BUSINESS & AG LIFE
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 3, 2022
Steep fall in community college enrollment
could prolong Oregon’s worker shortage
By MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — Com-
munity colleges pro-
vide essential training for
many fields where Oregon
workers are now in short
supply, among them nurses,
truck drivers, electricians,
carpenters and the techni-
cians who run the state’s
computer chip factories.
As Oregon endures
an unprecedented labor
shortage in the aftermath
of the pandemic recession,
these jobs — which require
schooling for specialized
skills — are some of the
most persistently hard to fill.
The pipeline for these
trained workers suggests
that may not change any-
time soon.
Oregon community col-
lege enrollment fell by 23%
during the pandemic’s first
year and didn’t rebound a bit
this fall. The steep fall exac-
erbates an extended decline
— enrollment is down by
40% over the past decade.
(Enrollment at Oregon’s
four-year universities didn’t
East Oregonian, File
Community colleges, including Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, provide essential training for many fields where Oregon
workers are now in short supply, among them nurses, truck drivers, electricians, carpenters and the technicians who run the state’s com-
puter chip factories.
bounce back this fall, either,
but fell only 5% in the pan-
demic’s first year.)
The decline may reflect
improved job prospects, and
higher wages, during the
pandemic. Oregon’s average
private-sector hourly wage
was $31.76 last month, up
15% since COVID-19 hit
the state early in 2020.
Good wages and good
jobs might make a couple
years of community college
less attractive. And in the
short run, it makes it easier
to fill positions at restau-
rants, hotels and in other
fields that don’t require
additional education.
That may just kick the
can down the road, though,
prolonging Oregon’s worker
shortage by reducing the
pool of workers with two-
year degrees and certificates
that specialized jobs require.
“We need workers
trained in these fields,”
Oregon Employment
Department economist Jes-
sica Nelson wrote in an
analysis last month. “An
interruption in such training
will be felt in increased
difficulty filling jobs in a
couple of years’ time, as
these programs can take two
to four years to result in a
fully trained worker.”
It’s not just employers
who may feel the impact,
Nelson warns. She notes
that the average starting
wage for an Oregon worker
in jobs that require just a
high-school diploma was
$15.78. Jobs that require a
two-year degree, or similar
training, start at $25.39 on
average.
Some fields pay even
better — trained techni-
cians working in a computer
chip factory typically start
around $60,000.
“Workers completing
certificates and associate
degrees go on to earn more
money than their high
school graduate counter-
parts, and have lower unem-
ployment rates as well,”
Nelson wrote. “These
workers, and their skills and
experience, will continue to
be in demand.”
EO Media Group, File
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality alleges the Port of Morrow has applied
excessive amounts of nitrate-containing water to area farmland. The port disputes the massive
fine, claiming its wastewater violations were “unintentional” and had minor effects on human
health and the environment.
Port of Morrow appeals $1.3 million
fine for groundwater contamination
By MONICA SAMAYOA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Davi Parker/Contributed Photo
Davi Parker’s doe goat Mocha stands with her kids. Parker makes goat milk soap at her Wallowa home.
SOAP
Continued from Page B1
“Then fragrance and
color are added depending
on the design I am trying
to achieve,” Parker said.
“The soap batter is then
poured into molds, where it
goes through the saponifi-
cation process.”
That process is where
the distribution of unsat-
urated and saturated fatty
acid determines the hard-
ness, aroma, cleansing,
lather and moisturizing
abilities of soaps.
“The batter heats up
— it can get quite hot —
and goes through what is
called a gel phase,” she
said. “Here, the batter
begins to solidify and gets
gel-like. It doesn’t have to
go through gel to become
soap, but the gel phase
makes colors brighter
and the bar ends up a bit
creamier, in my opinion.”
She said not all people
who make soap prefer to
gel their soaps and others
try to prevent it.
“I like mine to gel,” she
said.
Parker said that after the
soap has been in a mold
for as much as 24 hours it
can be removed and sliced
into bars, which then must
cure for up to six weeks
for any excess water to
evaporate and the bars to
harden fully and become
more mild. She said that
some soaps, such as cas-
tille soap, are cured for an
entire year.
Davi Parker/Contributed Photo
Davi Parker’s cinnamon vanilla soap cupcakes look good enough to
eat, but she advises against it since they are, after all, soap.
The soaps
While she doesn’t claim
her soap does more than
get a person clean, she rec-
ommends users research
the benefits of goat milk for
their skin.
“All of my soaps are
special,” Parker said. “I
have designed my recipe,
through much trial and
error, to be very cleansing
without being drying and to
add enough moisture back
to your skin without leaving
a greasy or residue feel.”
As for the scents she
adds, that’s a bit random.
“I make whatever scents
seem grand to me at the
time, whatever makes me
happy,” she said. “I have in
the past, and plan to con-
tinue in the future, (used)
some odd fragrances, such
as bacon and dill pickle.
Those make me laugh, so I
like to make them.”
Marketing
At present, Parker has
no storefront and sells
her products online. She
can be reached via email
and the products viewed
on her website, www.
spiltmilksoaps.com, and
Facebook page.
Some of her products
are available at shops in the
county, such as the Flannel
Lantern in Joseph.
“When I can, I also sell
at various markets and
vendor shows,” she said. “I
sell mainly online. I offer
free local delivery to most
of Wallowa County. I also
offer free shipping on orders
over $40. Sadly, that keeps
going up with the increase
in postage rates.”
SALEM — The Port
of Morrow has filed an
appeal to contest a nearly
$1.3 million fine it received
from state regulators for
repeated wastewater vio-
lations that contaminated
groundwater in the area.
Earlier this month, the
Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality
fined the Port of Morrow,
an industrial park outside
of Boardman, for over-
applying wastewater
containing nitrogen
to agriculture fields
and failing to monitor
the resulting nitrate
contamination.
According to DEQ,
the port violated its water
quality permit more than
a thousand times in four
years. The port exceeded
its nitrogen limits by
approximately 165 tons
during that time, further
contaminating ground-
water that is used for
drinking water in an area
that DEQ says is already
burdened with pollution.
In the appeal filed last
week, the port disputed its
fine, claiming the viola-
tions were “unintentional”
and were a result of things
that were out of the port’s
control. The port said it
believed it had enough
land available to absorb
the excess nitrate but there
was “an unexpected com-
bination of less acreage
available and unusually
high winter precipitation”
that forced the port to
exceed its nitrate limits.
Despite the overappli-
cation of nitrogen in these
areas, the port claims it
had no “adverse effect” on
groundwater nitrate levels
and therefore had minor
effects on human health
and the environment.
But the port also admits
it was not monitoring and
recording nitrate levels in
plant tissue as required in
its water quality permit
because there was no stan-
dardized method for moni-
toring and “DEQ provided
no useful guidance,” the
appeal letter states.
Nitrogen is a beneficial
plant nutrient when used
in appropriate amounts.
When overapplied,
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nitrogen can lead to high
levels of nitrate, which is
already found in the soil,
water and air. It then leaks
into the soil and into the
groundwater.
Groundwater is the pri-
mary source of drinking
water for residents in
Morrow and Umatilla
counties, and drinking
high levels of nitrate can
cause health problems.
DEQ and the Port of
Morrow will now schedule
an informal meeting to
come to an agreement.
The port says it should
not be held liable for the
full $1.29 million fine.
If a settlement cannot be
reached, DEQ will request
a hearing before a judge.
The port previously
violated its water quality
permit in November 2015.
It received a $279,000 fine
from DEQ for exceeding
its nitrogen application
limits. DEQ and the port
settled the case with a
$129,000 fine and a cor-
rective action schedule
that required the port to
add additional acreage to
absorb the extra nitrogen
in its wastewater.
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