Business
AgLife
Oregon sets
sessions
on jobless
benefits
Thursday, October 14, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
EPA takes
steps to
protect
salmon
By PETER WONG
US Army Corps of
Engineers required to
cool water at Snake
River dams
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — State officials have
scheduled six sessions, starting
Thursday, Oct. 14, for the public
and businesses to weigh in on a
rule allowing workers to keep
some unemployment benefits
even if they have barriers to their
returning to work.
The temporary rule would let
some workers continue to receive
benefits despite their limited
availability for work. Among the
covered situations are caring for a
sick family member and the lack
of child care.
Under the rule, workers would
have to seek alternate work if they
are available at least one shift per
day and 40 hours per week.
“This may require people to
seek a different type of job, but
one they have the skills and expe-
rience to do,” the Oregon Employ-
ment Department said in its
announcement of the webinars.
The temporary rule follows
after changes expired Sept. 26 to
the longstanding requirements
for people to be able to work and
available to work. Those require-
ments were reinstated on Sept. 26,
90 days after the end of an emer-
gency declaration that suspended
them during the pandemic.
The department will conduct
all six webinars by registration at
unemployment.oregon.gov/webi-
nars. Sessions will run 90 minutes
but may end earlier if there are no
further comments.
Worker-focused sessions are
planned at 2:30 p.m. Thursday,
Oct. 14; noon Tuesday, Oct. 26;
and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9.
Employer-focused sessions are
planned at 6 p.m. Wednesday,
Oct. 20; noon Wednesday, Nov. 3;
and 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17.
Simultaneous translation
will be offered in Spanish, Viet-
namese, Russian and Cantonese.
In addition to helping some
workers offset part of their lost
income with unemployment ben-
efits, an agency statement said
the rule would help communities
where a large number of people
have faced restricted work sched-
ules because of the pandemic.
Among them are people whose
underlying health conditions may
require them to limit their expo-
sure to potential carriers of the
COVID-19 virus.
Proposed legislation pending in
Congress, sponsored by Oregon
Sen. Ron Wyden and others,
would require states to allow more
flexibility in letting some workers
retain a portion of unemployment
benefits if they are otherwise able
to obtain alternate work.
B
By KEELY CHALMERS
KGW News
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Falk’s Mini Mart and gas station in Union, as seen on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, has nearly finished its renovations,
allowing gas to flow once more this coming weekend.
Nearly complete
Upgrades at Union convenience store almost finished
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — Union motor-
ists will soon be less alarmed
when their gas gauges
approach the empty mark.
The reason, Falk’s Mini
Mart is set to soon have its
two gasoline pumps up and
running again.
“We hope to have our
pumps operating this
weekend,” said Dennis Falk,
co-owner of Falk’s Mini Mart
with his wife, Jodi.
Falk’s Mini Mart has
not been selling gasoline in
Union since Aug. 19 because
it has been replacing its
underground gas tanks. Since
then, the closest place for res-
idents to purchase gasoline
has been Cove, 8 miles north-
east of Union.
The tanks at Falk’s Mini
Mart, which buys its fuel
from the Sinclair Oil Cor-
poration, that were replaced
had been there since 1991.
Falk said the tanks had been
deteriorating.
“We needed new ones. It
was time,” he said.
Falk said his store will be
able to begin selling gasoline
again as soon as it receives
approval from the Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality. He said Union resi-
dents are anxious for his store
to sell gas again, and so is he.
“I’m losing money,” he
said.
Falk said that when his
pumps are operating, as much
as 8,000 gallons of gasoline
are sold a day. Since he and
his wife purchased the mini
Dennis Falk/Contributed Photo
Contractors prepare to install a new gas tank at the Falk’s Mini Mart gas sta-
tion in Union on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.
mart in 2002, only one other
Union business has sold gas,
and that was for only a short
time almost 20 years ago.
The location of Falk’s
Mini Mart, 363 N. Main St.,
has been a gas station for
decades. Falk said he believes
gasoline for cars has been
sold there since the 1920s.
Photos displayed in the store
include one of a Texaco ser-
vice station in 1948.
The building housing his
mini mart is essentially the
same one the Texaco station
was in. It still has the same
outer shell, but the interior
looks much different since it
has been rebuilt three times,
Falk said.
The replacement of the gas
tanks is just a portion of the
renovation work that has been
done at Falk’s.
Other work has included
the replacement of under-
ground electrical wiring and
conduits and fuel pipes.
“Everything underground
See, Upgrade/Page B2
KENNEWICK, Wash. —
Starting this spring, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency will
require Snake River dam opera-
tors to limit hot water pollution to
help salmon survive. The change
comes after an environmental
group took the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to court to try and
stop the warming.
The Corps owns and oper-
ates the dams on the Snake River,
which is a major tributary to the
Columbia River.
Over the summer, sick and
dying salmon sought refuge in
the Little White Salmon River
just off the Columbia River.
Video showed sockeye salmon
covered in lesions and fungus —
the result of water that was 71
degrees.
Long-time fishing guide Bob
Rees said that temperature is way
too hot.
“It’s just flat out lethal to these
wild salmon that come up into
these rivers,” he said.
Rees has been a professional
fishing guide for 31 years and he
knows the Columbia River well.
He also knows that the fish that
swim in it are in trouble.
“Fish are dying in these
waterways because of the lethal
summer water,” he said.
The Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife said salmon
exposed to water above 68
degrees have an increased risk of
stress, disease and mortality.
“It’s going to lead to extinc-
tion,” said Brett Vanden-
heuvel, the executive director of
Columbia Riverkeeper.
The group has long maintained
that the large reservoirs behind
the dams are partly to blame for
the warmer river water.
The group first sued the Corps
back in 2013. Last week, they got
a victory.
“For the first time ever, the
federal dams on the Columbia
now have to reduce the amount
of pollution that they’re creating,”
said Vandenheuvel.
Rees and Vandenheuvel both
said the change is long overdue.
However, they stressed that this
requirement is an important
step in helping salmon survive a
warming climate.
Report: Agriculture remains a driving force in Oregon’s economy
By GEORGE PLAVEN
OREGON AGRICULTURE BY THE NUMBERS
Capital Press
CORVALLIS —
Throughout Oregon’s
economy, more than 15%
of sales and 20% of jobs are
tied in some way to agri-
culture, food and fiber,
according to a new analysis
by Oregon State University
in partnership with the state
Department of Agriculture.
The 27-page report pro-
vides an overview of the
industry and recent trends.
Researchers update the
analysis every 5-6 years,
with the last update in 2015.
Jeff Reimer, a professor
of applied economics at
OSU and co-author of the
report, said the analysis
also delves into the links
between agriculture, food
and fiber and other sectors
of the economy that may
not be apparent looking at
raw statistics.
For example, the report
shows that agriculture,
Some additional figures outlined in the Oregon agriculture, food and fiber
economic analysis, published in August by Oregon State University:
• 16 million acres of land is farmed across Oregon.
• 225 agricultural commodities are grown statewide.
• 2,000-plus new farms have been established since 2012.
• 95% of farms in Oregon are family owned.
• 5.7% of Oregon jobs are on farms.
ture without talking about
getting to the dinner plate
misses a big part of it,” he
said, “especially during this
pandemic.”
George Plaven/Capital Press, File
Agriculture continues to play a significant role in Oregon’s economy, according to a new analysis.
food and fiber production
is directly responsible for
more than $42 billion in
sales and 371,300 full- and
part-time jobs. That rep-
resents approximately 10%
of total sales and 14% of
jobs.
But after taking into
account support indus-
tries such as agricultural
inputs, transportation and
retail, the total shares grow
to more than $71 billion in
sales and 531,422 jobs.
Bruce Sorte, an econ-
omist with OSU Exten-
sion Service, said he calcu-
lates the interdependence
of economic sectors using
an internet-based appli-
cation called IMPLAN
— an input-output mod-
eling tool that can be used
for everything from french
fries made in Hermiston to
beef and potatoes grown in
Klamath Falls.
While data from the
latest USDA Census of
Agriculture in 2017 shows
Oregon eclipsed $5 billion
in farm gate value, Sorte
said there is more to the
story.
“Ttalking about agricul-
Rising exports
Oregon’s agricultural
exports have grown by
13.7% since 2015, with sales
jumping from $15.2 billion
to $17.3 billion.
Production of agri-
cultural exports dipped
slightly, from $3.3 billion
to $3.1 billion. Though the
analysis did not give a pre-
cise reason, it did mention
the U.S.-China trade war
that likely impacted exports
of wheat, hazelnuts, cher-
ries and beef.
The decline was more
than made up by increases
in agricultural support ser-
vices, food and fiber pro-
cessing, with Oregon’s food
and beverage sector playing
an outsize role.
Sorte said Oregon is in a
strong position to continue
increasing agricultural
exports as farmers become
more efficient.
“The fact that acreage
changes have been low,
and yet the output on
that acreage has dramat-
ically increased ... we’re
See, Report/Page B2