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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2020)
BUSINESS & AG LIFE THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2020 LOGGING Continued from Page 1B Rather than having a blanket exclusion on har- vesting large trees, the Forest Service is instead recommending replacing the standard with a more adaptable guideline. Res- toration projects would generally emphasize pre- serving both old and large trees, but with greater fl exibility for land man- agers to adjust where needed. The proposal defi nes “old” trees as 150 years, and “large” trees as more than 30 inches in diameter for grand fi r, white fi r and Douglas fi r, and more than 21 inches for any other species. In February, the Forest Service’s Pacifi c North- west Research Station issued a report analyzing the Eastside Screens and concluded that removing some large trees may be benefi cial for forest health. As wildfi re suppres- sion became a widespread practice, researchers claim the forests are growing more dense with shade-tolerant species like white fi r and grand fi r. Not only do these trees compete for moisture and resources, but they are less fi re-resistant than older, larger ponderosa pines. Factor in climate change, and studies indicate the forests are becoming more suscep- tible to disturbances like drought, insects, dis- eases and large so-called “megafi res.” According to the Pacifi c Northwest Research Station’s report, “it is clear from our expe- rience in applying eco- system science to policy in the (Northwest) that sim- plistic rules and standards will, over time, generate unintended consequences, making it more rather than less diffi cult to manage for resilience to climate change and other threats, and to provide for multiple ecosystem services.” Andy Geissler, fed- eral timber program director for the American Forest Resource Council — a timber industry trade group that supports amending the Eastside Screens — said replacing the 21-inch standard would ultimately give the Forest Service greater lat- itude to meet its manage- ment goals. “The objective of the Eastside Screens isn’t changing,” Geissler said. “That’s still staying the same.” Environmental groups, however, argue the rec- ommendation is based on politics and cherry-picked science that will weaken habitat for wildlife and threaten older, larger trees that act as a carbon sink. Rob Klavins, North- east Oregon fi eld coordi- nator for Oregon Wild, said going from a legally enforceable standard to a non-enforceable guide- line will create a loophole “big enough to drive a log truck through.” Klavins, who lives in Wallowa County, said he worries that replacing the 21-inch standard will make it more diffi cult for forest collaborative groups and partners to fi nd con- sensus on projects in the future. “Collaboration works best when there are agreed upon rules and sideboards. The Eastside Screens cre- ated the conditions for us to try and fi nd common ground,” he said. “Without that, it’s a free-for-all.” Klavins also criti- cized the Forest Service for rushing through the review process during a global pandemic, poten- tially limiting public par- ticipation. The Forest Ser- vice hosted three webinars in May leading up to its environmental assess- ment, including a science forum, intergovernmental workshop and partner technical workshop. Veronica Warnock, conservation director for the Greater Hells Canyon Council based in La Grande, said the Forest Service should have conducted a more robust Environmental Impact Statement required under the National Envi- ronmental Policy Act to fully gauge the long-term impacts of changing the 21-inch rule. “There are a lot of things open to interpreta- tion here,” Warnock said. “There is a huge spectrum of activities where you can say we’re meeting the intent of this guideline. ... To say that it is not going to result in more large trees being cut would just be erroneous.” Geissler said he does not anticipate a major spike in timber volume from replacing the 21-inch rule. Last fi scal year, the six national forests sold a combined 229 million board-feet of timber, of which 178 million board- feet was sent to the saw- mill. The rest was sold as fi rewood, biomass and non-saw material. For the 2020 fi scal year, the target is 255 million board-feet. A 30-day public com- ment period is now underway, and two webi- nars are scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 19 and 1:30-3 p.m. Aug. 20, to provide information and gather feedback. THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B PIZZA Continued from Page 1B Country Club, where Rogers periodically cooks wood-fi red pizzas for its couples night. She bakes about 60 pizzas for most couples nights. All of the wood-fi red pizzas Rogers cooks have a thin crust. She explained if thicker dough was used, the outer shell could harden fi rst. This would prevent the interior of the crust from being cooked through. All toppings available for regular pizzas at Local Har- vest are also available for its wood-fi red pizzas. Rogers enjoys adding special top- pings for her wood-fi red pizzas, including peaches. “We try to have fun with it,” she said, noting other new varieties offered include a bison pizza. Cooking wood-fi red pizza is a joy, Rogers said. “I love it,” she said. “You get to cook these beautiful pizzas and do it so quickly.” Photo by Dick Mason/EO Media Group Harvest Rogers slices a wood-fi red pizza she made Friday, Aug. 21, at Local Harvest Eat- ery and Pub, La Grande. She and her father Bruce Rogers own the establishment. BYPASS ment of Environmental Management. Marathon also pushed for and was granted permis- sion to skip environmental tests at many of its refi n- eries and gas stations in California, Michigan, North Dakota and Texas. Spokesman Jamal Kheiry said Marathon sought broad regulatory relief early in the pandemic, when it was uncertain how long lockdowns would last or how its operations would be affected. But the com- pany continued emissions monitoring and other activi- ties, he said. Penny Aucoin, a resi- dent of New Mexico’s oil- rich Permian Basin, said since the pandemic, she and her husband have spent days begging regulators to investigate surges of nox- ious gas or hisses that they feared could signal a dan- gerous leak from one of the many oil and gas compa- nies operating near their mobile home. “There’s nobody watching,” Aucoin said. “A lot of stuff is going wrong. And there’s nobody to fi x it.” Maddy Hayden, New Mexico’s environmental spokesperson, said her agency stopped in-person investigations of citizen air- quality complaints from March to May to protect staff and the public but stood ready to respond to emergencies. Almost every state reported fi elding requests from industries and local governments to cut back on compliance. Many were for activities like delaying in-person training or sub- mitting records by email rather than paper. Others, however, were requests for temporary exemptions or extensions on monitoring and repairs to stop the fl ow of harmful soot, toxic com- pounds, disease-carrying contaminants or heavy metals, AP found. Regulators, for example, waived in-person inspec- tions at parts of a former nuclear test site in Nevada, switching to drive-by checks. North Carolina allowed Chemours Co., which is cleaning up dangerous industrial compounds in drinking water, to pause sampling of residential wells because it would require entering elderly res- idents’ homes. Saint-Gobain, whose New Hampshire plant has been linked by the state to water contaminated with chemicals, has requested delaying smokestack upgrades that would address the problem. The company says the delays are neces- sary partly due to problems the company’s suppliers and contractors have faced because of the coronavirus. increasing from 500 to 560. Wallowa County saw the biggest decrease in unem- ployment rate of the tri- county area for July, drop- ping 0.8 points and moving below 10% to 9.8% while seeing an increase of 50 jobs to 2,590. The county saw a decrease of about 30% in continued claims and is down to 112, just above pre-pandemic levels. Health care and social assistance make up almost one-fourth (26) of the con- tinued claims in Wallowa County. Leisure and hos- pitality saw a bump from 250 jobs in June to 290 in July, the most in the county. That number, though, is still about 30% lower than the county has averaged in summer months in the industry in recent years. The county has not reported a week with 10 or more new fi rst-time claims since early July. Continued from Page 1B extended, national environ- mental enforcement clem- ency because monitoring oversight was relaxed. “The harm from this policy is already done,” said Cynthia Giles, EPA’s former assis- tant administrator under the Obama administration. EPA has said it will end the COVID enforcement clemency this month. Refi nery giant Marathon Petroleum, already strug- gling fi nancially before the pandemic, was one of the most aggressive in seeking to dial back its environ- mental monitoring. On the same day EPA announced its new policy, the Ohio- based company asked Indiana offi cials for relief from its leak detection, groundwater sampling, spill prevention, emissions testing and hazardous waste responsibilities at its facil- ities statewide. Indiana declined to issue a compre- hensive waiver but agreed to consider individual requests. “We believe that by taking these measures, we can do our part to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” Tim Peterkoski, environmental auditing and processes manager for Marathon Petroleum, told the Indiana Depart- JOBLESS Continued from Page 1B accommodation and food services account for 100 of the claims. Leisure and hospitality saw the biggest jump in new jobs from June to July, Photo by Paul Sancya/AP fi le In this April 21 photo the Marathon Petroleum Corp. refi n- ery is shown in Detroit, Michigan. Thousands of oil and gas operations, government facilities and other sites won permission to stop monitoring for hazardous emissions or otherwise bypass rules intended to protect health and the environment because of the coronavirus outbreak, The Associated Press has found. 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