KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Another
voice weighs
in on Snake
River dams
A
n obscure division within the
Office of the President now wants
to weigh in on the fate of four
dams on the lower Snake River.
Another voice that appears to be lean-
ing toward removing the dams.
In a March 28 blog post, the White
House Council on Environmental Quality
outlined its efforts to study breaching the
dams. Those efforts included a March 21
“Nation to Nation” meeting between
federal agencies and leaders of the Tribes
of the Columbia River Basin.
The Council on Environmental Quality
was established during the Nixon adminis-
tration under the National Environmental
Policy Act. According to council’s website,
it is charged with coordinating “the federal
government’s efforts to improve, preserve
and protect America’s public health and
environment.”
According to the blog, the council last
fall convened leaders from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclama-
tion, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Army Corps of Engineers
and the Bonneville Power Administration.
The group will “build on existing analy-
ses to identify a durable path forward that
ensures a clean energy future, supports
local and regional economies, and restores
ecosystem function, while honoring long-
standing commitments to Tribal Nations,”
the blog states.
“We cannot continue business as usual.
Doing the right thing for salmon, Tribal
Nations, and communities can bring us
together. It is time for effective, creative
solutions,” the blog states.
The fix might be in.
“We heard calls to support breaching
the four dams on the lower Snake River
to restore a more natural flow, also about
the need to replace the services provided
by those dams, and recognition that such a
step would require congressional action,”
the blog post reads. “We were asked to
consider the Basin holistically because of
its inherent interconnectedness.”
OK. Let’s consider the farmers and
other people who depend on the river.
The dams in southeast Washington
generate electricity and allow farmers to
move grain by barge down the Columbia
River’s main tributary.
Without the dams, the river would be
too shallow to barge wheat and other farm
goods the roughly 100 miles between
Lewiston, Idaho and the Tri-Cities.
Lake Sacajawea, a reservoir created by
Ice Harbor Dam, irrigates 47,000 acres.
The loss of electricity generated by the
dams would increase the cost of pumping
groundwater.
The agriculture and shipping communi-
ties remain wary of discussions on the fate
of the dams.
“We continue to be engaged with
the administration at CEQ,” Michelle
Hennings, executive director of the Wash-
ington Association of Wheat Growers,
said. “Looking at the blog, we would have
liked to see more focus on the impact this
would have had on farmers across the
country.”
Removing the dams would come at the
expense of the entire region that depends
on low-cost and reliable electricity the
dams provide and the livelihoods of farm-
ers, barge operators, deck hands, dock
workers in the region and the vendors who
support them.
It continues to be a bad idea.
The CoCoRaHS network
MARY
WISTER
EYE TO THE SKY
he National Weather Service in
Pendleton is extremely grateful
for the volunteers of the CoCo-
RaHS program. Volunteers take the
time to provide daily rainfall and snow-
fall measurements, and this informa-
tion gives ground truth to our forecasts.
What is CoCoRaHS? Pronounced as
Ko-ko-rozz, the Community Collabo-
rative Rain, Hail and Snow Network is
comprised of volunteers who measure
rain, snow and hail each day and
submit these observations into a phone
app or an interactive website. Auto-
mated weather stations are helpful, but
only the highly expensive stations have
heated rain gages that melt snow for an
accurate rainfall measurement. These
are often the automated stations found
at airports that are frequently cali-
brated and maintained.
Most home network and agricultural
weather stations will measure liquid
rainfall, however snow will accumu-
late inside the rain bucket then melt
as temperatures warm above freez-
ing with a sudden inaccurate rainfall
measurement. In addition, the only way
to know how much snow has fallen in a
T
24-hour period and measure the depth
of snow on the ground is by manual
observation with a ruler or snow stake.
Despite the challenges of measuring
wintry precipitation, the volunteers of
the program have done an excellent job
measuring snowfall and snow depth
over the years.
Scientists love data. You’ll likely
never hear a scientist say there’s too much
data. The measurements taken by CoCo-
RaHS volunteers help more than just
scientists. Everyone will agree that facts
are better than a subjective analysis.
For example, if I were to tell you that
thunderstorms produced heavy rain in
Pilot Rock but only light rain in Pend-
leton, what exactly does that tell you?
That is a vague description of what the
thunderstorms produced. On the other
hand, stating that 0.75 inches of rain fell
in Pilot Rock but only 0.10 inches of rain
fell in Pendleton obviously gives a better
description.
We live in a busy world, and volun-
teers are hard to find. That’s why we
want to take this opportunity to thank
those who participate in the CoCo-
RaHS program. Their dedication is
greatly appreciated, and the informa-
tion supplied benefits our office and the
communities we serve.
Are you interested in joining the
program?
Requirements include a sturdy 4-inch
diameter rain gauge, brief video train-
ing and a dedicated time each day to
measure precipitation. The program
may inspire the future meteorologist or
hydrologist in your home. You’ll soon
find out that taking observations each
day enhances your knowledge of the
atmosphere, and you’ll gain a deeper
appreciation of weather. It’s interesting
how rainfall and snowfall measurements
compare from one location to another
when you view the CoCoRaHS website.
One storm can bring substantially
heavier precipitation just a few miles
from another location, or steady precip-
itation from a large weather system may
bring almost the exact same precipita-
tion amounts over a large area. Many
times, a NWS office will share data from
the CoCoRaHS on social media or their
website. If a severe weather outbreak or
flash flooding occurs, the data may be
used in research and storm reports.
If you’re interested or want more
information, check out cocorahs.org.
The NWS Pendleton office looks
forward to receiving and reviewing
your observations.
———
Mary Wister is a meteorologist and
fire weather program manager at the
National Weather Service in Pendleton.
Wister serves as an incident meteorolo-
gist when large wildfires or other natural
hazards necessitate an incident manage-
ment team’s quick response to protect life
and property.
Hemingway power line who answered
questions from farmers and ranchers.
We have also met with local farmers and
ranchers to hear their opinions on the
project and the Oregon Energy Facility
Siting Council’s latest site proposal.
I think we are all in agreement on how
the project would best serve our needs.
Doherty and Lindsay seem to have heard
our concerns and are actively engaging
within the system to make our voices
heard and accomplish the goals we are
working toward.
Mitch Hays
Echo
be vulnerable to all sorts of pollution:
water pollution in the Owyhee River from
mine-runoff, light and noise pollution
from oil drilling infrastructure and air
pollution from both mining and drilling
emissions. Ultimately, this land develop-
ment would lead to habitat fragmentation
— a serious threat for the species that call
the Canyonlands home.
The Owyhee is part of the sage-
brush steppe, a threatened ecosystem
that provides habitat for a wide variety
of animals and plants. While walking
around the 2.5 million acre landscape,
you can see California bighorn sheep,
greater sage-grouse, Owyhee clover,
Packard’s blazing star and so much more.
Apart from wildlife, this remote,
expansive place offers endless beautiful
views — towering canyons by day, shim-
mering stars by night — and Indigenous
cultural sites to explore and learn from.
We need to protect the Owyhee
Canyonlands to ensure this habitat and
all it provides will be available for future
generations to experience.
Kristine Meader
Portland
YOUR VIEWS
Grateful for Commissioners
Doherty and Lindsay
After reading the article in the
Heppner Gazette Times dated March 23,
2022, entitled, “Amazon drops $11.5
million surprise on county,” as well as
the discussion on how to spend the gift
payment, I found myself filled with admi-
ration for county Commissioners Jim
Doherty and Melissa Lindsay.
I feel that they are truly the voice for
those of us who are in the county, who
ranch and farm, as well as those who own
and run small businesses.
Big money businesses such as
Amazon will continue to force their way
through the opposition of small-run oper-
ations to complete their agenda. It is nice
to have elected officials standing up for
those of us who are not always aware of
what goes on at those levels.
In my opinion that is the very reason
we elect these types of people, people we
can trust to have our best interest in mind.
My wife and I were privileged to attend a
commissioner meeting in Heppner with
three representatives of the Boardman to
Protect the
Owyhee Canyonlands
The Owyhee Canyonlands remain
unprotected, leaving this critical land-
scape vulnerable to the many tracts of
lands within and around it being consid-
ered for mining proposals as well as the
170,000 active gas leases just north of the
Owyhee.
If any of these proposals or leases
were to go through, the landscape would
EDITORIALS
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the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East
Oregonian.
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