Large crowd comes out to protest
early coal fired plant closure
I l ' l " fl l l l l ll l llf l l l l l l( l (l l l fj
Eugene, OR 97403
By David Sykes
About 200 people,
many of them employees,
turned out at a public hear
ing in Boardman Monday
night to protest the early
closure of the Boardman
Members of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission came to Boardman Monday to hear
testimony on the closure of the Boardman coal fired plant. Commissioners are (left to right)
Susan Ackerman, Chairman Ray Baum and John Savage. -Photo by David Sykes
VOL. 129
NO. 33 8 Pages
Wednesday, August 18,2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Grant to help new collaborative
improve health in Morrow County
$22,400 Regence Foundation grant to support Morrow County
Community Health Improvement Partnership
The Regence Foun
dation recently announced
it has awarded a $22,400
grant to support a new com
munity collaborative called
the Morrow County Com
munity Health Improve
ment Partnership. The col
laborative is made up of
local health care providers
and local government, com
munity organizations and
businesses. The group’s
goal is to improve health
and increase access to care
for residents in this north-
central Oregon county.
M orrow C ounty
and its surrounding coun
ties have been designated
as a health professional
shortage area for primary
medical, dental and mental
health care. According to
the 2008 American Com
munity Survey (accessed
through the Oregon Office
for Rural H ealth), 23.5
percent of Morrow County
residents do not have health
insurance.
“Community col
laboratives across the state,
like NEON in La Grande or
HealthMatters o f Central
Oregon, have made major
strides in improving health
care access and quality in
local communities,” said
M ichael Alexander, Re
gence Foundation board
chair. “Creating the Mor
row County Community
Health Improvement Part
nership is an important step
forward in addressing the
health care needs of local
residents in a thoughtful
and data-driven way.”
With the help of the
Regence Foundation grant,
the collaborative will work
toward three main goals:
conduct a county-w ide
health needs assessment,
create a strategic plan to
address findings from the
health needs assessment,
and increase its network
o f com m unity partners.
Already the collaborative
includes representatives
from the Morrow County
Health District, the Morrow
County Health Department,
Columbia River Commu
nity Health Services, Com
munity Counseling Solu
tions, law enforcem ent,
faith communities, local
business and government,
recreation, education and
transportation.
The collaborative
had its first formal meeting
on June 15, and will start
work on the community
needs assessment in Sep
tember.
Chip seal work begins on several state
highways in Morrow and Umatilla counties
Starting Monday, August 16,
Oregon Department o f Transportation
maintenance crews began chip sealing
over 50 miles of state highways in Mor
row and Umatilla counties.
The chip sealing activities will re
surface 10 miles of the Lexington - Echo
Highway (OR 207) and another 40 miles
of highway sections north of Pendleton on
Oregon Highways 37,334 and 335. Trav
elers can expect delays of up to 20 minutes
with flaggers and pilot cars controlling
day and nighttime traffic, loose rock on
the roadways and reduce speeds at times.
All motorists are advised to watch for road
crews and flaggers, and slow down when
traveling on fresh chip seal applications
to reduce flying rocks. Law enforcement
personnel will be monitoring these areas.
Traffic fines are double the amount in
highway work zones.
Chip seal activities began on the
Lexington - Echo Highway (OR 207) on
August 16 in the early morning hours.
Crews expect to spend two days resur
facing the highway section between mile
posts zero at Lexington and 10.1.
Starting August 18 crews will
relocate to Umatilla County and chip seal
the 10-mile section of the Helix Highway
(OR 335)between the junction ofOregon
Highway 11 and Helix.
Starting August 23 chip seal will
be applied to the Athena - Holdman High
way (OR 334) between the junction of OR
335 and the rock stockpile near mile post
2. Later that week crews plan to move to
the Cold Springs Highway (OR 37) and
work on the section between Pendleton
and the junction of OR 334.
During the week o f August 30
through September 1, chip seal will be ap
plied to OR 37 between mile post zero at the
junction of U.S. Highway 730 and mile point
9 near Holdman. Depending on weather
conditions, all work, including brooming is
expected to be completed by September 3.
Chip seals consist of the application
of emulsified oil and rock chips, followed
by compaction rollers. The opperations
help preserve and extend the useful life of
the existing pavement surfaces. To prepare
the surface for the chip seal application
each pavement section will be broomed
prior to rock application. To help ensure the
chip rock properly adheres to the roadway,
ODOT is asking ranchers to keep all cattle
and other livestock out of the work zone
sections until the rock chips have been ap
plied. Animal waste prevents chip rock from
adhering to the pavement surface, resulting
in pot holes and other damage. Livestock
can be driven on the route or returned to
open range areas after the chip seal rock has
been applied.
For more information on this proj
ect, contact ODOT Public Information Of
ficer Tom Strandberg at 541-963-1330, or
by email at Thomas.m.strandberg@odot.
state.or.us.
This project represents some of
the 50 highway construction work zones
throughout eastern Oregon this summer.
For updated highway conditions and travel
information visit www.TripCheck.com or,
call 511 or (800) 977-6368. If calling from
outside ofOregon dial (503) 588-2941.
Heppner Gazette-Times closed for Labor Day
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed on Monday, September
6, in observance of the Labor Day holiday. The deadline for news
and advertisements for the September 8 edition of the newspaper is
Friday, September 3, at 5 p.m.
\
coal fired plant. The hearing
was in front of three mem
bers of the Oregon Public
Utility Commission (PUC),
which is preparing to make
a decision on the future of
the plant.
Portland General
Electric had filed April 2 to
close Oregon’s only coal-
fired plant early, by 2020,
in exchange for installing
$470 million less in pol
lution controls than pro
posed by state regulators.
Under the company’s pro
posal to the Department
of Environmental Quality,
Boardman would close at
least 20 years earlier than
planned.
The move left then
left the PUC with three
options.
1. Close the plant
by 2020 and have PGE in
vest $320 million to install
new burners in 2011 that re
duce nitrogen oxides emis
sions and scrubbers in 2014
to remove sulfur dioxide.
2. Close the plant at the
end o f 2018 and invest
$100 million in pollution
controls. The expensive
scrubber w ould no lon
ger be required due to
the earlier closing date,
but some sulfur reduction
would still be necessary.
3. Close the plant by late
2015 or early 2016, and
invest $35 million to install
nitrogen oxide and mercury
controls.
T he te s tim o n y
Monday ranged from urg
ing the PUC to pick the
2020 option, to finding
ways to keep the plant open
for the duration of its origi
nal life span until 2040. A
decision from the PUC is
not expected until Novem
ber 9.
“ We need change
the direction our state is
going,” Morrow County
Commissioner Terry Tail-
man said in urging the com
mission to choose the 2020
closure plan. He said the
plant provides needed tax
revenue to state and county
coffers to pay for needed
services.
Umatilla County
Commissioner Larry Giv
ens said the plant closure
will affect Umatilla Coun
ty also as 65 o f the 110
full time employees of the
facility live there. “The
communities around the
plant are not wealthy com
munities and we need the
jobs,” he said. He told the
commission that losing the
110 full time jobs, as well thing, Nelson said. “There
as the 250 contract
are people in this
and seasonal work
state who want to
ers, is equivalent
be the first to shut
to 14,000 jobs in
down a coal plant,”
the metro Portland
he said. “We need to
area. ‘When you
develop more of our
make this determi
natural resources
nation consider the
to fund public ser
impact on residents R ep . G r e g vices,” he added.
and counties,” he Smi t h said
State Rep
not to di g
urged.
resen
tativ
e G reg
economic
State Sena h o l e “ a n y Smith o f Heppner
tor David Nelson deeper”.
testified and said
said the decision
the people who run
to close is going to
the plant are “honest
make a difference in school hard working citizens who
-See COAL FIRED PLANT/
funding. “PGE is making a
Page EIGHT
huge effort to do the right
What the candidates say
The Heppner Gazette-Times contacted both guber
natorial candidates to get their statements on the
proposed Boardman coal fired plant closure. Follow
ing are their responses.
John Kitzhaber
“As Governor, John Kitzhaber will work with the
Oregon Public Utility Commission and Oregonians
to develop a plan that allows the Boardman plant to
be taken offline within the 2020 time frame.
That plan needs to address the follow ing three points:
First, Oregon needs to locate, secure and turn the
switch on for the lower carbon resources that we will
use to replace the Boardman power.
Second, there is no question that ratepayer and
taxpayer dollars will be involved, and we must be
sensitive to how those resources are used.
Third, replacing this huge amount of power is likely
to disproportionately affect two groups: 1) energy
intensive industries that account for many jobs in
Oregon; and 2) low-income ratepayers.”
Chris Dudley
“The PGE plan demonstrates a good balance of cost
control for rate payers and environmental controls.
With new technologies in energy emerging so quick
ly, 2020 shouldn’t be considered a date set in stone.
One thing that is for certain, without investments in
alternative sources of power and a strategic plan for
transmission, an accelerated closure of the Boardman
Power Plant would simply be irresponsible.”
Harvest winds down
Mark Miller cuts a wheat field last Monday, August 9, on the
Wickersham-Duvall property up Blackhorse Canyon out of
Lexington. According to the OSU Extension Office and Morrow
County Grain Growers, the w heat harvest this year is averag
ing 42-43 bushels per acre, up from last year's approximate 30
bushels per acre. As of Tuesday, August 17, the price per bushel
w as S6.40-S6.60 per bushel. There is approximately 20% of the
wheat left to be harvested. Photo by David Sykes
The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see
pictures o f your trophy animals from this
hunting season. Stop by to have your
picture taken, drop off photos, or email
them to editor@rapidserve.net.
B ack
to regular hours !
H arvest
hours end
23 rd
r id a y
A ugust
7 a m - 5 I' m M o n d a y - F
7 a m - 1 2 c m S atu r d ay
Morrow County Grain Growers
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