KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THuRSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
State report
not based
on the real
world
T
he state’s report on Oregon’s electric
vehicle charging needs starts off in
an unfortunate way — with a kind of
STOP sign.
The report was not based on real-world
data. The analysis wasn’t developed based
on what electric vehicles are actually on the
road today. It didn’t look at what electric
vehicle chargers are installed. It based its
analysis on the state’s goals for electric vehi-
cles. And the state is not meeting its goals.
The state’s goal was for 50,000 registered
zero-emission vehicles by 2020. It didn’t hit
that by June 2021. There were 38,482 regis-
tered vehicles then. That’s just more than 1%
of the passenger vehicles in Oregon. And if
you are wondering, the state also is not on
track to hit its goals for the vehicles in 2025
or 2030.
A report that is not based on real-world
data is not going to be as real-world useful.
But the report still affirms what you proba-
bly already guessed: Oregon has a long way
to go before the network of electric chargers
is sufficient.
Gas prices, concern for the environ-
ment and other reasons already are pushing
some people to go electric car. The absence
of public and home chargers remains an
obstacle to getting more people to switch. If
Oregon is going to meet its goals, its going
to need thousands more chargers. People
living in apartments also cannot have guar-
anteed access to a parking space, so how
would they be able to access charging?
The state report recommended Oregon
create incentives for businesses to add char-
gers to their lots. It recommended creat-
ing subsidies to add more chargers in rural
areas. It suggested requiring new buildings
be built ready for chargers, which the state
already has been working on. It also recom-
mended local and state government build-
ings be role models and install chargers.
More analysis is planned by the state to be
ready for more electric bikes and scooters
and vehicles that use hydrogen power.
We can understand why state govern-
ment seems to be planning for its goals for
electric vehicles and not Oregon’s reality.
It’s what Gov. Kate Brown has called for,
and she is firmly committed to her plans for
climate change. Investing heavily now better
prepares the state for the future and encour-
ages more people to adopt electric vehicles.
But Oregon does face other real-world
challenges now. Among others, it is fail-
ing to adequately provide legal representa-
tion for people accused of crimes who can’t
afford a lawyer. It is failing to protect some
of its more vulnerable children — those in
foster care. And many families continue to
struggle to find child care.
If Oregon based its spending and plan-
ning on chargers on real-world data, there
would be more money available for those
other challenges.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily that
of the East Oregonian.
LETTERS
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of 400 words or less on public issues and public
policies for publication in the newspaper and on
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to withhold letters that address concerns about
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Terminal aerodrome forecasts
MARC
AUSTIN
EYE TO THE SKY
eather can affect many areas
of life, including whether
or not your outdoor activi-
ties get rained out, your kids will have
a snow day or simply how you should
dress for the day. Weather also can
affect commerce and transportation and,
specifically, the aviation industry.
Anyone who has ever taken an airline
flight, for work or for that well-earned
vacation may have experienced a flight
delay or cancellation due to weather.
Commercial airlines are very affected
by weather conditions, as are freight
airlines and the general aviation commu-
nity. While the impacts of the weather
can not be completely avoided, proper
planning and good forecasts can help
mitigate the effects.
You may have wondered how there
could be a delay where you are if it is
sunny, but the plane you are waiting
for could be coming from somewhere
else where the weather is not so nice.
More often than not, if a big storm, such
as a hurricane or snow storm is in the
forecast, most airlines will proactively
cancel flights before people even leave
for the airport, and move the aircraft
to other airports out of harm’s way.
Accurate and timely forecasts allow the
airlines to make these decisions, some-
times days in advance.
The National Weather Service issues
Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts — TAFs
— for thousands of airports across the
W
nation, ranging from the largest to some
of the smaller ones. These forecasts
are issued four times a day and at most
airports are usually valid for 24 hours.
However, at the larger hub airports
across the country, these TAFs are
valid for 30 hours. The purpose of these
forecasts are to give pilots and airport
managers information on expected
conditions so they can plan for any
weather issues that may be forthcoming.
Locally, TAFs are issued for Pend-
leton, (PDT), Walla Walla, (ALW),
Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), and a bit
further afield: The Dalles (DLS),
Yakima (YKM), Bend (BDN) and
Redmond (RDM). These forecasts
contain wind, visibility, cloud cover
(ceiling) and also could contain signifi-
cant weather such as snow, rain, fog, etc.
From this information, pilots can obtain
a flight category — Visual Flight Rules,
Marginal Visual Flight Rules, Instru-
ment Flight Rules. Depending on the
type of aircraft and the licensure/rating
of the pilot, they may or may not be able
to fly in certain conditions.
Many NWS offices also issue Airport
Weather Warnings when certain weather
criteria are met, such as lightning, heavy
snow, high winds and other weather that
could have significant aviation impacts.
Commercial airline companies
usually have their own in-house meteo-
rologists or contract out to other corpo-
rations for specific weather information.
However, many still rely on the National
Weather Service for numerical weather
guidance and forecast models to inform
their aviation forecasts..
Additionally, National Weather
Service meteorologists are located
at regional Air Route Traffic Control
Centers that handle higher altitude traf-
fic. Most of the Pacific Northwest falls
under the purview of the ARTCC in
Seattle, with a portion of southeastern
Oregon being the responsibility of the
ARTCC in Salt Lake City. The meteo-
rologists in these centers brief Federal
Aviation Administration air traffic
controllers directly so that controllers
can make the best decisions as to re-rout-
ing aircraft around lines of thunder-
storms and other weather conditions that
would be hazardous to aviation.
Lastly, there are two national centers,
one in Kansas City, and one near Wash-
ington, D.C., that coordinate weather
across the national airspace and try to
keep things moving as best as possi-
ble. They also issue advisory products,
including for large areas of thunder-
storms or turbulence or when low clouds
or fog could create mountain obscura-
tion. As we know, this is something that
is important with the terrain across the
Pacific Northwest, especially for general
aviation pilots as it happens virtually
every winter.
So, while weather can have an over-
size impact on aviation there are teams
of dedicated meteorologists at the local,
regional and national levels, as well as
in the private sector working to make
your flight as safe, smooth and on-time
as possible.
———
Marc Austin is a warning coordi-
nation meteorologist for the National
Weather Service in Pendleton. Austin
leads outreach and weather prepared-
ness programs, and engages the media,
emergency management and public safety
communities in building a weather ready
nation.
but then I realized she wasn’t talking
about our borders — she was talking
about ukraine’s borders, and the broad-
cast showed her introducing to the
House of Representatives an act called
“Defending ukraine’s Sovereignty
Act.” She said this act was “developed
to insure ukraine’s sovereignty, inde-
pendence and territorial integrity.”
Now granted, an armed conflict
between Russia and ukraine is an
international crisis, but the mess we are
experiencing on our southern border
has already created a humanitarian
crisis here at home.
Immigrants are crossing the border
and vetting has been pretty much
nonexistent and/or ineffective. Progres-
sives and liberals suppose that conser-
vatives are appalled at this influx due to
lack of compassion for poverty-stricken
people from south of the border and
others from around the world.
Also, there is a concern about
reports that there has been little or no
screenings for COVID-19, that govern-
ment agencies have given services that
are unavailable to needy American
citizens and some of these “illegals” are
shipped to all parts of the u.S. Added
to all that is the crisis of trafficking
people and huge amounts of drugs by
the cartels.
But the truth is, compassion is not
lacking. The result of all this is anarchy,
and those seeking political amnesty,
or work, would be much better served
if the border was administered in an
ordered and reasonable way. It’s hard
not to question Nancy Pelosi’s veracity
— she is, after all, Speaker of the House
of Representatives of the united States
of America — but under the circum-
stances, it’s hard not to.
Vicki Correll
Summerville
YOUR VIEWS
We should be as concerned
about our borders as we
are about Ukraine’s
On Jan. 25 of this year, conservative
political commentator Tucker Carlson
reported a story about Nancy Pelosi that
had to do with national borders. Carl-
son said “national borders are central
to national security because without
borders you can’t have a country.” Carl-
son quoted Pelosi as saying borders
should “be impossible to breach, walled
up and buttoned-down.”
When I heard this I was shocked
because the Biden administration has
done little to secure our southern border
and have been responsible for much of
the chaos.
As the story continued, I thought
Pelosi must have had an awakening
about the nature of national sovereignty,