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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2016)
HELLS CANYON MULE DAYS PARADE Enterprise, Oregon competition results A11 Wallowa.com Issue No. 22 September 14, 2016 $1 Courtesy of Oregon Torrefaction A large torrefier is being installed at a chipping yard in the Port of Morrow, which will process forest clutter into biomass for the Boardman Coal Plant. Coal plant to try full day of biomass Company to supply 8,000 tons of material By George Plaven East Oregonian Courtesy of Charity Ketscher Enterprise native Kylie Willis is the 2016 Pendleton Round-Up Queen. after fi nishing. The restrictions do not apply to people with commercial or personal use fi rewood permits, since those fall under a separate set of reg- ulations. Phase A restrictions also limit smok- ing to enclosed vehicles, buildings or cleared areas, and prohibit off-road ve- hicle travel on roads with standing grass or anything else that could catch on fi re. Cleaning up forest clutter might be good for more than just curtailing large wildfi res in Oregon. It might just be the answer Portland General Electric is looking for to con- vert the Boardman Coal Plant to 100 percent biomass. Later this year, PGE will use noth- ing but woody debris to power the sta- tion for one full day as the util- ity continues to test alter- native fuels at the 550-mega- watt facility. A successful test burn was con- ducted last year at Boardman using a 10-to-1 mix of coal and biomass, which has project leaders feeling optimistic. But Courtesy of Oregon this will be the Torrefaction fi rst time the plant is fed In order to use as e x c l u s i v e l y biomass, woody biomass for 24 debris must straight hours, undergo a process which will go called torrefaction, as a a long way described “half-step below toward deter- making charcoal.” mining wheth- er the plan is feasible long-term. The future remains uncertain at Or- egon’s only remaining coal-fi red pow- er plant. Rather than install expensive new emission controls, PGE has de- cided to either convert the station to cleaner burning biomass, or shut it down entirely by 2020. Wayne Lei, director of research and development for PGE, said bio- mass is an intriguing though challeng- ing concept for Boardman. First, in order to feed biomass into the plant’s pulverizers, it must undergo a process called torrefaction — similar to mak- ing charcoal, or roasting coffee beans. The result is a dry, crispy material that can be ground up and burned as fuel. “It’s about a half-step below mak- ing charcoal,” Lei said. At its peak generating capacity, the Boardman Coal Plant blasts through roughly 300 tons of coal every hour. See FORESTS, Page A7 See PLANT, Page A6 WALLOWA COUNTY’S FIRST ROUND-UP QUEEN REPRESENTS HOME WITH PRIDE By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain It’s just a two-hour drive from Enterprise to Pendleton, but it might as well be on the other side of the planet when it comes to landing local women in the queen’s saddle in the Pendleton Round-Up court. Enterprise native Kylie Willis broke that barrier when she was named queen of the 2016 court, and Willis has been proudly representing Wallowa County — even more so “ I think the reason I have the personality that makes me a good queen is from the people in Wallowa County. KYLIE WILLIS this week as the Round-Up kicks off Wednesday. Prior to Willis, no one from Wallowa County had been crowned queen in the 106 years the event has been held. “I don’t know why I’m the fi rst queen, but I’m glad I am,” said Willis, 21. “There have been multiple people try out from Wallowa county, but I guess I was just the one.” Many in Wallowa County have a few ideas about why Willis was the lucky one: She’s got an impressive pedigree. See QUEEN, Page A7 MAIDEN VOYAGE 12+ students on board for Joseph’s new aviation class By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Flight Instructor Andy McKee and Ag/Vo- Tech teacher Toby Kuehn enjoy introducing the new aviation class from Joseph Charter School to flight in a small craft. The sky’s the limit for students in Joseph Char- ter School’s fi rst aviation class. Ag/Vo-Tech teacher Toby Kuehn already has mapped out his curriculum – including actual fl y- ing last Wednesday — for what he says is the fi rst high school aviation class west of the Mississippi. Twelve of the students made the trip to Jo- seph Airport to go up in three planes with three qualifi ed pilots and get a seat-of-the-pants notion of what it means to fl y small craft. There are 13 students in the class. One was unable to attend Wednesday’s fl ights. Whoever was lucky enough to call “shotgun” even got to take the controls for a bit of well-su- pervised trim and banking experiments. See CLASS, Page A7 Restrictions eased on NE Oregon forests Rail Fire transitions back to local forests EO Media Group Chainsaw and campfi re restrictions for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest have been scaled back as re- gional conditions have cooled and de- creased fi re danger. Effective Sept. 9, Public Use Restrictions (PURs) have been reduced to Phase A on the Wal- lowa-Whitman. Phase A is the second level of restrictions, generally imple- mented when fi re danger is moderate to high. Phase A PURs reinstate seasonal campfi re restrictions and allow recre- ational chainsaw use between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Operators will need to have an ax, shovel and mini- mum 8-ounce fi re extinguisher, and are required to watch for fi res for one hour Inside today’s Chieftain: Dancing, bratwurst, beer – Oregon’s Alpenfest coming right up
