SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
STATE
Judge rejects challenge to E. Oregon transmission line
“The new information about the
declining population of greater sage
grouse is not significantly new or
PORTLAND — A federal judge
different circumstances from what is
has rejected arguments by opponents
discussed in the FEIS,” Simon said.
of a 300-mile transmission line in
Likewise, news articles about the
Eastern Oregon who sought to stop
financial feasibility of burying trans-
the project for allegedly violating
environmental laws.
mission lines do not trigger the need
for a supplementary environmental
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon
analysis because they don’t “rise to
has determined the U.S. Bureau
the level of significant information,”
of Land Management approved a
as would scientific studies, he said.
right-of-way across public land for
The judge dismissed claims that
the project in compliance with the
BLM relied on improper data about
National Environmental Policy Act
EO Media Group, File
sage grouse numbers and that it was
and Federal Lands Policy Manage-
A
crew
works
on
a
transmission
line
tower
outside
Boardman.
A
impermissibly vague and confusing
ment Act.
federal judge has rejected a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the gov-
in examining the risk of “extirpation”
The Stop B2H Coalition and
ernment’s right-of-way for the Boardman-to-Hemingway transmis- to a local population of the species.
other plaintiffs filed a complaint in
“Although not a model of clarity,
2019 claiming the transmission line sion line across public land.
the discussion is not indecipherable,”
between Boardman and the Heming-
he said.
way substation in Idaho should have to consider what its next step will be — known as a final environmental
The agency wasn’t “arbitrary and
impact statement or FEIS — with
been more closely scrutinized for
in its effort to prevent the transmis-
capricious” in analyzing the indirect
impacts to the greater sage grouse
sion line project from moving forward. new information about sage grouse
and other factors.
“Of course we don’t agree with the populations, which have plummeted effects on “leks,” where sage grouse
congregate during mating season,
from historic levels.
judge’s decision and the coalition is
The proposal has also stirred
within 3 miles of the transmission
While studies completed after
evaluating the opinion and assessing
controversy for taking farmland
line, rather than using a longer dis-
our next steps regarding an appeal,” the project’s approval provided new
out of production and disrupting
information about population counts tance, Simon said.
agricultural practices, such as aerial Kreider said.
and the effects of transmission lines,
The complaint filed by Stop
pesticide spraying.
The judge found that BLM’s steps
the judge said they’re “not significant for mitigating the adverse impacts to
B2H and other plaintiffs argued
Jim Kreider of La Grande, co-
or seriously different” enough to war- the species were sufficient because
chair of the Stop B2H Coalition, said that BLM should have updated its
environmental analysis of the project rant a supplementary analysis.
“there can be no construction without
his group is meeting with attorneys
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
a detailed plan.”
“This is not a case in which the
action will commence before it can be
determined whether mitigation will
be effective,” he said.
The judge said BLM “worked
closely” with the Idaho Power utility
company on the project and relied on
“sufficient evidence” to decide against
burying the line near an interpretive
center for the Oregon Trail.
The agency wasn’t required to
update the FEIS regarding the
environmental effects of alternative
routes for the transmission line that
it ultimately didn’t choose, he said.
While the BLM wrongly failed
to “consider grazing in the cumula-
tive effects analysis” of the project,
that “error was harmless” because it
wouldn’t have altered the agency’s
conclusions, the judge said.
“Plaintiffs do not show how add-
ing grazing to the cumulative effects
analysis would have materially
affected the substance of BLM’s sage
grouse mitigation decision or other
decisions relating to sage grouse,”
Simon said.
— The Observer reporter Dick
Mason contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.
States that had a grip on COVID Northwest Heatwave: Volunteers
get water to the vulnerable
now seeing a crush of cases
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
and ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
The COVID-19 surge that is
sending hospitalizations to all-
time highs in parts of the South
is also clobbering states like
Hawaii and Oregon that were
once seen as pandemic success
stories.
After months in which they
kept cases and hospitalizations
at manageable levels, they are
watching progress slip away
as record numbers of patients
overwhelm bone-tired health
care workers.
Oregon — like Florida,
Arkansas, Mississippi and
Louisiana in recent days — has
more people in the hospital with
COVID-19 than at any other
point in the pandemic. Hawaii is
about to reach that mark, too.
This, despite both states
having vaccination levels higher
than the national average as
of last week. Arkansas and
Louisiana were significantly
below average, while Florida
was about even. Mississippi,
meanwhile, ranks at the very
bottom for vaccination rates.
“It’s heartbreaking. People
are exhausted. You can see it in
their eyes,” said Dr. Jason Kuhl,
chief medical officer at Oregon’s
Providence Medford Medical
Center, where patients are left
on gurneys in hallways, their
monitoring machines beeping
away. Others needing treatment
for cancer or heart disease are
being turned away.
In other developments, the
Food and Drug Administra-
tion is expected to authorize a
third COVID-19 shot for certain
people with weakened immune
systems, such as cancer patients
and organ transplant recipients,
to give them an extra dose of
protection.
The U.S. is seeing the virus
storming back, driven by a
combination of the highly conta-
gious delta variant and lagging
vaccination rates, especially
in the South and other rural
and conservative parts of the
country.
New cases nationwide are
averaging about 123,000 per
day, a level last seen in early
February, and deaths are run-
ning at over 500 a day, turning
the clock back to May.
For the most part during the
pandemic, Hawaii enjoyed one
of the lowest infection and death
rates in the nation. In recent
days, though, it reported record
highs of more than 600 new
virus cases daily.
On its worst day in 2020,
Hawaii had 291 patients hos-
pitalized with the coronavirus.
Officials expect to hit 300 by the
end of this week.
Despite the promising
demand for COVID-19 shots
early on, it took three weeks
— much longer than expected
— to get from 50% to 60% of the
vaccine-eligible population fully
Gillian Flaccus/Associated Press, File
In this May 21, 2021 file photo, a sign reminds custom-
ers to wear their masks at a bakery in Lake Oswego.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021,
announced a statewide indoor mask requirement due
to the spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases,
warning that the state’s health care system could
be overwhelmed.
vaccinated. Vaccinations have
since plateaued. Nationally, the
rate is about 59%.
The biggest hospital on
Hawaii’s Big Island is feeling
the pressure. Out of 128 acute
beds, 116 were taken Wednes-
day at Hilo Medical Center, and
the hospital’s 11 intensive care
unit beds are almost always full
these days, spokeswoman Elena
Cabatu said.
“If someone out there has a
heart attack or a sepsis or gets
into a bad accident that requires
intensive care, we will have to
hold that person in the emer-
gency department,” Cabatu said.
“I’m surprised we landed
here,” she lamented. “The hope
during the mass vax clinics was
just so high.”
Hilton Raethel, president
and CEO of the Healthcare
Association of Hawaii, disputed
any notion that the rebound in
tourism in Hawaii is largely to
blame.
“The tourists have been a
source for infection, but they’ve
never been the predominant
source of infection,” Raethel
said. “There’s a lot more concern
about people from Hawaii, resi-
dents who go to the South, go to
Vegas, to other places, and they
come back and spread it.”
In Oregon, a record number
of COVID-19 hospitalizations —
670 — was reported for a third
straight day Thursday. ICU
beds across the state remain
about 90% full with COVID-19
patients occupying 177 of them,
the Oregon Health Authority
said. The previous peak of 622
hospitalizations came during a
November surge.
“Our doctors and nurses
are exhausted and rightfully
frustrated because this crisis is
avoidable. It is like watching a
train wreck coming and know-
ing that there’s an opportunity
to switch tracks, yet we feel
helpless while we watch un-
necessary loss of life,” said David
Zonies, associate chief medical
officer at Portland’s Oregon
Health & Science University.
Public health officials in the
southern part of the state said
they fear the situation will only
get worse as the delta variant
spreads through a region where
fewer than half the residents
have been fully vaccinated.
“I’m fearful that the darkest
days of this pandemic may still
be ahead of us,” said Chris Pizzi,
CEO of Providence Medical
Center in Medford.
In a renewed effort to stop
the spread, Gov. Kate Brown
announced this week that
nearly everyone will have to
wear masks again in indoor
public spaces, regardless of their
vaccination status.
Throughout the pandemic,
health officials have described
Oregon as a success story,
largely because of its tight re-
strictions, which were lifted at
the end of June.
California, which is below
the national vaccination rate,
is also seeing alarming spikes
in hospitalized COVID-19
patients. Los Angeles County,
the nation’s largest county, faced
1,573 hospitalizations as of
Wednesday — the highest since
the end of February. The city of
Los Angeles is working out a
possible vaccine requirement to
enter indoor spaces.
Meanwhile, White House
coronavirus coordinator Jeff
Zients said more people are
getting vaccinated in states
with the highest infection rates,
including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Alabama and Mississippi.
“We’re getting more shots in
the arms in the places that need
them in the most. That’s what
it’s going to take to end this
pandemic,” he said.
Mississippi broke its single-
day records of COVID-19 hos-
pitalizations, intensive-care use
and new coronavirus cases. The
state Health Department said
1,490 people were hospitalized
Wednesday and 388 were in the
ICU because of COVID-19. It
also confirmed 4,412 new cases.
The state health officer, Dr.
Thomas Dobbs, said a majority
of the cases are in the unvac-
cinated.
In Florida, where Repub-
lican Gov. Ron DeSantis has
steadfastly blocked mandatory
mask-wearing, some emergen-
cy rooms are so overcrowded
that doctors are sending
patients home with oxygen and
small, portable oxygen-monitor-
ing devices to free up beds for
sicker patients.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND (AP) — Volunteers scrambled
to hand out water, portable fans, popsicles and
information about cooling shelters Thursday,
Aug. 12, to homeless people living in isolated
encampments on the outskirts of Portland,
Oregon, as the Pacific Northwest sweated
through a heat wave gripping the normally
temperate region.
Authorities trying to provide relief to the
vulnerable, including low-income older people
and those living outdoors, are mindful of a
record-shattering heat wave in late June that
killed hundreds in Oregon, Washington and
British Columbia when the thermometer
went as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit.
In Portland, temperatures reached 102 F
by late afternoon, and more heat was expected
Friday. It was hotter than Phoenix, where the
high in the desert city was a below-normal
100 F. In Seattle, highs were in the 90s in a
region where many don’t have air condition-
ing. In Bellingham, Washington, on Thursday
the high hit 100 F for the first time on record.
Scorching weather also hit other parts
of the U.S. this week. The National Weather
Service said heat advisories and warnings are
in effect from the Midwest to the Northeast
and mid-Atlantic through at least Friday. And
in Michigan, heavy rains brought flooding,
leaving nearly 1 million homes and businesses
without power at one point Thursday in the
hot weather.
In Portland, a nonprofit group that serves
the homeless and those with mental illness
used three large vans to transport water and
other cooling items to homeless encampments
along the Columbia River on the eastern
outskirts of the city.
The effort was important because people
experiencing homelessness are often reluc-
tant to go to cooling centers, said Kim James,
director of homeless and housing support for
Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare.
Scott Zalitis, who was shirtless in the
heat, gorged himself on lime-green popsicles
handed out by the group and told volunteers
that the temperature at his campsite reached
105 F the day before. A huge cooler full of food
spoiled when all the ice melted and he couldn’t
find any more to buy.
“It’s miserable. I can’t handle the heat no
matter what. So, I mean, it’s hard to stand.
Even in the shade it’s too hot,” said Zalitis,
who became homeless last year when the
apartment where he subleased a room burned
down in an electrical fire. “You want to stay
somewhere that’s cool, as cool as possible.”
The encampment, where rusted-out cars
and broken-down RVs mixed with tents and
piles of garbage, was in sharp contrast to
downtown Portland, where sweaty pedes-
trians cooled off by running through a large
public fountain in a riverfront park.
Luna Abadia, 17, was out training with her
cross country team from Lincoln High School
in the morning when the group stopped for
a few minutes at the fountain. The runners
normally train at 4 p.m., but in recent weeks,
they have have had to shift it to 8 a.m. — and
it’s still oppressively hot, she said.
“It was very hot, lots of sweat. That’s
something we’ve noticed in the past week or
so,” Abadia said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared a
state of emergency and activated an emer-
gency operations center, citing the potential
for disruptions to the power grid and trans-
portation. City and county governments have
opened cooling centers, extended public library
hours and waived bus fare for those headed to
cooling centers. A 24-hour statewide help line
will direct callers to the nearest cooling shelter
and offer safety tips.
The back-to-back heat waves, coupled with
a summer that’s been exceptionally warm and
dry overall, are pummeling a region where
summer highs usually drift into the 70s or
80s. Intense heat waves and a historic drought
in the American West reflect climate change
that is making weather more extreme.
“For the heat wave, at this level, it is new
territory,” said Dan Douthit, spokesman for
the Portland Bureau of Emergency Com-
munications. “We’re known for the potential
for earthquakes, we have fires, floods — but
it seems like heat waves are becoming a very
serious emergency.”
Abadia said changes brought on by climate
change that she has noticed in her life prompt-
ed her to start a youth-run organization to get
more young people involved in the issue.
“Climate change is everything I’ve been
thinking about for the past weeks,“ she said.
“This heat wave and the wildfires we faced
here a year ago — and even now around the
world — have really been a new reminder to
what we’re facing and, kind of, the immediate
action that needs to be taken.”