and do it properly,” Granger
said.
Included in the civil
penalty fi ne is $30,882, repre-
senting the money earned
from selling the copper and
iron part of the windmill
blades, Gleim said.
That number can be recal-
culated once the property is
cleaned and in compliance
with state regulations.
Humbert’s citation also
includes having solid waste
next to a natural spring on
the property, but no fi nancial
consequence was attached to
that, Gleim added.
Although more than
$57,000 seems hefty, some
DEQ fi nes can reach more
than $1 million, depending
on the violation and if it is a
repeated off ense, she said.
Granger said it has been
gratifying to work with
the environmental regula-
tory agency, and the family
expects to have the cleanup
work accomplished by the
end of January.
The Humbert family is
done working with wind-
mills, she added.
“This was a learning expe-
rience,” she said.
They do expect to pay a
fi ne, as the metal was put in
a landfi ll without a permit,
however unintentionally,
Granger said.
The bigger question in
the air is what will become
of every enormous wind
machine when they cease to
function, Granger said.
“There’s not a good
a n s we r fo r w i n d m i l l
disposal yet. They take up
a lot of air space in a land-
fill, which is important …
once it’s full, what are you
going to do?”
Community Vision
Open House unveils
Hermiston’s future
Proposed indoor aquatic
center among the most
popular topics
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
People skate at an artifi cial ice rink Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, on H Street in Umatilla during a tree lighting cer-
emony for the city’s Christmas tree.
‘It’s an exciting time to be a part
of Umatilla,’ city planner says
Ice skating and
winter festival
bring people to
revamped town
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — The city of
Umatilla on Friday and Saturday,
Dec. 3-4, opened its ice skating
rink to the public as part of the
Umatilla Winter Festival.
Hanna Keister, Umatilla
community development coordi-
nator, said the original plan was
to do something big in 2020, but
coronavirus concerns created a
delay. There was not a festival
last year, so plans changed, she
said. Otherwise, the city might
have had a big celebration with
another idea — live reindeers —
as the center to the event.
This year, too, may have
included reindeer, Keister said.
Unfortunately, she added, the
animals were in low supply and
high demand elsewhere, so the festi-
val had to go with another plan.
“We decided we’d get an
ice-skating rink,” she said, “and
the city manager, David Stock-
dale, ran with that idea, and
thought we should just buy one
because it would be a boon to the
community.”
The rink is 2,900 square
feet.
So far, she said, a lot of people
have shown interest, and the city
had tried it out before the festival.
The Monday before Thanksgiv-
ing, staff members skated on the
rink, Keister said.
She added the rink is available
for rental during the week, $150
for two hours. On the weekends,
individuals can use it for $3 per
person.
She said she envisions the
rink being a permanent fi xture in
a festival street, which could be
built in the near future. For now,
though, she said the rink will stay
where it is December through
February.
“We’ll see how it goes,” she
said. She noted that there is “a lot
of buzz around town” about the
rink. On the fi rst day of the festi-
val, though, just prior to the start
of the event, she admitted to being
a little nervous whether people
would attend.
Skaters took to the rink during
the festival, which had nine
vendors. Head Start also had a
booth.
Keister said this was a special
event for Umatilla, which has
worked to revamp this section of
the town.
“Sixth Street in the last couple
of years is completely diff erent,”
Keister said.
Esmeralda Perches, develop-
ment and recreation manager, also
boasted of the town. She said new
recreation activities will continue
occurring alongside revitalization
projects. A resident since 1995,
Perches said she is excited about
these projects. Improvements to
local businesses, made possible
by development revitalization
grants, have made a diff erence,
she said.
“We’ve funded about $225,000
this year to help them revitalize
their buildings,” Perches said.
She pointed to nearby businesses,
including Java Junkies and The
Bridge Bistro & Brews, and said,
“We’re coming up.”
HERMISTON — Hermiston
community members had another
opportunity last week to learn about
the city’s 2040 survey and give input
on the city’s future.
The Community Vision Open
House was Thursday, Dec. 2, in Grace
Baptist Church, downtown, while the
town’s tree-lighting ceremony took
place.
“This is a community vision, not
just a city staff vision, so we are trying
to encourage as much participation as
possible,” Hermiston City Manager
Byron Smith said.
The open house attracted the atten-
tion of people who had not heard of
the project previously, according to
Hermiston offi cials, and city repre-
sentatives, including city councilors,
were present to explain the Hermiston
2040 survey results.
According to the survey, people
want more stores, additional restau-
rants, an indoor pool and aquatic
center. City offi cials and members
of the public initially discussed the
results at The Hermiston Vision Labs,
Nov. 16-17. The open house Dec. 2 was
the latest public event regarding the
survey.
City Councilor Roy Barron was on
hand at the open house and he talked
about the survey eff ort and said there
had been a lot of excitement from the
public. The item that attracted the
most interest at the open house, he
said, was a possible indoor sporting
facility and aquatic center.
This is something that has long
been a goal for the public and the $28
million cost is a concern, so a lot of
planning is necessary to fund it in a
responsible way, he said.
“I think it’s on the horizon, for
sure,” he said.
In from Portland, Sarah Singer
Wilson of SSW Consulting was in the
building to meet locals and discuss
the project, which she described as
“asking people what Hermiston wants
to be when it grows up.”
In the church, the list of goals were
broken down into categories: “Safe
and Healthy Hermiston,” “Sustainable
Hermiston,” “Growing and Prosper-
ous Hermiston” and “Connected and
Engaged Hermiston.” Those catego-
ries were posted throughout a room,
with lists of action items.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A Hermiston 2040 graphic adorns a poster Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, at a Com-
munity Vision Open House the city of Hermiston held at Grace Baptist Church
in downtown Hermiston.
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