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GIVING BACK: RECOGNIZING LOCAL NONPROFITS | INSIDE
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EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
151st Year • No. 44 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Restoration Fuel’s torrefaction plant at the Malheur Lumber mill in John Day is expected to be in operation in 2020.
TORREFACTION
Improving forest
health and the economy
HOW TORREFACTION WORKS
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
W
hen the torrefaction plant in John Day
fires up at the end of the year, nonvaluable
wood will be chipped, dried, torrefied and
made into pellets before it is densified into briquettes
that can be sold as fuel to power plants. Here’s how
it works.
Plant will add new jobs, new markets for biomass
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
N
ew jobs are on the horizon with the
completion of the torrefaction plant
expected at the end of the year.
Matt Krumenauer, CEO of Restoration
Fuels, said the plant that will turn forest bio-
mass into a product that can be burned for
fuel plans to be in operation in 2020.
All of the equipment is in place. The
boiler system will begin running by mid-No-
vember, Krumenauer said, and the rest of the
system will be in production at the start of
2020.
The first three months of 2020 will focus
on startup and commissioning in preparation
for the plant to work at one-third capacity
for the rest of the year, a common process
that assures production goes well when the
plant works at full capacity in 2021, he said.
At full capacity, the plant is expected to
See Torrefaction, Page A18
1. The boiler
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
A piece of torrefied wood made
by the torrefaction plant. Matt
Krumenauer, CEO of Restoration
Fuels, is holding the wood while
Senator Ron Wyden holds the bag.
Although the wood to be torrefied doesn’t enter
the boiler, it’s the machine that provides the heat for
the dryer and the torrefier. The building that houses
the new boiler system is 50 feet by 70 feet and stands
over 42 feet tall. The wood-fired boiler will use “hog
See How, Page A18
John Day distributes first housing incentive rebates
City manager receives
largest amount for new
home under construction
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
John Day’s housing incentive program
has distributed its first payments to people
who constructed or remodeled homes within
the city’s urban renewal district.
Only three site-built homes had been
permitted in the last decade, and three new
homes — two of which are still under con-
struction — qualified for the new city pro-
gram that provides cash rebates equal to
7% of the increase in assessed value for
new homes, according to John Day City
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
City Manager Nick Green, left, and John
Day Mayor Ron Lundmon discuss housing
incentive rebates at a city council meeting.
Manager Nick Green.
The program also provides a 15% rebate
for remodels that increase assessed value
by at least $10,000, and two projects qual-
ified for those rebates in this first round of
distributions.
“We wanted to incentivize new hous-
ing growth and improvements to existing
homes because we desperately need pri-
vate sector investment in our housing mar-
ket,” Green said. “We need it to stop our
population decline and to address blighted
property conditions that are discouraging
business growth and deterring potential
new residents from choosing to live in our
community.”
Like other urban renewal programs in
the state, the city’s housing incentive works
through tax increment financing, where tax
gains from increases in a property’s assessed
value each year are funneled into a sepa-
rate account for use by the urban renewal
agency, which is operated by the John Day
City Council.
Property taxes paid to other jurisdictions,
such as Grant County and the school district,
will be frozen at the levels that were paid in
2017-2018, and any increases will go to the
urban renewal district to fund the rebate pro-
gram for the life of the program, which can-
not exceed 20 years.
“We created an incentive package that,
while not perfect, has led to nine new dwell-
ing units and two major renovations within
the first 18 months,” Green said. “We are
addressing blight, expanding the tax base,
adding new homes and creating job growth
in the construction industry through policy
innovation.”
See Rebates, Page A18
Walden won’t seek reelection in 2020
By Gary A. Warner
EO Media Group
U. S. Rep. Greg Walden, the only Republican
in Oregon’s congressional delegation, announced
Monday he will not run again in 2020.
“I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of
Representatives, nor election to any other office,”
Walden, 62, said in a video statement. “Instead I
will close the public service chapter of my life,
thankful for the friends I’ve made and the success-
ful work we’ve done together.”
Walden’s departure means the 2nd Congressio-
nal District seat will be up for grabs for the first
time in a generation. Walden was first elected in
1998 and won 10 re-election bids. Walden beat
Democratic opponents by more than 60% of the
vote in his heavily Republican district until Jamie
McLeod-Skinner of Terrebone held him to 56% in
2018.
The 2nd district includes Grant, Umatilla, Mor-
row, Baker, Union and Wallowa counties, as well
as most of Eastern Oregon and much of southern
Oregon. Walden is from Hood River. He is the
Eagle file photo
Grant County Judge Scott Myers, left, listens as Rep.
Greg Walden speaks about mental health issues
during a meeting at the Community Counseling
Solutions office on Aug. 29. Walden announced
Oct. 28 he will not seek reelection in 2020.
only Republican among the five House members
from Oregon. Both U.S. senators — Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkeley — are Democrats.
Walden became the 22nd Republican member
of congress to announce their retirement before the
2020 election, which will include the re-election
bid of President Donald Trump. Seven Democrats
have said they won’t run. Walden is the fourth
GOP House member who lost a committee chair-
manship last year because of the majority switch
who has announced they are leaving next year.
Walden said he was not retiring out of any con-
cern that he could lose re-election or fail to regain
the House majority, where he had served as chair-
man of the House Energy and Commerce Commit-
tee before Democrats took control in 2018. He is
now the ranking member of the committee.
“I am confident I could earn the support of 2nd
District voters for another term,” he said. “I’m
also optimistic that a path exists for Republicans
to recapture a majority in the House.”
Walden, whose background is in radio, gave
no specifics about what he will do after he retires
from Congress.
“For me, the time has come to pursue new chal-
lenges and opportunities,” he said.
Walden’s statement would appear to rule out
See Walden, Page A18