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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper l.ihrarx
LJniversitN of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
Feds shut down Buttercreek
wind
farm
construction
Little-known agency sites national security concerns and blocks Chinese-
backed wind farm; 20-tower project too close to Navy Bombing Range
By David Sykes
A little-known commit
tee of the federal govern
ment, the Committee on
HEPPNER
5 < K
ette
VOL. 131
N O. 35
8 Pages
Wednesday, Septembers, 2012
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
NOAA issues Aug. climate
summary for Heppner
August warmer than normal, data says
According to prelimi
nary data received by NO-
AA’s N ational W eather
Service in Pendleton, OR,
temperatures in Heppner
averaged slightly warmer
than normal during the
month of August.
The average temper
ature was 71.1 degrees,
which was 1.6 degrees
above normal. High tem
peratures averaged 87.9
degrees, which was 2.4
degrees above normal. The
highest was 98 degrees
on the Aug. 7. Low tem
peratures averaged 54.2
degrees, which was 0.8
degrees above normal. The
lowest was 41 degrees, on
the 24“'.
On 12 days, the temper
ature exceeded 90 degrees.
Precipitation totaled
0.00 inches during August,
which was 0.39 inches be
low normal.
Precipitation this year
has reached 11.37 inches,
which is 1.99 inches above
normal. Since October, the
water year precipitation at
Heppner has been 13.17
inches, which is 0.27 inches
below normal.
The outlook for Septem
ber from NOAA’s Climate
Prediction Center calls for
near-normal temperatures
and near- to below-normal
precipitation. Normal highs
for Heppner fall from 82
degrees at the start of Sep
tember to 71 degrees at the
end of September. Normal
lows fall from 50 degrees
to 43 degrees. The 30-year
normal precipitation is 0.56
inches.
The National Weather
Service is an office of the
National Oceanic and At
mospheric Administration,
an agency of the U.S. Com
merce Department.
Mustang football kicks off
Main Street convoy shows Heppner pride
Mustang football kicked off its season last Friday with a game against Waitsburg-Prescott.
Though the Mustangs lost their first contest of year, they started the 2012 season with plenty
of Mustang pride, as shown with the convoy down Main Street on Friday (above). Heppner’s
first home game is Sept. 14 against Willamina. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
Oregon public safety orgs
endorse Smith
Rep. Greg Smith (R-
Heppner) last week an
nounced six additional
endorsements for his re-
election campaign for State
Representative in House
District 57.
Smith has earned the
support o f the O regon
Chiefs o f Police, Oregon
Council o f Police Asso
ciations, Sheriffs of Oregon
PAC, and the Oregon State
Police Officers Association.
Other public safety groups
that have endorsed Rep.
Smith include the Associa
tion of Oregon Corrections
Employees and AFSCME,
which also represents se
curity guards at local cor
rectional facilities.
“I appreciate the work
o f Oregon’s law enforce
ment and corrections of
ficers, and I ’m proud to
receive their support,” Rep.
Smith said. “As State Rep
resentative and member of
the Joint Ways and Means
Committee, I’m committed
to giving our public safety
community the tools and
resources they need so they
can effectively accomplish
their jobs and keep our
communities safe.”
D uring his c u rre n t
term, Smith voted to give
law enforcement greater
ability to prosecute repeat
drunk drivers, sexual preda
tors and metal thieves. As
Co-Chair of the Ways and
Means Public Safety Sub
committee, he also worked
to prevent budget cuts to
Oregon’s corrections sys
tem and other public safety
programs.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Foreign Investment in the
United States (CFIUS, com
monly pronounced “sifius”)
has shut down a 20-tower
wind farm construction
project on Kent Madison’s
property on Buttercreek
near the Naval Bombing
Range in North Morrow
County, the Morrow Coun
ty Planning Commission
learned last week.
CFIUS, which moni
tors foreign investm ent
in the U.S. for national
security implications, last
month ordered the project
halted and all contractors,
equipment and personnel
removed from the site. No
public explanation for the
shutdown was given, and
local officials were appar
ently under a gag order not
to discuss the shutdown
with the public.
The Heppner Gazette
emailed CFIUS for com
ment on the order, and the
committee, which is chaired
by the Secretary of the Trea
sury, refused comment.
Requests by this news
paper for information on
the shutdown were also
submitted to Representative
Greg Walden’s and Senator
Ron Wyden’s offices, nei
ther of which would return
phone calls. However, the
Gazette-Times was able to
piece together some infor
mation on the shutdown,
but with only speculation
as to the reason.
The Buttercreek proj
ect is owned by a Chinese
company called the Sany
Group, which, among other
things, builds wind towers.
It is one of the largest pri
vate companies in China.
According to sources, the
company insists it has no
connection to the Chinese
government.
Speculation has in
creased that, because o f
the proximity to the Naval
Bombing Range, the towers
could somehow be used to
monitor electronic or other
aircraft activity at the range.
Hie closest wind towers are
approximately five miles
from the edge of the Navy’s
restricted airspace at the
Bombing Range.
According to sources,
Sanya has denied this, and
apparently brought a rep
resentative from Beijing
on July 11, 2012 to answer
questions to CFIUS con
cerning the project, with no
resolution.
According to sources,
Sany reportedly agreed
to all conditions to assure
the U.S. government that
it has no malicious intent,
including inspection of the
equipment and wind farms
on a 24/7 random basis. The
government reportedly did
not respond, only to state
that it believes that Sany’s
ownership of the wind farm
presents a “national securi
ty threat.” Sources say that
CFIUS has not disclosed to
The federal government says towers like these will not be go
ing up on the Buttercreek project.
project owners, landown
ers or developers what that
threat is, despite repeated
requests from them for such
information.
To shut down construc
tion on the 20-tower project,
CFIUS issued a “cease and
desist order” and ordered
that Sany and its contrac
tors cease construction im
mediately and remove all
construction equipment,
and not put any new equip
ment on the site. At least
one Heppner contractor
was reportedly ordered off
the site.
Ken Madison of Madi
son Farms, who is land-
owner where the wind farm
was being built, was con
tacted for comment by the
Gazette-Times. Madison
declined and referred the
new spaper to developer
Bob Guertin of Kirkland,
WA. Guertin also declined
to comment and directed all
inquires to Todd Guerrero,
an attorney in Minneapolis,
MN who specializes in the
wind energy. Repeated at
tempts to contact Guerrero
for comment also went un
answered.
In an earlier related
matter, at a J une 2012 meet
ing of the Morrow County
P lanning C om m ission,
project developers—at the
request of the U.S. Navy,
which operates the nearby
Bombing Range— asked
that one string of five wind
towers on the same Butter
creek project be relocated.
The planning commission
approved moving the Low
er Ridge Project string of
towers 1.5 miles south of its
original permitted location.
The original permit for the
entire Buttercreek wind
project had been approved
by the planning commission
in the summer of 2010.
Changing the location
o f one o f the strings o f
towers on the project was
done to satisfy the Navy’s
concern that the towers in
terfered with flight patterns
at the Bom bing Range.
The changes reportedly
cost the developers around
$ 200 , 000 .
Since then, complete
shutdow n o f the entire
20-tower project has sent
speculation ram pant in
Morrow County, with some
-See WIND FARM SHUT
DOWN/PAGE EIGHT
What is CFIUS?
According to Wikipeda, the online encyclopedia.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS, commonly pronounced “sifius”)
is an inter-agency committee of the United States
Government that reviews the national security impli
cations of foreign investments in U.S. companies or
operations. Chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury,
CFIUS includes representatives from 16 U.S. depart
ments and agencies, including the Defense, State and
Commerce departments, as well as (most recently)
the Department of Homeland Security. CFIUS was
established by Gerald Ford’s Executive Order 11858
in 1975.
Following is the email received by the Heppner
Gazette-Times after requesting information on the
Buttercreek project: “By law, information filed with
CFIUS may not be disclosed by CFIUS to the public.
Accordingly, the Department does not comment on
information relating to specific CFIUS cases, includ
ing whether or not certain parties have filed notices
for review.”
New wolf pack found
A new wolf pack was
discovered by ODFW wolf
program staff in northeast
Oregon on Aug. 25 when a
pair o f gray-colored adult
wolves with five gray pups
was observed in the Upper
Minam River drainage.
ODFW has received
irregular wolf reports in the
larger general area over the
past several years. ODFW
had been monitoring wolf
activity in the Lower Mi
nam River area since a
photo of a black lactating
female was taken on June 4.
However, these new wolves
appear to be unrelated to the
lactating female, as they
were all gray-colored.
The home range o f
these newly discovered
wolves is unknown at this
time, but represents the fifth
litter of pups documented
in 2012.
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