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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2018)
News Blue Mountain Eagle More spill over dams may increase OTEC rates Court ruling requires more water for fish By Jayson Jacoby Baker City Herald Environmentalists push grazing lawsuit By Mateusz Perkowski EO Media Group N.F. Environmentalists are urging a federal judge not to throw out a lawsuit they filed 15 years ago alleging that grazing harms the threatened bull trout in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. Last year, a federal magis- trate judge found the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Center for Biological Di- versity had failed to prove that livestock grazing along two rivers in the forest is to blame The bull trout is at the center of a 15-year-old lawsuit over grazing in Eastern Oregon. for the protected species’ de- cline. it has met these objectives benchmarks that would exist Area in The plaintiffs have objected based on “habitat indicators” under ideal conditions and are detail 7 to his recommended dismissal that don’t mirror reality while meant to measure progress, ORE. of their complaint, which was ignoring actual measurements Odell said. 26 However, the Forest Ser- originally filed more than 15 that show stream conditions Unity Prairie vice doesn’t have to attain years ago. are worsening, Lacy said. BAKER City During oral arguments Grazing must be suspended these standards to comply with 26 held April 5 in Portland, the if it prevents a “near natural its recovery strategies for the GRANT environmental groups asked rate of recovery” under the Na- bull trout, he said. MALHEUR tional Forest Management Act, Odell also revived an argu- U.S. District Judge Michael NATIONAL MALHEUR while the Forest Service faces ment against the environmen- Mosman to instead rule that FOREST a similar obligation under the talist lawsuit that was rejected grazing authorizations along Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, by the magistrate judge. the Malheur and North Fork The plaintiffs have chal- according to the plaintiffs. Malheur rivers violated feder- Bull trout al laws. lenged more than 100 agency “It’s not just a non-degrada- habitat tion requirement,” Lacy said. decisions regarding grazing, Fewer than 50 bull trout HARNEY “It’s an enhancement require- which amounts to an improper now inhabit each of the water- Juntura ment.” ways, which together should attempt to change the Forest Stephen Odell, attorney for Service’s entire grazing pro- support about 2,000 of the fish, N the government, argued that gram, he said. said Mac Lacy, attorney for the 20 10 miles Such “programmatic” re- it’s up to the Forest Service plaintiffs. to decide how best to mea- visions are meant to occur The U.S. Forest Service Alan Kenaga/Capital Press sure compliance with recovery during rule-making or in Con- has authorized livestock graz- ing on seven allotments cover- judge incorrectly found that at- strategies for the fish. gress, not in federal court. ing tens of thousands of acres tainment of “riparian manage- Instead of finding faults The agency has relied on without analyzing the site-spe- ment objectives” for the fish the most relevant data collect- specific to each of the ac- cific effects as required by law, can be measured at the “water- ed over thousands of hours, he tions, the plaintiffs make the shed or landscape scale,” the said. “It’s extremely rigorous.” same “blanket assertion” to Lacy said. Riparian management ob- challenge all of them, Odell In recommending the law- plaintiffs claimed. suit’s dismissal, the magistrate The agency cannot decide jectives are “dream stream” said. yelling advice at him not to talk to police unless he got a lawyer, affirmatively in- dicated his willingness to re-engage with the officers and enter into a generalized discussion of the substance of the charges.” For that reason, the de- fendant’s motion should be denied, Benson said. Citing case law, Benson noted that Elliott had re-ini- tiated the conversation af- ter saying at the hospital, “OK, I’m not talking no more,” and that the officers did nothing to prompt El- liott to respond against his rights. “An important consid- eration is not simply what was said when the defen- dant invoked, but how the defendant and the officers behaved,” Benson said, adding, “Rarely during the interview did the defendant appear to be worried about any legal jeopardy he might be in, but he was instead preoccupied with his having been assaulted and his sad- ness over his friend having died.” In court, Baughman said the officers provoked re- sponses from Elliott after he told them, “OK, I’m not talking no more.” Accord- ing to the recording, Durr responded, “OK, that’s fine,” and Elliott immedi- ately continued by saying, “You’re trying to hang me here.” Durr then responded, “No, I’m not. I’m just trying to figure out why.” In 2018, America cele- brates the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic River System and National Trails System. Rivers and trails are the arteries that connect peo- ple and communities to public lands and waters. The Malheur National For- est is home to two designated wild and scenic rivers for float- ing, fishing or hiking activities: the Malheur and North Fork Malheur rivers. The forest plans to honor its scenic riv- ers through a Wild and Scenic Malheur River Stewardship Project set to take place on July 14. Agency personnel, local clubs and community mem- bers will be installing a new trailhead kiosk, interpretive panel, signage and a trail sign at the Malheur Ford trailhead. The celebration will also in- clude river cleanup, some mi- nor repairs of existing facilities and educational pieces about Wild and Scenic Rivers. Sunday, April 15th at 1pm Grant County Senior Center 142 NE Dayton St. • John Day, OR 97845 This is an opportunity for you as a member and owner of Old West Federal Credit Union to review this past year’s performance and learn about goals for the upcoming year. 44811 In his March 21 re- sponse, Benson argued that Baughman “failed to state with particularity the spe- cific evidence he intends to offer” as required by law. Benson also argued that Baughman’s evidence “will unfairly malign the victim and confuse the jury” and will “unneces- sarily prolong the trial” by requiring “several ‘trials within trials’” to prove the victim’s alleged character traits. Cramer said he had re- ceived three discs from the state with the body camera recordings but had not yet reviewed them. Attorneys from both sides agreed to meet with Deschutes Coun- ty Judge Pro Tem Alta Berry in a settlement conference at 9 a.m. May 25. The junior and senior classes from Spray High School, along with the Spray School District staff, would like to express our appreciation to the community of John Day and surrounding areas. We thank the following businesses for hosting our annual job shadow week. We couldn’t do it without your willingness to help! John Day Fossil Beds John Day River Vet Center Chester’s Thriftway Les Schwab Tire Center Blue Mountain Hospital Len’s Drug Boyd Britton Welding Pioneer Feed & Farm Supplies Asher Dental Services (Fossil) Again, thank you! Sincerely, Spray High School Students & Staff To search for other anni- versary events, visit the 50th Anniversary Rivers Events Story Map online at http://bit. ly/2sp3kMr. Coinciding with the an- niversary, a Wild and Scenic film festival begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at the Madden Brothers Performing Arts Center. Tickets cost $15, and children 17 and younger are free. The festival features a collection of films about en- vironmental concerns and cel- ebrations of the planet. Contributed photo A hiker sits on a boulder overlooking the Malheur River in the Malheur National Forest. Pioneer Feed & Farm Supply THANK YOU! This is our 60th Anniversary 1957-2017 Baughman noted in court that Timko then provoked a response from Elliott by noting the extent of Elliott’s facial injuries as a possi- ble reason for the shoot- ing. Baughman said any statements made by Elliott after he said, “OK, I’m not talking no more,” should be inadmissible. Baughman also filed a March 5 motion asking the court to admit evidence about “the alleged victim’s character trait for violence and threatening behavior,” and that the evidence “be admitted in the form of rep- utation or opinion.” Baughman said he had identified and interviewed individuals and law en- forcement officials or offi- cial reports that would sup- port this motion. Project celebrates Wild and Scenic Rivers anniversary Blue Mountain Eagle ANNUAL MEETING NOTICE R. Continued from Page A1 ur ELLIOTT e Mal h ur River M a l he A court ruling requiring officials to pass more wa- ter through the spillways of eight federal dams to aid migrating salmon and steelhead, rather than us- ing the water to produce electricity, could increase monthly bills for Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative customers for part of the year. The decision April 2 by a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affects four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington and four on the Columbia River. The release of water started April 3 at the Snake River dams, and started April 10 at the Columbia River dams. The Army Corps of En- gineers, which operates all the dams, already boosts water flows through the impoundments during the spring and summer to aid fish, some of which are threatened or endangered, as they migrate to the Pa- cific Ocean. Conservation groups have advocated for the tac- tic of diverting more wa- ter over the dams because they say that’s less likely to kill young salmon and steelhead than directing the water, and some of the fish, through the dams’ pow- er-producing turbines. Last spring U.S. District Court Judge Michael Si- mon ruled that the Corps of Engineers must spill more water between April and mid-June. The Corps of Engineers appealed Simon’s ruling, but on April 2 the Appeals Court panel upheld the judge’s decision. The Appeals Court judges cited studies show- ing that more fish survive when more water is spilled over dams. The potential effect for OTEC customers has to do with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal agency that sells power produced at the dams. OTEC buys about 99.5 percent of its electricity from BPA, said Anthony Bailey, the cooperative’s chief financial officer (OTEC buys a negligible amount of power from a hydroelectric plant near Cove). In a press release April 2, BPA said the Appeals Court decision “creates a new multimillion dollar obligation for the region’s ratepayers.” Agency officials have previously estimated that the increased spring water spills could cost $40 mil- lion per year. “And that’s not just a one-time shot,” Bailey said. “It could continue for several years.” Bailey said BPA like- ly will recoup its costs by adding a surcharge to the bills for its wholesale cus- tomers, including OTEC. BPA has estimated that OTEC’s surcharge would be about $450,000 per year, and that the amount would be collected from May through September annually. Bailey said BPA could start assessing the sur- charge as soon as this May. Although OTEC’s board of directors will make the final decision, Bailey said it’s “more than likely” that the coop- erative would have to pass on the BPA surcharge to its approximately 23,000 members in Baker, Union, Grant and Harney counties. If so, OTEC likely would follow BPA’s sys- tem and add a seasonal surcharge to customers’ bills from May through September, Bailey said. He estimated the surcharge at about $2 per month for res- idential customers. “BPA could handle this differently, but right now that’s how we see this hap- pening,” Bailey said. Republished with per- mission from the Baker City Herald. Wednesday, April 11, 2018 60561 Highway 26 | John Day 541-575-0023 • Irish Eyes garden seeds • Foxfarm soil & fertilizer products • Poultry supplies & supplements • Live chicks 51273 A8
