Business
AgLife
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Thursday, June 24, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Leaders get
fi rsthand
look at
dam issues
SUZANNAH
MOORE-HEMANN
CHAMBER CHAT
Practice a litt le
mindfulness
when shopping
wanted to spend this month
talking about the chamber’s
most recent push: the Sup-
port Local Task Force. I know,
I know. What a stupidly boring
name. That name does not sound
exciting. The conversations really
are, though, and so far, we’ve had
phenomenal turnout, even with
“Zoom fatigue” being an actual
thing.
I see a lot of overlap in faces
from other organizations, but
the people who attend have great
ideas and a true passion for the
region. It’s almost like they all live
here and have a vested interest in
the local economy, right? I defi -
nitely want to see more shoppers
and business owners get involved,
but, hey, I’m also happy with who
we have right now, too.
Sometimes during these meet-
ings, I do feel a little guilty. And,
I’ll admit, for good reason. Some-
times I do shop online. Some-
times I enjoy getting out of the
valley for shopping, dining and
plainly and simply, for a change
of scenery. The concept of “sup-
porting local” just never seemed
as important as getting exactly
what I wanted or needed. Fast for-
ward to today, 2-1/2 years into
chamber life, and supporting our
local businesses and our local
economy has become increasingly
important to me.
Why? Obviously, part of it is
because our members are what
help make my job and work pos-
sible. They trust me enough to
invest in me (apparently I’ve been
in this position long enough to
assume I’m synonymous with the
chamber). But also, I don’t know,
because I know our members and
businesses are friends and neigh-
bors. They are the ones who truly
make our community what it is.
I love living in this valley. I
love personally knowing so many
business owners — how special
it is to call some of them friends,
watching them develop, have fam-
ilies, grow. I love who the busi-
nesses employ and seeing them
whenever I’m out and about. I
guess, maybe, it’s the people
to whom I’ve become deeply
committed.
So, ask yourself, are there ways
you could shift your habits to sup-
port locally? And, if you don’t get
something locally, why not? Call
your local chamber offi ce and let
me know. Literally. Call me and
have this conversation with me.
I recently received a call from
a lady in Olympia, Washington,
who shared some of her expe-
riences with me about a recent
trip to Union County for work. If
someone from the other side of
another state can call me, so can
you. Or just stop by — anyone
who knows me knows I love chat-
ting. She provided fascinating,
excellent feedback. We visited
for about half an hour, and it was
quite inspiring. Not all of her
experiences were stellar, but she
did love the beauty of the area and
wanted to share to make it better.
That’s really what the Support
Local Task Force is all about —
looking at what we currently have
and fi nding ways we can empower
residents and businesses to con-
tinually increase support for one
another. To make things here
better.
The most interesting thing
about this “supporting local” con-
cept…is how easy it is to do it.
Almost easier than a click of a
button. Almost. But it’s worth it.
Every time you spend ten dol-
lars here in the county, you just
invested in the long-term vibrancy
and vitality of our community.
Every time you do a shoutout
raving about your favorite store
or your newest locally sourced
goodie, you’re contributing to a
fl ourishing local economy.
Think about how much power
you wield to make life in Union
Rally highlights efforts
to protect lower
Snake River dams
I
See, Shopping/Page 2B
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
land, and collect handsome
profi ts from its California ven-
tures. This windfall, in turn,
was used to buy down rates for
what the BPA calls its “pref-
erence” customers inside the
Pacifi c Northwest.
This customer base is com-
prised of public utility dis-
tricts and rural electrical co-ops
around the region, who rely on
long-term “fi rm” power con-
tracts with the BPA.
LEWISTON, Idaho — Leaders
of national and regional farm orga-
nizations rallied around eff orts to
protect the four lower Snake River
dams June 16, taking part in a day-
long briefi ng on the role the struc-
tures play in the Pacifi c Northwest
economy.
Among those joining the group
were Zippy Duvall, president of the
American Farm Bureau Federa-
tion — the nation’s largest agricul-
tural organization — and Chandler
Goule, CEO of the National Associ-
ation of Wheat Growers.
Farmers shouldn’t let their guard
down when it comes to Rep. Mike
Simpson’s call to breach the Snake
River dams in the name of salmon
recovery, Goule warned.
Simpson’s $33.5 billion concept
is gaining momentum in Congress
heading into the mid-term elections,
Goule said.
Simpson, a member of the
House Appropriations Committee,
has not proposed any legislation,
but he will work to insert the money
into an appropriations bill without
instructions to breach the dams,
Goule said.
“If that money gets appropriated,
then that gets him a much stronger
hand to come back and actually get
the dams torn down,” Goule said.
Simpson used a similar tactic on
another issue 10 years ago, Goule
said.
“He already knows politically
that strategy is going to work,”
Goule said.
It would likely be in next year’s
appropriations, Goule said. The bill
would have to go through the House
and Senate, and the president would
have to sign it.
Duvall, Goule and 43 others rep-
resenting ag organizations, co-ops
and related businesses were hosted
by the Idaho Grain Producers Asso-
ciation and the Idaho Farm Bureau.
Tour participants took a boat
through a navigation lock and
toured the dam complex, seeing fi sh
ladders and juvenile and adult fi sh,
and toured the Lewis-Clark Ter-
minal, owned by CHS Primeland,
the Pacifi c Northwest Farmers
Co-op and Uniontown Co-op.
Agricultural advocates say
breaching the dams isn’t the “silver
bullet” for salmon recovery that
environmentalists claim, noting that
mortality rates on the Snake River
are similar for salmon elsewhere on
the West Coast.
“I didn’t see today the problems
that (Simpson) described. ... I didn’t
see the science that supported that,”
said Duvall, of the American Farm
Bureau Federation.
Duvall compared Simpson to a
doctor who calls for a heart trans-
plant when some medicine will do.
“If we think about the $34 bil-
lion and just take a portion of it,
put it in research and development
of the other problems that might
be facing the salmon, we can fi x
that problem with a little medicine
rather than transplanting a heart,”
Duvall said.
Breaching the dams would make
the lower Snake River “completely
unnavigable,” and require adding
38,000 more rail cars or 150,000
more trucks to replace barges,
Goule said.
About 60% of Washington’s and
Idaho’s wheat is shipped by barge,
according to the Lewis-Clark Ter-
minal. It takes 5 1/2 hours to load
one 3,600-ton barge, the equivalent
of 120 truckloads of wheat.
A proposed transportation
credit or subsidy under Simpson’s
plan could also potentially be out
of compliance with World Trade
Organization regulations, Goule
said, adding that it could be consid-
ered trade-distorting, undercutting
export competition.
See, Power/Page 2B
See, Dams/Page 2B
Carlos Fuentes/The Observer
A 2021 Northwood Grande Ronde sits on a mostly empty lot at Thunder RV on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. As of June 15, the
company only has four RVs on the lot.
Eastern Oregon RV dealers facing shortage of product to sell
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
LA GRANDE — In an
average year, the Thunder RV
parking lot can have as many
as 45 RVs, ranging from truck
campers to fi fth wheels to travel
trailers.
But these days, there are four
RVs sitting in the mostly empty
lot at the Island City dealer-
ship. The shortage has lasted
a full year now, with no end in
sight, according to Thunder RV
salesman Mike Weinkauf said.
“The shortage started last
summer right after COVID-19
shut everything down,” he said.
“I think it’s because people are
getting cabin fever and wanting
to go out more.”
Thompson RV, based in
Pendleton, has also seen a large
increase in demand over the last
year. According to Thompson
RV Manager Corrin Thompson,
part of the shortage can be
attributed to the Thompson RV
being the biggest dealer of Out-
doors RVs in the world.
“We’re totally sold out for the
year,” she said. “We’re actually
preselling RVs up to 16 months
in advance now. Someone might
come in today and want to order
an RV, and they won’t get it
until the end of 2022.”
The increase in recreational
vehicle demand is not just local.
According to the RV Industry
Association, RV sales in the
US have signifi cantly increased
during the pandemic, with total
2021 RV shipments projected
to reach more than 576,000
— 18% higher than the 2017
record.
However, not all dealerships
are seeing the same sales trends.
“According to the national
trend, we should be seeing
a huge increase in sales, but
we’ve actually seen about
50% less sales this year than
normal years,” Thunder RV
owner Caleb Samson said. “The
demand is just far bigger than
the supply, and we can’t replace
them at the same rate as we’re
selling them.”
According to Samson, the
company ordered 80 RVs sev-
eral weeks ago, but does not
know when they will arrive.
Northwood Manufac-
turing, which produces most
of Thunder RV’s supply, is
based in La Grande and works
with 66 dealerships in Oregon
and surrounding states, nearly
all of which are also facing a
shortage.
“We would love to increase
the number of RVs that we’re
making, but there’s several mit-
igating factors,” Lance Rinker,
the director of purchasing and
marketing for Northwood Man-
ufacturing and Outdoors RV,
said.
According to Rinker, the
two biggest factors of the
shortage are labor shortages and
increased material costs. Both
Northwood and Outdoors each
employ about 215 employees,
68% of the 315 employee
capacity. This number has not
risen in recent years.
Northwood and Outdoors
each manufacture roughly 230
RVs every month, a number that
has not risen with the increased
demand. Rinker estimates that
manufacturing prices have risen
nearly 20% since the onset of
the pandemic, partially due to
higher fuel prices and lumber
shortages.
Retail prices have risen with
increased manufacturing costs.
Weinkauf said that Thunder RV
prices have risen 10% in the last
year. Prices range from $25,000
for a basic truck camper to
nearly $100,000 for high-end
fi fth wheel RVs.
With no end in sight,
Weinkauf said he is optimistic
that business will continue to
stay busy.
“Well, they’re building them
as fast as they can, and we’re
selling them just as quickly,” he
said. “It’s gonna take some time
to catch up.”
Region’s power production in fl ux
Alternative power
sources in California
upending energy market
By STEVEN HAWLEY
Columbia Insight
PORTLAND — A draft
power plan for the Pacifi c
Northwest, due for release this
summer, outlines challenges
for defenders of hydropower,
as well as opportunity for those
who say it’s time for some dams
to go.
The report, from the North-
west Power and Conserva-
tion Council, forecasts power
demand in the region will
remain fl at or slightly decline
through 2030.
Climate change will make
both hydropower production
and salmon recovery more chal-
lenging. Renewables will con-
tinue to proliferate, and the price
of solar will continue to drop.
That last development places
some daunting new challenges
in front of utilities in the region.
The bulk of power produced
in the Columbia River Basin
comes from 31 dams whose
power output is marketed and
sold by the Bonneville Power
Administration. Less than
half of it is put to use by con-
sumers inside the Pacifi c North-
west. The rest is sold south
John Locher/Associated Press, File
Mirrors, in foreground, refl ect sunlight onto a power tower at the Ivanpah
Solar Electric Generating System near Primm, Nevada, on Aug. 13, 2014. The
site uses over 300,000 mirrors to focus sunlight on boilers’ tubes atop 450
foot power towers heating water into steam which in turn drives turbines to
create electricity.
via high-capacity power lines
known as the Western Intertie
Network to electricity-hungry
cities in Southern California.
These “secondary,” out-
side-the-home-territory transac-
tions were once a reliably lucra-
tive arrangement for the BPA.
On the open market for elec-
tricity sales, midday demand
sent prices soaring.
The federal power mar-
keting authority could meet Cal-
ifornia’s needs, still keep the
lights on in Seattle and Port-
