A5
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022
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DOW
31,261.90 +8.77
BRIEFING
State seeks input
on Pacific Power
rate hike request
The Oregon Public
Utility Commission is
hosting a virtual pub-
lic comment hearing at
6 p.m. Tuesday. The event
provides Pacific Power
customers an opportu-
nity to speak directly to
the commissioners about
the utility’s proposed in-
crease to electricity rates.
Pacific Power is ask-
ing for an increase in its
general rates of approx-
imately $84.4 million or
6.8%. This would impact
customer rates differently
depending on usage and
customer type — resi-
dential, business or indus-
trial . For a residential cus-
tomer using an average
of 900 kWh per month,
the increase would be
$13.01 or 14.16% for
single-family residential
customers; and, $6.97
or 11% in a multifamily
home using an average of
600 kWh a month.
To participate using
the Zoom platform, view
the log-in details on the
agenda, which can be
found at https://tinyurl.
com/yckz2ks2
To participate by
phone, view the call-in
details on the agenda,
found at the link above.
Comments may be sub-
mitted through June 22
in the following ways:
By email to PUC.Pub-
licComments@puc.ore-
gon.gov
By calling 503-378-
6600 or 800-522-2404
(all relay calls accepted;
Spanish translation ser-
vices available)
By mail: Attn: UE 399,
Administrative Hearings
Division, Public Utility
Commission of Oregon,
PO Box 1088, Salem, OR
97308-1088
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BY KATRINA LEWIS
AND JANET FREUND
Bloomberg
The wild swings in con-
sumer stocks this week that
erased $503 billion in market
value are far from over with
earnings reports from well-
known retailers including
Dollar General, Macy’s and
Costco still to come.
Volatility in consumer
stocks reached levels not seen
since the early days of the pan-
demic-driven rout as retailers
from Walmart to Target cut
their annual profit forecasts
and stoked concern over the
impact of rising inflation and
the challenge to pass on higher
costs to consumers.
Walmart and Target each
posted their biggest one-day
declines since 1987 after their
results, sparking 19% and
30% selloffs respectively this
week. Ross Stores Inc. was the
latest to trim its forecasts for
comparable sales and profit,
fueling its biggest decline
since 1986.
EURO
$1.0546 -.0052
Shopping carts are
lined up outside
a Target store in
Pleasant Hill, Cal-
ifornia. Walmart
and Target each
posted their big-
gest one-day de-
clines since 1987
after their results,
sparking 19% and
30% selloffs re-
spectively.
David Paul Morris/
Bloomberg
See Retailers / A6
Growing electric
Farmers, nonprofit groups
experiment with e-tractors
BY GEORGE PLAVEN • Capital Press
D
UFUR — The first time Robert Wallace started an electric tractor, he was astonished
by how quiet it was.
“I didn’t know if it was on or not,” Wallace said. “It was the most mind-boggling
thing. It took me probably two or three weeks to get used to, not having a constant rumble of noise.”
Laurie Hill has been
named CEO of Central Or-
egon Pediatric Associates,
a physician-owned prac-
tice serving Deschutes,
Jefferson, Crook, Lake and
Harney counties.
Karen Anderson, CPA,
of Bend has been elected
to the board of directors
of the Oregon Society
of CPAs. Anderson is the
chief financial officer at
Onboard Dynamics in
Bend.
Cyndi Ganfield was
selected
by the
Redmond
School
District as
principal of
Ganfield
Terrebonne
Community
School. Ganfield was the
elementary principal at
Cascade School District in
Aumsville. She will take
over as principal on July 1.
George Plaven/Capital Press
Robert Wallace, executive director of the Wy’East Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, demonstrates
one of two Solectrac compact electric tractors at his home in Dufur .
— Bulletin staff reports
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Wild market swings to continue
PEOPLE ON
THE MOVE
Kevin and Angie
Shaw, owners of Bright-
ways Counseling Group
in Central Oregon were
named 2022 Small Busi-
ness People of the Year
by the U.S. Small Business
Administration. The an-
nual award recognizes
small-business owners
who demonstrate stay-
ing power, show growth
in net worth, expansion,
increases in jobs and sales
and innovation in pro-
ductions.
SILVER
$21.67 -.23
CONSUMER STOCKS | EARNINGS REPORTS
— Bulletin wire report
Kevin and Angie Shaw
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Over the last year, Wallace has
become well acquainted with the
tractor as he used it to mow grass
and perform other chores around
his home near Dufur .
His demonstrations are part of
a unique project in Oregon, field
testing electric tractors in rural
agricultural areas like Dufur and
allowing producers to see first-
hand what they can do on farms
and in orchards.
Data from the trials were also
used by Oregon State University
in a newly released study com-
paring the cost of ownership for
battery-powered electric tractors
to their diesel counterparts.
Early results indicate the cost
may be comparable, depending
“
“I consider myself just a
realist. I want to be able to say
if it works, or if it doesn’t work.”
— Robert Wallace, a certified
energy manager has spent most
of the last decade working with
growers to optimize their irrigation
systems
on several factors, including the
purchase price, fuel prices and
maintenance costs.
Proponents of electric vehicles
are quick to point out social and
environmental benefits such as
reducing carbon emissions that
contribute to climate change.
But Wallace said his main fo-
cus is simply learning how the
technology stacks up for rural
areas.
“I consider myself just a re-
alist,” he said. “I want to be able
to say if it works, or if it doesn’t
work.”
‘Inevitable transition’
Wallace is executive director
of the Wy’East Resource Conser-
vation and Development Area
Council, a regional nonprofit
based in The Dalles , dedicated to
helping farms improve their en-
ergy and water efficiency.
See Electric / A6
FCC adopts
rule to help
block global
spam calls
BY JON HEALEY
Los Angeles Times
The Federal Communications
Commission took another step
Thursday to identify and poten-
tially block spam calls, closing
one of the big loopholes in its en-
forcement efforts. The commis-
sion voted unanimously to extend
its crackdown on caller ID spoof-
ing — that is, callers who disguise
the phone number they’re using
— of calls coming into the U.S.
from other countries.
It’s good news for people tired
of getting calls from “Spam
Likely.” But that doesn’t mean it’s
safe to pick up the phone every
time it rings — at least not yet.
The calls traveling through
international gateways targeted
by Thursday’s rule have seen a
growing number of spam calls
since the FCC started to attack
spoofing in 2019 through tech-
nical standards known as STIR/
SHAKEN. The standards, which
major phone companies have
been required to implement, ver-
ify caller ID information as it is
transmitted from carrier to car-
rier along the call’s route.
STIR/SHAKEN doesn’t block
spam calls by itself. Instead, it
helps carriers identify calls with
spoofed IDs, which they can use
other technology to block.
Adding the international gate-
ways to STIR/SHAKEN is “the
right move,” said Chief Executive
Jim Dalton of TransNexus, a com-
pany that helps carriers implement
the standards. “Unless you have
STIR and SHAKEN everywhere,”
Dalton explained, “it’s worthless.
It’s like a bucket with a hole.”
And to date, there have been a
lot of holes. Unlike the days of the
Ma Bell monopoly, when there
were relatively few companies
involved in the transmission of
a phone call, the current system
is like a brigade that passes a call
from carrier to carrier to carrier,
said Giulia Porter, vice president
at RoboKiller, a company that
makes technology to identify bo-
gus calls. And not every company
in that chain has been required to
pass along the verified caller ID
information.
RoboKiller estimated that
Americans were deluged with
more than 72 billion spam calls in
2021 — a 32% increase over 2020.
By the way, the gaps in STIR/
SHAKEN and the frequent use of
spoofing by spammers explains
why it doesn’t seem to do any-
thing when you tell your phone
to block a spammer’s number,
Porter said. The number you’re
blocking probably isn’t the one
being used to call you.
Ending spoofed calls is just
part of the solution. By the com-
mission’s estimate, more than half
of spam calls come from num-
bers that aren’t spoofed. One way
to address that issue, Porter said,
is to assign a reputational rating
to numbers that reflects how of-
ten they’re used for spam.
See Spam / A6