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East Oregonian
Gas:
Continued from Page A1
imately 600,000-800,000
barrels per day, according to
J.P. Morgan. In comparison,
the U.S. produces nearly 12
million barrels per day domes-
tically, according to the Amer-
ican Fuel and Petrochemical
Manufacturers trade associ-
ation. Still, the U.S. is a net
importer of oil.
It has left many at the pump
wondering why exactly gas
prices have risen so dramat-
ically.
“The U.S. does not get a lot
of oil from Russia,” said Marie
Dodds, director of government
and public affairs at AAA
Oregon/Idaho. “Only about
3% of our imported oil (8% of
our imported oil and refined
products) last year came from
Russia, but Europe gets a lot
of oil from Russia, roughly
25%, so any time you take a
big chunk of supplies away, it
sends prices higher. It’s basi-
cally supply and demand, as
we learned back in econom-
ics 101. When you have a
major global producer of oil,
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Diane Miller replaces a diesel fuel pump nozzle Thursday, March 10, 2022 at a Chevron gas
station in Island City. Miller paid more than $140 to fill up half a tank. She said she was lucky
to be able to afford the fuel and noted many people she knew would not be able to pay for
the increased prices.
Russia, and its product is taken
off the global markets, all of
the sudden you have to look
around and figure out where
that oil is going to come from.”
Two records, two years
At the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic, oil
prices fell to their lowest
price in history, reaching
negative values in April
2020. That spurred produc-
ers to cut output as oil tank-
ers sat outside ports, unable
to offload their oil shipments.
In the U.S., thousands of oil
workers were laid off, and the
number of active drilling rigs
plummeted from 700 in Janu-
anyone that shows up with a
check or a suitcase full of $20
bills,” he said. “The Malheur
Enterprise is an essential
source of local news and is
a role model for local jour-
nalism. So it’s import goes
beyond just reporting on
Malheur County. It’s import
is also helping show news-
rooms large and small how
to do effective local journal-
ism that generates business
success.”
When Smith made an
offer to buy the Enterprise,
Zaitz said he took it seriously.
Elected in 2000, Smith is
the longest-serving legisla-
tor in the Oregon House of
Representatives. Although
his district’s lines have
shifted significantly over
the years, Smith always
has represented a chunk of
Northeastern Oregon from
his home in Heppner.
But being a legislator is
only a part-time position.
His full-time work involves
him serving a number of
economic development posi-
tions throughout Oregon,
both within and outside his
legislative district. Some
of his titles include being
the project manager for the
Columbia Development
Authority in Boardman,
the director of the Eastern
Oregon University Small
Business Development
Center in La Grande and
the economic development
director in Malheur County.
His status as an influen-
tial lawmaker who also is
in charge of raising money
for local projects and insti-
tutions around the state has
earned him scrutiny in the
media. The Willamette Week
referred to Smith as the “best
compensated lawmaker in
Salem” while also noting
his actions were “perfectly
legal.”
The Enter prise also
has done reporting on the
connections between Smith’s
personal business and his
work in the Legislature, in
addition to focusing on his
work in Malheur County,
publishing stories on his
contracts with the county
and his handling of local
economic development proj-
ects.
Zaitz declined to provide
further details on the edito-
rial that prompted the
exchange with Smith before
it was published, but later
summarized the Enterprise’s
various dealings with Smith
over the years.
“He complained that our
reporting on him represented
criminal conduct,” he said.
”The sheriff looked into
that and essentially laughed
him out of Malheur County
on that allegation. He has
publicly ridiculed the Enter-
prise and has made represen-
tations that raise questions
about whether the Enter-
prise is paying its taxes. This
is a man who has a pattern
of taking aggressive actions
against the newspaper that is
doing no more than reporting
on matters of public impor-
tance.”
After Smith made his
offer, Zaitz followed through
on his promise and shared
excerpts from the exchange
on the Enterprise’s Face-
book page and asked read-
ers what they thought. As
of the evening of Thursday,
March 10, nearly 70 people
have commented on the post.
Almost all the comments
either opposed Smith buying
the paper, expressed support
for the Enterprise’s current
ownership or both. Many
questioned Smith’s motiva-
tions.
Even if Smith doesn’t get
involved in the Vale media
business, he’ll continue to
be a prominent figure in
Eastern Oregon for the fore-
seeable future. No one filed
to contest Smith in either
the Republican primary or
the general election, all but
assuring him a 12th term
in Salem.
the last five months or six
months of the training that
we’ve done, the skill level of
our current volunteers and
their confidence go through
the roof,” Miller said.
Miller and the rest of her
department, except Rostov,
are paid on-call employ-
ees, meaning they receive
compensation only when on
a call. This structure differs
from places such as Pendle-
ton and Hermiston, which
offer career firefighter posi-
tions.
Rostov said he is plan-
ning to expand the depart-
ment’s training offerings in
an attempt to attract people
who intend to pursue a career
firefighter path. Rostov said
some volunteer depart-
ments discourage those who
wish to pursue a firefighting
career because they will only
be in the volunteer depart-
ment for a limited period.
“Instead of discouraging
that type of people, we’re
encouraging that group of
people so that we can land
some really motivated people
that are going to train really
hard and serve our commu-
nity for that amount of time,”
he said.
He said increased training
opportunities and outreach
to surrounding communities
will allow the department to
recruit more trainees.
“As long as we know
the rules of the game, and
we configure our training
around that, then we have a
period of time that we can
benefit from those people,”
he said.
Rostov added he feels
Miller is integral to expand-
ing the district’s volunteer
base as training officers
typically play a large role in
recruitment and retention.
He said she will also be key
in the department’s first fire
academy later this year.
“It allows me to bring a
lot of these training things
in-house when they would
normally need to be done
outside of the fire district,”
Rostov said. “The benefits
are many fold — the recruits
get to train on their own
equipment that they’re going
to be using in real life where
they are fighting real fires.”
Rostov said the first fire
academy likely will be in
June and bring through a
small class of recruits from
local districts.
“They acclimate to being
able to be effective members
of an operation very quickly,”
he said. “Because they’re
trained within their own envi-
ronment by their own depart-
ment members, they also
build that sense of teamwork
within the organization.”
Newspaper:
Continued from Page A1
prise if he bought it.
“I already have staff in
place that would run the
paper quite well,” he wrote.”
I never said it would be shut
down.”
In a response to a request
for comment, Smith provided
a written statement.
“The Malheur Enterprise,
a privately owned company,
publicly announced it was
for sale,” he said. “Gregory
Smith and Company, also a
privately owned company,
made an offer to purchase
the Malheur Enterprise.
Other than being publicly
‘mocked’ by the seller, no
reply to our offer has been
received. Moreover, Greg-
ory Smith and Company has
not publicly stated its reason
for purchasing the paper. It is
unfortunate, some speculate
to the negative.”
Smith’s history with
the Enterprise
A two-time Pulitzer Prize
finalist with The Oregonian,
Zaitz, along with his family,
bought the Malheur Enter-
prise in 2015.
Zaitz eventually took over
the paper’s editorial oper-
ations and worked toward
growing the weekly’s pres-
ence. Zaitz expanded the
newsroom and started collab-
orations with national news
organizations as the Enter-
prise collected new accolades
and awards.
Today, Zaitz said the
Enterprise is profitable and
growing. As he neared his
50th year in the journal-
ism business, Zaitz said he
decided to sell the paper
because he felt it was the right
time to hand over the Enter-
prise to a new generation.
“We’re not going to sell to
Training:
Continued from Page A1
Miller, a three-year
veteran of the district, was a
natural fit, Rostov said. She
carries a variety of nation-
ally recognized certifica-
tions in emergency medical
and firefighting disciplines
and in December completed
her Instructor I certification.
Miller said she was a
cadet with the fire depart-
ment in Sisters during high
school before living for 15 or
so years in areas that didn’t
have volunteer fire depart-
ments. When her husband’s
job brought them to Pilot
Rock a little more than three
years ago, she jumped on the
opportunity to pursue her
interests in the fire service.
The past three years of
training for Miller have
taken place largely outside
of Pilot Rock, with classes
in Pendleton, Hermiston,
Portland and even as far as
the Seattle area. Rostov and
Miller have been eager to
bring those opportunities to
Pilot Rock.
“I have seen, just in
ary 2020 to approximately
200 rigs according to report-
ing by The New York Times.
Prices for gas in spring
2020 went down drastically,
with gas prices falling below
$2 a gallon nationally for the
first time in decades.
“In the spring of 2020
it was incredible; we saw
East Oregonian, File
Les Zaitz works in 2018 at his newspaper, the Malheur Enter-
prise in Vale. He put the paper up for sale in early 2022, and
Rep. Greg. Smith, R-Heppner, a frequent subject of the Enter-
prise’s investigative work, sent Zaitz an email offering to buy
the paper. Zaitz, however, is not selling to Smith.
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Saturday, March 12, 2022
demand for oil and gas fall
to dramatically low levels
that we hadn’t seen since the
1960s,” Dodds said. “And now
here we are, two years later,
and people are returning to
their normal routines, going
back to work, going back to
school. We are consuming
more gas around the globe,
but the production is not back
where it was pre-pandemic.
Production hasn’t kept up, so
that’s the main driver of higher
prices.”
As the price of gas rises,
manufacturing businesses
are faced with the tough
choice of having to increase
prices to offset transportation
costs. Patrick Raimondo, plant
manager for Behlen Country,
Baker City, said the company
is waiting for a few weeks to
decide how to handle the cost
increases.
“As of right now we’re
holding off on doing any
surcharges for our customers,”
Raimondo said. “As these
prices increase, it is going to
affect us down the road, just
from the additional costs.
We’re just trying to see how
it goes over the next couple of
weeks and having conversa-
Pitch:
Continued from Page A1
“Imagine when this is no
longer just my vision and
dream, but a reality that
everybody gets to wake up
to and consequently sleep
soundly at night,” she said.
“A place where children
are safe, appreciated and
given a chance to develop
their skills and strengthen
their foundation. Where the
windows of opportunity for
growth and development do
not open and close without
being nurtured and maxi-
mized.”
Jackson’s speech segued
into Brown’s pitch, which
focused more on the logis-
tics of what the children’s
center needed to open and
expand.
The children’s center
acquired the former senior
center in January and now
is working toward opening
in the fall. But the build-
ing needs a number of
renovations before it can
begin welcoming students.
According to the chil-
dren’s center, the facility
needs new heating, venti-
lation and air conditioning,
plumbing, electrical work,
fire suppression sprinklers
and more.
The children’s center
estimates it will take up
to $2 million to complete
the remodel and already
is fundraising toward that
goal. Brown said the chil-
dren’s center has secured
$250,000 from the Oregon
Community Foundation
and received commitments
from some of the city’s
largest employers, includ-
ing Hill Meat Co. and
St. Anthony Hospital.
Transforming the struc-
ture next door from an
office building into a child
care facility brings its own
costs. The children’s center
plans to allow the building’s
tenants on the lower floor,
which includes a church,
a dog groomer and coun-
seling offices, to stay. The
upper floors will be used
for children’s center oper-
ations, and renovating that
space will cost the nonprofit
another $3.5 million
plus another $600,000 to
purchase the building.
Councilor McKennon
McDonald told Brown the
development commission
had traditionally avoided
investing in nonprofit proj-
ects. For past commission-
ers, focusing on private
projects ensured a rise in
property value, which would
eventually come back to
the urban renewal district
through property taxes.
tions and open communica-
tions with our customers just
to make sure we’re all on the
same page.“
A global economy
The U.S. has continued to
bring oil rigs back online. By
January 2021, 374 rotary rigs
were operating in the United
States, according to the EIA.
By Dec. 31, in response to
rising prices, that number
rose to 586. That’s still a far
cry from the 700 rigs operat-
ing pre-pandemic.
In Russia, ongoing sanc-
tions have locked the coun-
try out of foreign banks and
goods and have caused the
Russian ruble to plummet
to nearly half its value at the
beginning of this February.
According to J.P. Morgan,
almost 70% of Russian oil is
struggling to find buyers even
though it is being offered at a
record $20-per-barrel discount
in comparison to national oil
suppliers, as of March 8.
“What happens halfway
around the world can and does
also have an impact on oil
prices,” Dodds said. “There’s
much more at play than just
what’s happening in the U.S.”
While the children’s
center plans to hire the
equivalent of 40 full-time
positions once it’s in full
operation, Brown argued
the economic impact of the
children’s center was larger
than that. By offering qual-
ity child care to the city’s
residents, the children’s
center would help put Pend-
letonians back to work.
“I think it will be signifi-
cant, and over the years that
will really add up to many
hundreds of thousands of
people,” she said. “I think
when people hear that
there’s a large, high quality
child care center in Pendle-
ton, and they’re thinking of
moving here or somewhere
else, they’re going to move
to Pendleton.”
And while previous iter-
ations of the commission
shied away from contribut-
ing to nonprofits, there’s no
law or rule that requires the
urban renewal district to
direct its funds to for-profit
projects. Charles Denight,
the commission’s associate
director, said the develop-
ment commission has made
contributions to nonprofits,
including Pendleton Under-
ground Tours and the Hori-
zon Project in the past.
While the commission
gave the children’s center
no assurances or promises,
members seemed amenable
to striking a deal. Mayor
John Turner encouraged
Brown to emphasize the
children center’s economic
development potential in an
application to the develop-
ment commission.
But before it can file an
application, the children’s
center will need to become
a part of the urban renewal
district itself.
The children’s center’s
facilities lie just outside the
district’s boundaries, the
railroad tracks that form
the border to the district
lying just northeast of the
buildings.
The children’s center
wasn’t the only entity look-
ing for expansion. A couple
members of the audience
also went up to the podium
to tell the commission their
properties lie just outside
the district but also wanted
to be included.
At the request of the
commission, Denight said
he would look into the laws
surrounding urban renewal
expansion and would
return at a future meeting
with more details on the
process.
———
Editor’s Note: Kathryn
Brown is the vice president
of the EO Media Group, the
parent company of the East
Oregonian.