A7
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021
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DOW
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BRIEFING
Supreme Court
kills challenge on
‘Obamacare’
The Supreme Court
rejected the latest ma-
jor Republican-led ef-
fort to kill the national
health care law known as
“Obamacare” on Thurs-
day, preserving insurance
coverage for millions of
Americans.
The justices, by a 7-2
vote, left the entire Af-
fordable Care Act intact
in ruling that Texas, other
GOP-led states and two
individuals had no right
to bring their lawsuit in
federal court.
The law’s major provi-
sions include protections
for people with existing
health conditions, a range
of no-cost preventive ser-
vices, expansion of the
Medicaid program that
insures lower-income
people and access to
health insurance markets
offering subsidized plans.
Also left in place is the
law’s now-toothless re-
quirement that people
have health insurance or
pay a penalty. Congress
rendered that provision
irrelevant in 2017 when
it reduced the penalty
to zero.
The elimination of the
penalty had become the
hook that Texas and other
GOP-led states, as well
as the Trump administra-
tion, used to attack the
entire law. They argued
that without the man-
date, a pillar of the law
when it was passed, the
rest of the law should
fall, too.
U.S. jobless claims
tick up to 412,000
The number of Amer-
icans applying for unem-
ployment benefits rose
last week for the first time
since April despite wide-
spread evidence that the
economy and the job
market are rebounding
steadily from the pan-
demic recession.
The Labor Department
said Thursday that job-
less claims rose 37,000
from the week before to
412,000. As the job mar-
ket has strengthened,
the number of weekly
applications for unem-
ployment aid has fallen
for most of the year. The
number of jobless claims
generally reflects the
pace of layoffs.
Weekly applications for
unemployment aid had
dropped for six straight
weeks, and economists
had expected another
dip last week. Still, the
report showed the four-
week average of claims,
which smooths out week-
to-week ups and downs,
fell by 8,000 last week to
395,000 — the lowest
four-week average since
the pandemic slammed
the economy in March
2020.
Bulletin wire reports
bendbulletin.com/business
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Front-line workers have
gone through the wringer
during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Their customer-fac-
ing jobs meant they could not
escape potential exposure to
the coronavirus, and the bur-
den of enforcing safety rules
largely fell on them. Hailed
as heroes, some got extra pay,
but many did not, and a lot
of them — especially in the
restaurant, hotel and travel in-
EURO
$1.1913 -.0103
Klamath River dams close in on removal
BY GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS — The
largest dam removal project in
U.S. history is one step closer
to becoming reality.
Federal energy regulators
have approved the transfer
of operating licenses for four
hydroelectric dams along the
Klamath River in Southern Or-
egon and Northern California,
officially passing ownership
from PacifiCorp to the non-
profit Klamath River Renewal
Corp.
The the nonprofit plans to
demolish the dams for endan-
gered salmon and steelhead,
opening about 400 river miles
of upstream habitat.
“We view this as a big win
for every stakeholder in the
basin,” said Klamath River
Renewal Corp. spokesman
Dave Meurer. “That includes
the farm and ranch commu-
nity.”
The Federal Energy Regu-
latory Commission signed its
order Thursday for the dams
— J.C. Boyle, Copco 1, Copco
2 and Iron Gate dams — mark-
ing a key milestone in the ef-
fort to revive fish populations
in the Klamath Basin.
Removal of the fish-block-
ing dams is currently slated to
begin in 2023, with a project
budget of $450 million — in-
cluding $200 million from
PacifiCorp ratepayers and $250
million earmarked from Cali-
fornia Proposition 1, a $7.5 bil-
lion statewide water bond that
passed in 2014.
Jim Root, president of the
renewal corp. board, said the
FERC decision is a “crucial and
significant step forward” in re-
storing a free-flowing Klamath
River.
“I am deeply appreciative
to all of the parties who have
supported this project over the
years, and I wish to especially
note the significant and sus-
tained efforts of our tribal part-
ners,” Root said in a statement.
See Dams / A8
Agriculture
overtime
bill gets
$100M
price tag
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
View from the tram
Wallowa Lake Tramway looks ahead to the next 50 years
after hitting milestone in 2020 during the pandemic
BY BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
W
ALLOWA LAKE — More of
the same exciting rides and
new features can be expected
during the next half-century of life in the
Wallowa Lake Tramway, said co-owner
Mike Lockhart .
Like many businesses, last year —
when the tram marked it s 50th anniver-
sary — was dominated by surviving the
pandemic. He said nothing special was
done to mark the first half-century of
county’s top tourist attraction.
“I didn’t think about that until this
morning,” he said.
Originally constructed in 1970, the
tram was first owned by a stock corpora-
tion known as High Wallowas, which was
later forced to sell, Lockhart said.
“It started with a bunch of dedicated
people who wanted to build an attraction
that would be special, which this is, in my
opinion,” he said.
Maintenance is primary goal
Perhaps the primary goal Lockhart and
co-owner Bill Whittemore have for the
tram is to continue to maintain and up-
grade it. The attraction operates from late
May to early October, and some people
would like to see that expanded. That’s
unlikely, since the “shoulder seasons” of
late fall and early spring are necessary for
their maintenance work.
Lockhart estimated the tram would
cost about $10 million to replace.
However, he said, “It isn’t worth $10
million and that’s why we’re doing ev-
erything we can to restore it to keep the
place operating safely. There’s very lit-
tle here that dates back to 1970.”
He said they are continually
on the lookout for parts they
can use on the tram — or have
made new.
“A lot of the parts we have
right now we have to have
made ourselves” at a local ma-
chine shop, he said, but “there
are still parts around” that can
be purchased.
Safety is key
Their efforts to keep the tram operat-
ing safely have proven successful.
“It’s important that we do this main-
tenance. We are the No. 1 attraction in
Wallowa County and there’s a lot of
people who factor that into when they
come to Wallowa County.”
Once, they had to evacuate the top
because of high winds.
“It’s all about safety, from every oper-
ation we have from the lift to food ser-
vice to everything else,” he said.
Evacuation is no easy task. Under the
seats of each car is a cord that is used to
let a rope down to the ground and pas-
sengers get into harness to be lowered to
the ground. He said the tram works with
local first-responders when necessary.
But such calls are rare.
“We haven’t had one in 20 years,” he said.
The only mishaps on the tram have
been minor injuries suffered, such as a
rider slipping upon getting into or out of
one of the cabins.
See Tram / A8
Photos by Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
ABOVE TOP: Wallowa Lake Tramway co-
owner Mike Lockhart rides June 9 to the
summit of Mount Howard as clouds
obscure the mountains behind him.
ABOVE BOTTOM: A “boxcar” used primar-
ily to bring supplies to the Summit Grill
prepares to make its run.
As virus restrictions lift: Don’t be a jerk, say workers
BY ANDREW MENDEZ, ANDREA
CHANG, HUGO MARTÍN, JACK
FLEMMING
Los Angeles Times
q
dustries — lost work.
Now we’re in another time
of transition: Many states and
cities have eased pandemic
safety rules, and at stores,
restaurants and other venues,
a lot of customers feel things
should be back to normal. But
should they really? The Times
talked to front-line workers
and operators of custom-
er-facing businesses. Here’s
what they want you to know.
Keep a mask on when you can
Even if you’re fully vacci-
nated, continuing to cover
your face can put others at
ease.
“If you’re not eating, if
you’re just hanging out and
chatting with somebody, it
would be nice to have people
put their masks back on,” said
Ricky Hernandez, owner of
Coffee Coffee in Los Angeles.
“It’s almost like second na-
ture anyway; we’ve been do-
ing it for quite some time, so
we don’t think it’s asking too
much.”
If you’re not fully vacci-
nated, continuing to wear a
mask is even more important.
Respect each place’s rules
Some businesses have pan-
demic precautions that are
more stringent than the gov-
ernment requires.
Tohm Ifergan, 31, owner of
Dayglow, said his coffee shops
in the L.A. neighborhoods Sil-
ver Lake and West Hollywood
will continue to require cus-
tomers to wear masks when
they enter, order and are not
seated.
But he is bracing for push-
back. In recent months, “we’ve
witnessed many people enter
unmasked, screaming at our
faces, spitting at us, throwing
chairs, blasting us on social
media, calling us ‘libtard’ and
‘unpatriotic,’ ” said Ifergan,
who also works as a barista at
the shops.
Before Tuesday, “it was
nice to fall back on the health
department’s mandate” in
enforcing the rules, he said.
“Now that it’s not a require-
ment from a county stand-
point, are we going to get even
more aggression from those
types of people? ”
See Virus / A8
A bill requiring Oregon
farmers to pay higher overtime
wages has passed a key legisla-
tive committee, though it now
includes a hefty price tag that
may hinder further progress.
The House Rules Committee
voted 4-3 to approve House Bill
2358 with an amendment that
would phase out the agricul-
tural overtime exemption over
three years and allocate $100
million to help farmers make
the transition.
To put that amount in per-
spective, it’s more than twice
the general fund tax dollars ap-
propriated for the entire Ore-
gon Department of Agriculture
during the most recent bien-
nium.
Before the House votes on
HB 2358, it must first clear the
budget-setting Joint Commit-
tee on Ways and Means. The
bill would then need to pass the
Senate before the end of this
year’s legislative session, which
is constitutionally required to
end by June 27.
Under the amended ver-
sion of HB 2358, farm workers
would be owed 1.5 times the
regular wage rate after 55 hours
per week in 2022, after 48 hours
per week in 2023 and after 40
hours per week in 2024.
Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Lake
Oswego, said that “everybody
thought the bill was dead” but
she proposed the amendment
to provide justice for farm
workers while alleviating the
economic burden on their em-
ployers.
“It won’t make them whole by
any stretch but it will help them
transition,” she said during a
June 16 legislative hearing.
The $100 million would be
overseen by the Oregon Busi-
ness Development Department,
which would pay eligible farm-
ers for 80% of the amount they
spent on overtime in 2022, 2023
and 2024. Priority would go to
farmers who paid the highest
proportion of their net income
in overtime and who employed
fewer than 25 workers per year.
Requiring farmers to pay
overtime wages may cause a
shift to mechanization or drive
some crops out of state but it’s
ultimately what’s fair to work-
ers, Salinas said.
With the neighboring states
of Washington and Californian
ending the agricultural over-
time exemption, “I don’t see
how Oregon can avoid this,” she
said.
Farmers must accept market
prices for crops and livestock,
unlike other industries that can
raise prices to compensate for
Oregon’s stricter labor regula-
tions, she said. “That isn’t how
this industry works.”
Growers cannot force buyers
to purchase products from Or-
egon instead of competing re-
gions, so they’ll switch to other
crops and reduce the variety of
what’s grown in-state, Drazan
said.