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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
of Shepherds Flat wind farm
338-tower project is biggest in world
By David Sykes
A large crowd of in­
vestors, developers and
elected officials gathered
Saturday for the operations
HEPPNER
VOL. 131
N 0. 38 10 Pages
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
kick-off celebration of the
world’s largest wind farm.
Shepherds Flat in Northern
Gilliam and Morrow coun­
ties.
About 280 people gath­
ered for speeches and bar­
becue on a windy day on
Rhea Lane near Arlington
to celebrate the start-up of
the $2 billion, 845 mega­
watt wind farm. Planning
for the project started more
than 10 years ago.
Guests munched bar­
becue under a large tent
as landowners, developer
and end users extolled the
virtues of wind power and
the clean energy it will
produce. A contingent of
investors even made the
trip from Japan to be at the
kick-off, which was hosted
by New York-based Caith­
ness Energy.
Landowner Skye Krebs,
of Krebs Sheep Company,
dressed in cowboy hat and
jeans, rubbed shoulders
with suit-wearing investors
from around the world, as
everyone praised the long-
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon running project that came
to fruition.
Senator Ron Wyden
was scheduled to speak
5<K
Obama to decide fate of
Buttercreek wind farm
Chinese company says charges o f possible espionage
at nearby Navy Bombing Range ‘not credible'
By David Sykes
The fate of the But­
tercreek wind-farm project
now rests with the President
of the United States, ac­
cording to a motion filed
Sept. 19 in federal court in
Washington DC.
Citing national security
concerns, construction on
the 20-tower wind farm
located on Kent Madison’s
property near Buttercreek
had been shut down in
July by the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the
United States (CFIUS). A
Chinese-owned company
was behind the wind farm,
which is located near the
Navy Bombing Range in
Morrow County, and there
had been concerns of pos­
sible espionage from the
wind farm. CFIUS refused
to comment on the stop-
work order.
The project uses Chi­
nese-built wind turbines;
however, in court docu­
ments filed in a Washing­
ton, D.C., court, the Chi­
nese-owned development
company and wind-tower
builder says claims of pos­
sible espionage “are not
credible.”
The Ralls Corp., which
is owned by executives
of the China-based Sany
Group Inc., bought the
wind-farm assets from an­
other company earlier this
year, without reporting
the purchase to CFIUS.
Sany wind-tower construction on another wind-farm site.
-Contributed photo
CFIUS monitors foreign
investments in the U.S. for
possible national security
threats.
The Sany Group, which,
among other things, builds
wind towers, is one of the
largest private companies in
China. The company insists
it has no connection to the
Chinese government.
Speculation has in­
creased that because of
the proximity to the Naval
Bombing Range, the towers
could somehow be used to
monitor electronic or other
aircraft activity at the range.
The closest wind towers are
approximately five miles
from the edge of the Navy’s
restricted airspace at the
Bombing Range.
On Sept. 19, The Ralls
Corp. filed a restraining
order and preliminary in­
junction that would permit
the company to resume
construction of the But-
tercreek wind farm. If the
wind farm isn’t in service
by Dec. 31, then the com­
pany will lose $25 million
in federal investment tax
incentives, according to the
court filing.
The two sides reached
an agreement however, that
will allow the “resump­
tion of certain prelim i­
nary construction activi­
ties.” Whether the project
will be able to resume
full construction is up to
Obama He has until Sept.
28 to make that decision.
According to the court fil­
ing, The Ralls Corp. denies
any possible “espionage
or other hostile activities
because of the proximity
of the planned wind farms
to the Navy’s Northwest
Training Range Complex,”
or bombing range.
Ralls says it is only
-See BUTTERCREEK WIND
FARM/PAGESIX
G-T Trophy Corner
Left: Troy Morgan of Hep­
pner bagged this nine-foot,
350-pound alligator during a
recent hunt on Florida's Lake
Okeechobee. On the same
hunt, he also shot an eight-
foot, 175-pound alligator.
Below: a foot-by-foot com­
parison shows what a monster
this gator was. -Contributed
photos
Local landowner Skye Krebs addresses the gathered crowd of
investors, developers, landowners and others at the kick-off
celebration near Arlington Saturday. -Photo by David Sykes
but was held up in Wash­
ington, D.C., and unable
to attend. Gilliam County
judge Pat Shaw and her
Morrow County counter­
part Terry Tallman spoke
of the economic benefit the
project would bring to the
two counties.
Caithness said it em­
ployed more than 400 work­
ers during construction of
the 338 tower farm, and will
maintain a full-time staff of
45 workers.
In producing two bil­
lion kilow att-hours per
year, Shepherds Flat will
have an estimated annual
economic impact of $37
million for Oregon.
All the electricity pro­
duced by the wind farm will
be sold to Southern Califor­
nia Edison, a Rosemead,
CA-based utility, as part of
a 20-year power purchase
agreement.
Bob Foster, the mayor
of Long Beach, CA, also
made the trip to the kick­
off, and said his city was
one of the end users of the
wind power the turbines are
-See WIND FARM DEDICA­
TION/PAGE SEVEN
Health district shows
increase in assets for 2012
By April Sykes
The Morrow County
Health District showed a
$465,435 increase in assets
for the 2012 fiscal year, Mi­
chael Bell, CPA with Wipfli,
LLP, reported to the district
board at their Monday night
meeting in Irrigon.
Bell, formerly with his
own firm, Michael R. Bell
& Company, the district’s
long time accountant, said
it has been “a joy” work­
ing with the district over
the years, especially with
Nicole Mahoney, the dis­
trict’s chief financial officer.
He remarked how fortunate
MCHD is to have Mahoney,
commenting that he has
worked with “hospitals
who have accountants with
accounting degrees who
aren’t as good as Nicole.”
Bell said that the dis­
trict’s increase in cash re­
serve is “definitely a good
sign” and encouraged the
board to maintain a good
amount of cash reserves in
preparation for upcoming
changes in the healthcare
system. He said that the dis­
trict’s bad debts and write­
offs “are as low as can be,”
thanks to Mahoney and the
district’s business office.
He told the board that the
district maintains a “good
healthy financial position”
because of the cash reserve
and because debts are fairly
low.
Bell said that the com­
munity, by giving around
$1 million in taxes to the
district every year, is, in
turn, bringing in around $5
million in payroll back into
the community.
“The hospital is a big
part of the economy, es­
pecially in the Heppner
area,” he said, adding that
area businesses would "...
probably have trouble if the
hospital wasn’t here.”
Bell also remarked
that whether or not the
Affordable Health Care
-See HEALTH DISTRICT/
PAGE TEN
PERS expert, secretary
of state candidate to hold
town hall in Heppner
PERS expert traces retirement fund problems to
1971 when legislators were able to participate
A town hall meeting
featuring Knute Buehler,
candidate for secretary of
state, and Daniel Re, an
expert on Oregon’s Public
Employee Retirement Sys­
tem (PERS), will be held in
Heppner on Sunday, Sept.
30, at 2 p.m. at Heppner
City Hall. The public is
invited to attend.
Also in attendance at
the meeting will be Uma-
tilla/Morrow District Cir­
cuit Court Judge candidates
Lynn Hampton and Jon
Lieuallen.
Re will tell how the
current PERS is breaking
the state of Oregon and
what can be done to fix it.
The PERS problem is
that, “Since 1971, PERS
laws have been made ex­
clusively by legislators
who were or who could
become PERS members.
Since 1984, PERS judges 1945. He then founded In
have decided every PERS RE The People, Inc., an Or­
egon non-profit cor­
case.
“While PERS
poration, to inform
members are en­
Oregonians about
titled to a seat at
how the PERS law s
the bargaining table
were changed by
when public em­
legislators after the
ployee retirement
legislators were
benefits are deter­
first allowed to join
mined, they are not Danje| Re-
PERS in 1971.
entitled to every
Re has had
seat at the bargain­
written articles on
ing table. But that is what PERS that have been pub­
they have had since 1971 lished in the Bend Bulletin,
and that is why PERS laws the Eugene Register-Guard,
are the way they are today. the Oregon Catalyst web­
That’s my problem with site and the Oregon State
PERS,” says Re.
Bar Bulletin.
Re has practiced law in
In 2009, he established
Bend, OR since 1981. He is through the Oregon At­
a lifelong Oregon resident torney General’s Office
and, in 2009, decided to that an elected official’s
learn about the PERS laws PERS membership status
and how they had changed is subject to public disclo-
-See TOWN HALL/PAGE
from the original PERS
EIGHT
laws that were enacted in
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