BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, AuguST 20, 2022 A5
THE WEST
Wyden
promotes
bill to curb
oil company
profiteering
Oregon
Public
Defense
chief is fired
BY ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
BY ANNA KAMINSKI
The Bulletin
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
spoke to Bend residents
Monday, Aug. 15 about a new
bill that proposes taxing ma-
jor oil companies, such as
Exxon and Chevron, based
on their
profits.
Wyden
hopes the
Taxing Big
Oil Prof-
iteers Act
will encour-
age lower
Wyden
gas prices
in Central Oregon and else-
where while combating gas
price-gouging, he said at the
news conference.
“You’ve got big oil compa-
nies running a money vac-
uum, profiteering, as hard-
working Oregonians, here in
Bend and elsewhere on this
side of the Cascades, are suf-
fering,” Wyden said.
The new bill’s contents in-
clude a stock buyback pro-
vision, an excess profits sur-
tax and closing a loophole
that allows oil companies to
downplay their profits and
defer taxes on those profits.
“The small businessper-
son, the mom who’s taking
their kid to child care, our
farmers: They’re going to be
our first priority rather than
wealthy oil executives buying
back stock,” Wyden said.
The stock buyback provi-
sion imposes a 25% excise
tax, which is a type of tax that
focuses on a specific good
such as gasoline, alcohol and
tobacco, on the stock that oil
companies repurchase.
The excess profits surtax
adds a 21% tax on oil and gas
companies that make over a
normal profit, which is de-
fined as a 10% return on ex-
penses, Wyden said.
“I can’t imagine making
10% profits,” Dan Ellingson,
a local farmer and a member
on the Central Oregon Irri-
gation District board, said
to Wyden at the news con-
ference.
A pandemic, drought and
now high oil prices have
made agricultural life much
more difficult than normal,
said Ellingson, who has a 30-
acre farm just east of Bend.
His grandfather home-
steaded there in 1906.
The necessity of petro-
leum, or oil, pervades al-
most every aspect of farm
life, Ellingson said. Anything
from PVC piping for farm
improvements to chemical
fertilizers and herbicides
that become vital for grow-
ing crops in a drought to re-
placement parts for sprinkler
heads comes down to oil.
“I think it’s a really good
idea that we stand up to
these oil companies and let
them know that they’re kill-
ing families,” Mindy Cor-
ley, who sits on the board
of directors and the lending
committee for NeighborIm-
pact, said at the press con-
ference.
“Families are struggling,
and they’re being forced to
choose between going to
work, buying food or taking
their kids to school.”
In addition to Ellingson
and Corley, Cassie Cope-
land, a counselor at Oregon
State University-Cascades
spoke to the ways higher
oil prices have affected stu-
dents’ lives.
Copeland, who offers
guidance to low-income,
first-generation or disabled
students, said at the con-
ference that one student
she works with has to pick
up extra shifts at work ev-
ery week, which takes time
away from studies, just to
be able to afford to drive to
class.
Wyden said at the press
conference that this bill con-
nects with his colleagues in
Washington, D.C., because
it’s a “different approach.”
Taxing profits instead of oil
prices, he said, is a way to
lighten the wallets of major
oil executives.
The Taxing Big Oil Prof-
iteers Act comes just after
Chevron and Exxon ex-
pressed their intentions this
spring to buy back billions of
dollars worth of stock by the
end of this year and
next year.
Antonio Arredondo/East Oregonian
Several local police and a Pendleton ambulance wait Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 17, 2022, near the entrance to the food court at Wild-
horse Resort & Casino, Mission, following a robbery attempt that ended with a police shootout.
Suspect, bystander injured in
robbery attempt at Wildhorse
BY ANTONIO ARREDONDO
AND MARCO GRAMACHO
East Oregonian
MISSION — A robbery attempt
Wednesday, Aug. 17, at Wildhorse Re-
sort & Casino turned into a shootout
between the suspect and police that left
the suspect and one bystander injured.
The Pendleton School District re-
ported the bystander was one of its staff
members.
“There were some PSD staff onsite
for a school event,” the district reported
on its Facebook page.
“Several members of our staff wit-
nessed the incident and one staff mem-
ber was injured.”
The district did not identify the staff
member, and authorities have yet to
identify the suspect.
Wildhorse is on the Umatilla Indian
Reservation several miles east of Pend-
leton. The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation reported
the Umatilla Tribal Police Department
at 1:04 p.m. responded to a report of a
robbery in action at Wildhorse.
Matt Waggoner was one of the peo-
ple standing by the entrance to the ca-
sino on a video call with his son when
he saw a police car roar up to the en-
trance of the food court hundreds of
feet away. He said an officer stepped out
of the vehicle and began yelling for ev-
eryone to get down and put their hands
up.
“It was all so sudden,” Waggoner said.
The Athena resident then said he saw
the robber emerge from the doors, fir-
ing away at the officer. After exchang-
ing gunfire, Waggoner said the gunman
appeared to be hit on his right side be-
fore crumpling to the ground.
A woman sitting nearby also was in-
jured in the shootout, he said, and he
captured about 20 minutes of footage of
the shooting and subsequent action on
his phone.
Danielle McClelland said she was on
her way to an afternoon work retreat
when she witnessed the shooting. At
the time, she was waiting for her father
to pick her up.
“The shooting happened so fast. I
couldn’t see much. I heard so many
shots,” she said.
There were 13 bullet cartridges in the
area behind the officer’s car and at least
three bullet cartridges on the gunman’s side.
McClelland, who works for the
school district, at the scene said she be-
lieved the wounded bystander was a
coworker.
Along with Waggoner, other by-
standers filmed the shooting. Police
asked one to stay back to provide ev-
idence. The man, who wanted to re-
main anonymous, said he was waiting
for a transfer bus to Hermiston for an
appointment when the shooting hap-
pened. His statement corroborated at
least part of Waggoner’s recount.
“(The gunman) came towards the
officer shooting,” the man said. “It was
surreal to see that and being able to film
it. Luckily I had my phone in my hand
because I was shaking.”
The man also he posted the video to
Facebook.
All three witnesses commented on
how quick the violent encounter was
and how fast police arrived. Waggoner
said three police cars were at the scene
in quick order and Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police
also arrived.
The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation reported
approximately 20 police were on site af-
ter the shooting, including tribal police
and FBI.
Wildhorse in a statement reported
ambulances took both the suspect and
the bystander to St. Anthony Hospital,
Pendleton. CTUIR in an update re-
ported their conditions were unknown.
“We are grateful no one else was phys-
ically injured with all that took place,”
according to Wildhorse CEO Gary
George. “Security personnel and Tribal
Police were quick to act and the situation
was controlled in a swift manner.”
Wildhorse reported the resort and
casino are open but the food court was
closed until the investigation is complete.
George also credited Wildhorse staff.
“Wildhorse employees are the best,”
he said. “The way the cashiers and ev-
eryone handled the situation was ex-
emplary.”
CTUIR reported Umatilla Tribal Po-
lice is leading the investigation with the
assistance of the FBI and local and state
law enforcement agencies.
— East Oregonian news editor Phil
Wright contributed to this report.
COLORADO RIVER
How new cuts will impact states, residents
BY SUMAN NAISHADHAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Ari-
zona and Nevada residents
won’t face bans on watering
their lawns or washing their
cars despite more Colorado
River water shortages.
But U.S. officials an-
nounced Tuesday there will
be less water available next
year for them from the river
that serves 40 million peo-
ple in the West and Mexico
and a farm industry worth
billions of dollars. Observers
warn that a reckoning is still
coming for the growing re-
gion because the water crisis
is expected to generate fu-
ture cuts.
WHY IS THE COLORADO
RIVER THREATENED?
There are two Colorado
Rivers in the U.S. — the
1,450-mile powerhouse of
the West and the over 800-
mile river that starts and
ends in Texas.
The river that faces cuts
is the longer one. It supplies
seven states plus Mexico but
its flow has dropped dras-
tically over time because of
water overuse by farming
and growing populations,
hotter temperatures, evapo-
ration and less melting snow
in the spring to replenish the
river.
And for years, the seven
states that receive the river’s
water have diverted more
water from it than what was
replenished by nature.
WHO DO LAKE MEAD
AND LAKE POWELL
SERVE?
Lake Mead supplies wa-
ter to millions of people in
Arizona, California, Nevada
and Mexico.
Cuts for 2023 are triggered
when predicted water levels
fall below a certain threshold
— 1,050 feet above sea level.
Additional cuts will be
triggered when projected
levels sink to 1,045 and 1,025
feet. At a certain point, levels
Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times-TNS
The Colorado River flows over rocks along its banks at Lee’s Ferry,
a narrow stretch that marks the divide between the river’s upper
and lower basins. Measurements of Colorado River water flow-
ing through Lee’s Ferry are used to factor water allocations to the
seven U.S. and two Mexican states in the entire Colorado River
Basin.
could drop so low that water
can no longer be pumped
from the reservoir.
Eventually, some city and
industrial water users will be
affected.
Lake Powell’s levels are
also falling and extraordi-
nary steps have been taken
to keep water in the reser-
voir on the Arizona-Utah
border.
Colorado, New Mex-
ico, Utah and Wyoming
get water from tributaries
and other reservoirs that
feed into Lake Powell. Wa-
ter from three reservoirs in
those states has been drained
in recent years to maintain
water levels at Lake Powell
and protect the electric grid
powered by the Glen Can-
yon Dam.
WHAT IS BEING CUT AND
WHY?
The federal government
started cutting some states’
supplies this year to maintain
water levels in the river and
its key reservoirs. New wa-
ter cuts will build on those
reductions — which all but
eliminated some central Ari-
zona farmers’ supply of Col-
orado River water and to a
much lesser extent, reduced
Nevada and Mexico’s share.
Lake Mead and Lake
Powell — the two largest
Colorado River reservoirs
— are about a quarter full,
threatening water supplies
and the generation of hy-
droelectric power that pro-
vides electricity to millions
of people.
Along the reservoirs’
edges, “bathtub rings” of
minerals outline where the
high water line once stood,
highlighting the challenges
the West faces as a “mega-
drought” tightens it grip on
the region.
HOW IS THE RIVER
SHARED?
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah
and New Mexico share the
Colorado River in what’s
called the river’s upper basin.
Arizona, Nevada and Cali-
fornia form the lower basin.
From its headwaters in
Colorado, the river and its
tributaries eventually flow
south of the border into
Mexico, which also uses its
water. The river’s water tra-
ditionally flowed through
Mexico and reached the Gulf
of Calfornia, but rarely does
so anymore because so much
is used by farms and cities.
Among those who depend
on the water are nearly 30
federally recognized Native
American tribes.
In the Southwest, water
stored in Lake Mead and
Lake Powell — the two larg-
est manmade reservoirs
in the U.S. — is divvied up
through legal agreements
among the seven Colorado
River basin states, the fed-
eral government, Mexico
and tribes. The agreements
determine how much water
each entity gets, when cuts
are triggered and the order
in which the parties must
sacrifice some of their
supply.
Under a 2019 drought
contingency plan, Arizona,
Nevada, California and Mex-
ico agreed to give up shares
of their water to maintain
water levels at Lake Mead.
This year’s cuts are part of
that plan — and as a result,
state officials knew they were
coming.
WHICH PARTIES WILL BE
AFFECTED BY THE CUTS?
Arizona, Nevada and
Mexico.
Arizona was hardest hit,
again, and will receive 79%
of its total share next year.
But that’s only 3% less than
what it got this year, after
federal officials slashed its
supply.
Nevada will receive about
92% of its total supply next
year. Most residents will not
feel the cuts thanks to water
conservation, reuse and the
state not using its full allo-
cation.
California has been
spared because it has more
senior water rights than
Arizona and Nevada. That
means it doesn’t have to give
up its water first, according
to the hierarchy that guides
water law in the American
West.
Mexico will get about 93%
of its total supply. The water
is used in cities and farming
communities in northwest-
ern Mexico, which is also en-
during a severe drought.
SALEM — Even as hun-
dreds of people charged with
crimes in Oregon remain de-
prived of legal representation,
a commission tasked with
fixing the problem fired the
leader of the effort on Thurs-
day, Aug. 18.
The action by the Public
Defense Services Commis-
sion capped an extraordinary
week in which Oregon Su-
preme Court Chief Justice
Martha Walters took the un-
precedented step of firing all
the members of the commis-
sion. She then reinstated five
of them while appointing four
new members.
The commission voted six
to two to fire the executive
director of the Office of Pub-
lic Defense Services, Stephen
Singer. One member was ab-
sent.
“This is what happens in
Third World tin pot dictator-
ships,” Singer told the recon-
stituted panel Thursday before
it took the vote.
“This is when the ... parlia-
ment won’t do the bidding of
the chief executive and so the
dictator then dismisses the
parliament and reconstitutes
a new parliament that will be
more pliable and do the dicta-
tor’s wishes.”
Critics for years have said
Oregon’s unique public de-
fense system is in crisis, with
far too few attorneys to repre-
sent defendants who cannot
afford an attorney to represent
them. A report by the Amer-
ican Bar Association released
in January found that Oregon
has only 31% of the public de-
fenders it needs.
Singer was brought in to
solve the problem, and he said
his ouster would make low-in-
come people charged with a
crime, who disproportionately
are people of color, suffer the
consequences.
“In the end, I’m not the
loser. You’re not the losers.
The chief justice isn’t the loser.
The court system isn’t the
loser. The real losers here are
the clients,” Singer said.
He said Walters had sug-
gested he recruit volunteers,
civil lawyers, retired lawyers,
retired judges and third- and
fourth-year law students to
address the backlog of unrep-
resented defendants. Singer
said he refused.
“It’s an extraordinarily rep-
rehensible and unethical way
to treat poor people charged
with crimes,” he told the com-
mission. “They are not people
to be experimented on.”
“Even a misdemeanor crim-
inal case can have significant
consequences for the client
and can result in deportation,”
he said. “It has implications
for housing, for jobs, for edu-
cation, access to loans. ”
One of the commissioners
who voted against firing Singer
was Jennifer Parrish Taylor, a
Black woman who is with the
Urban League of Portland.
She had recommended that
an investigation be conducted
into Singer’s conduct and ef-
fectiveness, and said firing
him amounted to a lack of due
process, since he wasn’t able
to bring witnesses before the
panel and almost half of its
members are new and unfa-
miliar with the situation.
She compared Singer’s pre-
dicament to low-income de-
fendants who aren’t afforded
due process because the court
system can’t find attorneys to
represent them.
Oregon’s public defender
system is the only one in the
nation that relies entirely on
contractors: Large nonprofit
defense firms, smaller coop-
erating groups of private de-
fense attorneys that contract
for cases and independent
attorneys who can take cases
at will.
Some firms and private at-
torneys are periodically refus-
ing to take new cases because
of the workload. Poor pay
rates and late payments from
the state are also a disincen-
tive.
Singer, appearing before the
commission via video link, ap-
pealed to the new commission
to allow him to keep his job
and said Walters — an ex-of-
ficio permanent, non-voting
member of the commission
— was threatening the inde-
pendence of the commission
by firing the commission and
appointing a new one to do
her bidding.