East Oregonian : E.O., July 21, 2022, Image 1

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THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022
A WET SPR
ING
Much need
ed rain
farmers a s a boon for
nd ranche
rs
146th Year, No. 91
INSIDE
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
AREA FARMERS SEE RECORD RAINS IN
SUMMER
MORROW COUNTY
2022
’
County provides water fi lters to counter high nitrates
Installation of fi rst of
350 reverse osmosis
systems began July 14
BY ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — From her bed,
Jane Kurtz of Boardman expressed
gratitude for a new fi ltration system
that went into her home.
“I want to thank you from the
bottom of my heart,” Kurtz said to
plumber Tory Uskoski, Morrow
B2H
update
County Commissioner Jim Doherty
and Ana Pineyro, the county’s
communicable disease and emer-
gency preparedness coordinator.
“You guys are awesome.”
On July 14, Kurtz received the
fi rst of 350 systems planned to go
out to Morrow County homes to
address high nitrate levels, accord-
ing to Doherty.
“We’re going to ease into it,” the
commissioner said of the installa-
tions.
Three would take place on July
14, and Doherty said he expected
SALEM — The latest review
of moving the massive Boardman
to Hemingway power transmis-
sion line from proposal to reality
is this week.
Originally proposed in 2010,
the B2H line travels from the
Longhorn Substation in Board-
man to the existing Hemingway
Substation in Idaho. Primarily
500 kilovolts, the line would be
approximately 300 miles long.
Idaho Power Co. is primary
energy producer behind the proj-
ect.
The Oregon Department of
Energy’s Energy Facility Siting
Council meets Friday, July 22, and
B2H is on the docket. The coun-
cil plans to go over the proposal
for the project and its application
history and conduct straw polls to
determine if any changes need to
be made. This review is the latest
step in a checkered past for the
transmission line.
See B2H, Page A7
Morrow County commission-
ers declared a local state of emer-
gency on June 9, following the
testing of wells and the discovery
of water that contained nitrates
above healthy consumption levels.
Since then, further testing has been
at sites, including Sam Boardman
Elementary in Boardman. They
also have sought free testing, avail-
able at Boardman Foods in Board-
man, among other locations.
Installing the fi rst fi lters
Tory Uskoski, Blue Mountain
Plumbing plumber, and Travis
Gaines, assistant, installed the fi rst
of the fi lters. They said the devices
are reverse osmosis systems with
2.5-gallon storage tanks.
See Filters, Page A7
‘BERRY’
BOUNTIFUL HARVEST
By ANTONIO
ARREDONDO
East Oregonian
The July 22 council meeting
will not be the fi nal one; instead,
it serves as an update point for
the history of the line, which the
council has offi cially labeled as
contested since 2020 due to public
opposition.
According to a summary
of the B2H line project on the
Oregon Department of Energy’s
website, 37 exceptions — public
complaints on the lines — were
fi led to the department. In most
cases, there are only a few excep-
tions fi led.
Addressing the nitrate
problem
performed and other home drink-
ing water has been deemed unsafe,
with nitrate levels above 10 parts
per million.
This applies only to some well
water. The city of Boardman has
verifi ed its water is safe to drink.
There are private well owners who
have tested their drinking water
and found it to be safe, too.
Concern remains, though, for
people whose well water is rich in
nitrates. Many of these people have
taken advantage of clean water that
has been made available to them
BLUEWIND BERRY FARM’S
Energy Facility
Siting Council
discusses project
at Friday meeting
The meeting
six installations a day in the follow-
ing week. He described the process
as “taking baby steps,” with install-
ers carefully approaching the proj-
ect and learning potential problems.
An infl atable scarecrow waves and screech-
es a warning Friday, July 15, 2022, to winged
berry snatchers over customers Nelly
Ochoa, left, and Terri Deleon at Bluewind
Berry Farm outside Milton-Freewater.
Sheila Hagar/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
By SHEILA HAGAR
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
ILTON-FREEWATER —
The fi rst time Argentina-born
Gabriel Alarcon ate a blueberry,
it was from a local supermarket.
He and his farming part-
ner and wife, Heather Alarcon,
had just invested sweat, equity
and money into planting rows of the fruit on
their property on County Road, which weaves
around the outskirts of town.
“I planted blueberries without knowing
what a blueberry tastes like,” Gabriel Alar-
con said with a generous laugh.
“The fi rst one I tasted was from Safeway,
and I got so depressed I wanted to plow it all
under.”
That was 10 years ago, and if ever there
was a summer to reward their perseverance,
it’s this one.
This is the seventh harvest for Bluewind
Berry Farm, and it is a doozy. The berries,
rounded to nearly bursting, are sweet from
the tip of the tongue to the back of the throat.
“This year, they are so heavy the branches
are to the ground,” Gabriel Alarcon said.
The couple, parents of three boys from 28
to 17, have been married 30 years and under-
taken a variety of adventures.
“I was 19. We met when I was 15, and he
was 17. I went to boarding school in Argen-
tina,” Heather Alarcon said.
M
Sheila Hagar/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Heather and Gabriel Alarcon pose for a photo at their Milton-Freewater u-pick operation,
Bluewind Berry Farm.
“Actually my roommate was interested in
his roommate, and they set us up on a double
date.”
She was there as a part of a family tradition.
Her father, Ole Oleson, a longtime Seventh-
day Adventist pastor, set out on his own over-
seas quest at age 16. Thus when his teenager
wanted to follow good friends back to their
homeland and attend school in that coun-
try, parental resistance was easily overcome,
Heather Alarcon said.
Such travel has given the Alarcons an
appreciation for The Rocks District American
Viticultural Area — what the soil here does
for wine, it is doing for blueberries, Gabriel
Alarcon said.
The accumulation of sediments trapped by
the hills surrounding Milton-Freewater results
in rocky ground ideal for lending unusual
character to wine grapes, he said.
See Berries, Page A7