Boardman bio refinery set to break ground in May
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BesSie^ o t Oregon
University
9 7 403
Eu9e"e 0R
VOL. 129
NO. 15
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
By David Sykes
A Colorado company
constructing a bio fuel plant
at the Port of Morrow says
everything is going well
and it plans to break ground
next month.
Carrie Atiyeh, pub
lic affairs director o f the
ZeaChem Inc.of Lakewood,
CO, told the Heppner Ga-
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone to contract with ESD for superintendent's job
added. “One could compare
The lone School this model with a large
Board on Monday night district, which features an
approved a contract
active building prin
with the Umatilla-
cipal supported by a
Morrow Education
central office.”
S erv ice D istric t
“ It is the
(UMESD) to pro
consensus o f the
vide superintendent
lone School Board
and central office
that this arrange
services beginning
ment will benefit
July 1. Current lone
the s ta ff at lone
S u p e r in te n d e n t Mark
Community School,
Karl Ostheller an Mulvihill
thereby improving
nounced earlier this
the education of our
year he will resign
students,” said lone
his position, effective June Board Chairman Joe McEl-
30. lone will then hire a ligott. “We look forward to
new on-site principal for working with the UMESD
the school.
in this new capacity.” The
The contract will board voted unanimously
include superintendent ser Monday to accept the con
vices such as governance, tract.
school improvement, hu
Mulvihill told the
man resources, and busi board that there is talk in
ness services, UMESD Salem there will be a $3
Superintendent Dr. Mark billion shortfall in the next
Mulvihill said.
state budget and that many
UMESD already districts are looking for
provide^Ione with central ways to cut costs w ith
office support for business out impacting classrooms.
and human resource ser “School districts are go
vices. The move is a cost- ing to have to make tough
effective one during these decisions on things outside
rough economic times, said the classroom,” he told the
Mulvihill.
board. “Things such as cus
“The UMESD is todial and administrative.
very excited for this new From the ESD prospective
service delivery in lone,” he this is the model for the fu
said. “This is an example of ture having a central office.
capacity, leadership and ef We are going to make this
ficiencies during turbulent successful,” he added.
economic times. In a small
In a related matter
district like lone, it’s a win- Monday the board started
win situation.”
the search for a new prin
While M ulvihill cipal at lone schools. ESD
will assume the official began advertising for the
role of lone superintendent, position Tuesday and there
he’ll receive support from is a cutoff of applications
other UMESD administra May 28. The board named
tors in providing central a review committee of a
office services. Deputy teacher from each the high
Superintendent Michael school and grade school
Lasher will handle day- along with the administra
to-day operations such as tive secretary and the entire
human resources and busi school board. The commit
ness services, and Assistant tee will review the applica
Superintendent Mary Apple tions after the cutoff and
will organize special educa decide which applicants to
tion and school improve interview.
ment services. •
In other business
Mulvihill stressed at Monday’s meeting the
the importance of having an board heard a request to re
on-site principal who can be instate the music program.
directly involved w ithin the
Alex Carlson has
community, and he plans to been independently tutoring
collaborate with whomever students on the violin and
that person ends up being. several of the students put
While the UMESD may not on a demonstration for the
always have an administra school board. Carlson said
tor in the district, there will he received a grant from the
still be a presence, Mulvihill
By David Sykes
Morrow County Cultural
Trust to give lessons the
past school year to seven
local students. He gave each
student a 30 minute lesson
each week. In asking the
board to reinstate music full
time into the schools, he
said he had 50 signatures on
a petition requesting this.
Citizen M aureen
McElligott also asked the
board to put music back
into the schools. “If there
is any money in the budget
I am asking you to hire a
music teacher,” she said.
“It is sad we have to go to
a community band instead
of a high school pep band,”
she said.
B o ard m e m b er
Lisa Rietmann said there
may be a possibility of a
$7,000 grant that can be
used along with an Ameri-
corp person to staff a music
program at the school. She
said the district is exploring
different options. Board
m ember Joe M cElligott
said the board would take
it under consideration. “But
you have to understand we
don’t have much to work
with,” he said.
In other business
the board discussed a new
cell phone policy for the
school district. lone has
been without cell service
but will be getting service
sometime in June, so the
new policy would be for the
next school year. The sent
a draft policy back to com
mittee for changes before
adoption.
In the superinten
dent report Ostheller said
for the third quartering
ending in April in grades
six through eight there were
23 students with a GPA of
3.0 or better (68 percent of
students) and four of those
earned a 4.0 GPA. In the
high school 52 (81 percent)
of students had a GPA of 3.0
or better with 17 of those
earning a 4.0 GPA.
A new 2010-11
school calendar was also
handed out at the meeting.
Some of the highlights are:
School will start on August
31 of 2010 and end on June
7 of 2011; winter break will
be from Dec. 22 to 31; and
spring break will be from
March 21 to 25.
Heppner to host track meet
H e p p n e r H ig h
School will host the Mus-
tang Invitational track meet
on Friday, April 30. This is
the first large meet that will
be held on the HHS track
since the renovations were
made.
As o f M onday,
April 19, 13 schools from
around the area have com-
mitted to attending.
Field events will
start at noon and running
events at I p.m.
Anyone interested
in helping can contact Me-
"lissa Coiner at 541-676-
9128.
Lakewood, Colo. - A ZeaChem Inc. engineer stands in front of a 5,000 liter fer
mentation tank at Hazen Research, Inc.. ZeaChem is a developer of biorefineries
for the conversion of renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals.
zette-Times that the com production,” Atiyeh said. 75 people will be employed
pany plans a ground break “But now we are expanding in construction of the plant,
ing in May with completion into other areas. It’s not just and when completed there
of the facility planned by ethanol anymore,” she said will be 25 full time jobs
the end o f the year. She o f the ZeaChem process. operating the plant. She
said when completed, the She said the chemicals will said the plant will eventu
plant will produce 250,000 compete w ith petroleum in ally produce an estimated
200 indirect jobs.
gallons of ethanol per year many of its end uses.
The plant was
“This is a new way
using fast growing poplar
of producing ethanol,” she funded in part with a $25
trees harvested from the said. ‘We are using proven million grant from the De
35.000 acres of tree farms technology,” she said.
partment of Energy, and up
owned by GreenWood Re
Atiyeh said about to $40 million in two rounds
sources near Boardman.
of venture capital.
The plant is a test facility
gearing up for larger scale
production.
Atiyeh said the company
is using a technique of not Part o f this article are reprinted from Consumer En
cutting the trees completely ergy Report web site at www.consumerenergyreport.
down to obtain the raw com and from www.solveclimate.com
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a
poplar material. She said
"notice of presumed hazard” halting Caithness Ener
they are cutting the trees
gy’s development of what would be the world’s largest
above the soil and not re wind farm in Shepherds Flat in Morrow County that
moving the roots, the trees was scheduled to break ground on May 1.
then grow back, are har
The FAA’s order resulted from increasing concerns
vested every five years and from the Air Force that the three hundred and thirty
only have to be replanted eight turbines would interfere w ith transmissions from
every 15 years. She said a radar station in Fossil.
“We’re just sitting here in no man’s land,” said Les
it will take 10 tons of tree
Gelber,
a Caithness Energy partner.
and other material per day
Oregon
stands to lose 706 jobs and millions of dol
to produce the required
lars in royalties for Oregon farmers if the venture is
250.000 gallons per year.
Atiyeh said the continued page eight
company is making good
progress getting ready for
operation at the Port. She
said the modules for the
plant are being built in Den
ver and shipped to Board-
man where they will be
assembled for operation.
The Boardman plant is a
test production facility, and
if it is successful a full scale
production facility will be
built somewhere that pro
duces 25 to 50 million gal
lons of end material. Some
of the end products coming
out o f the plant will be
chemicals for plastic prod
ucts, car paint material and
an additive that makes cof
fee decaffeinated. Earlier
Atiyeh had said the plant
could, in the future, also use
wheat straw or waste from
the national forest in its
Opening day of Little League season saw Madison Combe
production. “Com was the pitching for the Bank of Eastern Oregon team. Photo by
first generation of ethanol Sandy Matthews
FAA puts hold on big
Shepherds Flat wind farm
Little League season
opens in Heppner
Irrigon Medical Clinic announces new provider
Darryl D enison,
PA-C, has taken over the
reins at Irrigon Medical
Clinic effective Thursday,
April 15. Denison, a physi
cian assistant, has assumed
both provider and manage
rial duties at the clinic, an
nounced Morrow County
Health District Administra
tor Mike Blauer.
Darryl has most
recently been working in
Hermiston and he brings
to Irrigon a broad base of
knowledge and experience
that he has gained during
his medical career, having
worked in pain manage
ment. neurology, orthope
dics and urgent care medi
cine.
Denison began his
medical career as a reg
istered nurse, serving as
an instructor flight nurse
in the US Air Force. He
later returned to school and
graduated w ith honors from
the University o f Wash
ington physician assistant
program.
Denison and his
wife, Kathy, have three
adult children and five
grandchildren. His hobbies
include spending time on
his computer and reading.
Denison relieves
Ken Wenberg, M.D., who
has been prov iding patient
serv ices at the clinic since
January. “ Dr. W enberg
was a great support to us,"
Blauer said. "Because of his
help we were able to keep
the clinic operating without
interruption."
,
Dr. Russ Nichols
will provide oversight of
patient care at the clinic.
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