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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2022)
WEEKEND EDITION 204-unit apartment complex going up in Pendleton | REGION, A3 MAY 21 – 22, 2022 146th Year, No. 66 $1.50 WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021 PORT OF MORROW Medelez Trucking in Hermiston and other trucking companies are surviving despite paying record diesel prices to keep their trucks on the road. Looking the other way: Part 1 Kathy Aney/East Oregonian State offi cials rarely intervened and never stopped POM as it dumped hundreds of tons of nitrogen By ALEX BAUMHARDT, COLE SINANIAN and JAEL CALLOWAY Oregon Capital Chronicle Editor’s note: This is part one of a series that follows the article “Don’t Drink the Water,” which ran in the May 10 East Oregonian. Subsequent parts will run in next week’s editions of the EO. BOARDMAN — The state’s chief environmental agency know- ingly let the Port of Morrow pollute year after year, contributing to drinking water contamination for thousands, an investigation by the Capital Chronicle showed. To protect jobs, the state Depart- ment of Environmental Quality addressed the industrial pollution with deals instead of enforcement. Agency officials accepted the port’s plans over the years that prom- ised correction but were seldom followed. Front-line DEQ employees tasked with monitoring the port encountered unexplained directives that gave reprieve after reprieve to the port, identifi ed as one source in the region of nitrogen pollution. The port pumps nitrogen-laced water from its industrial complex in Boardman to farm fi elds, where it can convert into nitrate and seep into groundwater. The people endangered by the environmental mismanagement are mostly low-income families with unsafe wells. They hold little power and have few allies to counter the political might of port authorities. DEQ directors over the years had the legal authority to suspend or revoke the port’s wastewater permit over repeated violations. They didn’t, the Capital Chronicle found. DEQ officials could have mandated that the port reduce nitro- gen levels in the wastewater before spreading it on farms and over groundwater aquifers. They did not. And the agency’s leaders could have used stiff penalties to compel the Port of Morrow to comply. For years, they imposed none. A combination of budget and staff cuts and powerful political and economic forces account for DEQ’s weak enforcement, according to hundreds of pages of public records and dozens of interviews. As a result, hundreds of tons of nitrogen that should never have made it out of the port’s industrial See Water, Page A9 Record-high diesel prices hit home Medelez Trucking in Hermiston adapts under ballooning fuel costs By JOHN TILLMAN East Oregonian H Kathy Aney/East Oregonian Diesel fuel prices keep hitting record highs. Dave’s Chevron at 220 S.W. 12th St., Pendle- ton charged nearly $5.80 per gallon for diesel on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. ERMISTON — The national aver- age price for diesel fuel set a record high of $5.57 per gallon on Tuesday, May 17, the American Automobile Association reported. A year earlier it was $3.17, for a 76% increase. Regular gas grew by 48% during the same 12 months. Diesel rose another cent May 18. Yet, despite daily records, some Umatilla County trucking companies are surviving, while others struggle. Bennie Medelez, owner of Medelez Trucking, is a top employer in Hermis- ton, with more than 500 employees during harvest and 225 to 250 year-round. They mainly haul potatoes and other agricultural commodities for farmers and supermarket chains. Melendez has to keep 180 big rigs on the road, plus fuel about 30 pickups and smaller vehicles. “The situation is killing us,” Medelez said. “Our fuel bill was $20 million last year. It’ll probably be $30 million this year. It’s ridiculous, if we don’t get any help from the government or anywhere. We need the pipe- line and drilling in Alaska. Some shippers have let us tack on surcharges, but others of course don’t want to share the costs. We can raise rates only so much.” It costs $1,500 to fi ll up a semitrailer, which needs to be topped off every one-and- a-half to two days. The trucks are on the road most of the time. After potato harvest in Oregon and Washington, the company hauls seed from Montana and Idaho. “It has been a devastating thing,” Medelez said. “I’ve been in business over 40 years, but am losing the taste for it. Fuel costs are 40% of our gross. I’m second generation, so used to working 7 days a week. My dad started it. I’m 66 now. I like what I do, but this is just heart-breaking.” His family is involved in the company, too, so Medelez wouldn’t mind working only fi ve or six days a week. “I could fi nd something to enjoy doing for one or two days off ,” he said. See Diesel, Page A9 History in the making Three women vie for Oregon governor By PETER WONG Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon apparently will have at least three women in the general election for governor on Nov. 8 — and two of them, Democrat Tina Kotek of Portland and Republi- can Christine Drazan of Canby, faced each other for two years in the Oregon House. Kotek and Drazan emerged from record fi elds to win their party nomi- nations Tuesday night, May 17, and Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, a former Democrat, plans an independent bid by qualifying for the ballot by petition. All of them hope to succeed Demo- crat Kate Brown, who will have served just 38 days shy of two full terms when she leaves offi ce Jan. 9, 2023. Brown was barred by term limits from a third consecutive term. According to the Center for Amer- ican Women and Politics at Rutgers University, 45 women have been governor of their states or territories. Two-thirds were elected in their own right, such as Oregon’s Barbara Roberts, a Democrat elected in 1990. A few succeeded their husbands. Most others were next in line of succession, including Brown, a Democrat who was secretary of state when John Kitzhaber resigned under pressure amid an ethics scandal in 2015, just 38 days into his fourth term. Brown was elected in 2016 to the two-years remaining in that term, and in 2018 to a full term of her own. See History, Page A9 Contributed Photos Christine Drazan, from left, Tina Kotek and Betsy Johnson are running for gover- nor in the 2022 general election. Drazan, a Republican, and Kotek, a Democrat, prevailed in packed fi elds to win their party nominations. Johnson, a former Democrat, plans an independent bid by qualifying for the ballot by petition.
