Celebrate the
holidays with photos
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 49
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Residents are asked
to submit photos of their
homes that are lit up and
decorated for the holidays.
Please include the city
where the home is located
and the street it is on if
you choose. The Heppner
Gazette-Times will be pub-
lishing the photos in the
December 22 issue.
Photos may be emailed
to editor@rapidserve.net,
uploaded to Heppner.net
or texted to 541-980-6674
and must be received by 5
p.m. on Monday, December
20 to be included. For addi-
tional information, contact
the G-T at 541-676-9228.
Think Big Space grand opening held at Sage Center
Port of Morrow Chair Rick Stokoe cuts the ribbon to open the new Think Big Space.
Last Thursday the Port
of Morrow, Morrow County
School District and Ama-
zon Web Services (AWS)
hosted the grand opening of
the AWS Think Big Space
at the Port of Morrow’s
Sustainable Agriculture and
Energy (SAGE) Center in
Boardman.
The new AWS Think
Big Space is a dedicated
space for students, edu-
cators and communities
to explore innovative and
imaginative ideas through
interactive hands-on tech-
nical education and cloud
computing training. This
new educational space,
funded by AWS and the
Port of Morrow, is intended
to inspire students to ex-
Students interact with technology in Think Big Space.
Think Big Space Classroom. -Photos by Erika Lasater
plore and cultivate STEM
(science, technology, engi-
neering, and math) related
interests with labs that uti-
lize cloud computing and
various AWS technologies.
Many local officials
attended the opening, in-
cluding Morrow County
Commissioners Don Rus-
sell, Melissa Lindsay and
Jim Doherty, Port Com-
missioners Rick Stokoe,
Jerry Healy and Joe Taylor,
Erin Stocker and Marie
Shimer from the Morrow
County School District and
Ryan Neal, CEO of Port of
Morrow. Also in attendance
were State Representative
Greg Smith and State Sen-
ator Bill Hansell.
Grand opening activi-
ties included a ribbon cut-
ting ceremony, a private
tour of the space led by Don
Walker, lead instructor of
the AWS Think Big Space
and a showcase of student
programmed robots and
Computer-Aided Design
(CAD) drawings designed
by students from Ione, Ir-
rigon and Windy River
Elementary Schools.
At the event, Commis-
sioner Stokoe shared, “This
initiative wouldn’t be possi-
ble without the partnerships
and shared vision for our
youth. STEM education
plays a vital role in prepar-
ing students for their future.
We know the Think Big
Space will cultivate these
learning opportunities that
inspire innovation”.
AWS selected SAGE
Center as the first location
in Oregon to receive an
AWS Think Big Space. Its
curriculum will be overseen
by the Morrow County
School District and pro-
gramming will be sup-
ported by a robust set of
regional collaborators that
include early childhood ed-
ucation and post-secondary
schools.
“AWS is committed to
making a positive impact in
the communities where our
employees live and work,”
said Cornelia Robinson,
global leader of AWS in
communities. “We were
incredibly impressed by the
vision of the AWS Think
Big Space at the SAGE
Center. We’re thrilled to
have the opportunity to
invest in the students and
residents of Morrow Coun-
ty and provide the tools and
connections they need to
build, imagine and innovate
their best future.”
Shepherds Flat wind blades to be recycled into cement
Will be trucked to Missouri for processing
at the meeting. She added en tons recycled through
there had been an “up- this process enables the ce-
roar” in the Ione area with ment kiln to avoid consum-
people thinking the used ing nearly five tons of coal,
blades were going to a lo- 2.7 tons of silica, 1.9 tons of
cal landfill. “The question limestone, and nearly a ton
has been asked numerous of additional mineral-based
times what is being done raw materials.
with these blades? And the
Cooley was asked if the
answer was, we don’t know company’s recycling plans
yet,” she told Cooley. She might change. “I commend
added even EFSC
you for your disposal Blades like this one coming off Shepherds Flat wind farm will
wasn’t clear when
but is your intent to re- not be buried in a landfill.
issuing the permit
cycle going to change?” “If they were going to bury agreement with Southern
how the blades
Lindsay asked. She was them, they would have to go California Edison for all
would be dis-
concerned after hear- to a licensed land fill. Just the electricity generated
posed of. “I need
ing land was already picking a spot and digging there. The power was so
a clear answer,”
purchased for the buri- a hole and burying them important at that time to
she told Cooley.
al. Cooley said nothing wouldn’t work in the state southern California’s green
Cooley said Jared Cooley would change during the of Oregon,” Russell said. energy goals, that the mayor
his company has D i re c t o r o f repower project. “This is
Before selling out to of Long Beach California
contracted for Construction a method that we have Brookfield in February of attended the wind farm ded-
b l a d e d i s p o s - Brookfield
confirmed with Gen- this year, Caithness Energy ication ceremony in Mor-
al with General Renewable
eral Electric, and they had built the Shepherds Flat row County. The current
Electric, who
have been contracted windfarm in Morrow and repowering project, includ-
plan on hauling them to a to dispose of the blades,” Gilliam counties in 2012 ing blade replacement, is
recycling plant owned by he reiterated. Commis- and at that time it was the the result of advancements
a company named Veo- sioner Don Russell said it largest windmill project in in wind blade design and is
lia North America located would be difficult to bury the world. When complet- expected to be completed
70 miles northwest of St. the blades anywhere be- ed Caithness had signed in 2022.
Louis. The blades, mainly sides a licensed landfill. a 20-year power purchase
composed of fiberglass,
will be shredded and the
resulting material then used
in the kilns to replace the
coal, sand and clay needed
to make cement. More than
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
90 percent of the blades will
be reused with 65 percent as
raw material in the cement
CALL
plants, and 28 percent trans-
formed into energy required
for the chemical reaction in
ext 204
the kiln.
According to GE’s
for more
website, a single wind tur-
bine blade that weighs sev-
information
541-989-8221
Print & Mailing Services
*Design *Print
Sykes Publishing
*Mail
541-676-9228
NEW
2022
FOR
By David Sykes
operation,” Cooley said.
Over 1,000 fiberglass He explained that under
windmill blades soon to be the process, the fiberglass
coming off the Shepherds composite blades would
Flat wind farm in Morrow be ground up and used as
and Gilliam counties, are alternative fuel in an old
headed to a Missouri recy- coal-fired plant used to run
cling center where they will a cement making operation.
be ground up and used to Waste from the burned
manufacture cement, Mor- blades would then be taken
row County commissioners from the furnaces and in-
were told last week.
corporated into the portland
Concerned that the cement product, he added.
used blades removed during
Brookfield Renewable
an up-coming repowering had been granted a license
project might be buried by the Oregon Energy Facil-
somewhere in the coun- ity Siting Council (EFSC)
ty, Commissioner Melissa to put bigger, longer blades
Lindsay asked Jared
on the 338 turbines
Cooley, a representa-
at the wind farm,
tive of Shepherds Flat
resulting in higher
owner Brookfield Re-
energy output. But
newable, point blank
it also means 1014
what the company
used blades are
planned on doing with
needing disposal.
all those used blades.
The EFSC license
She said rumors circu-
does not specify
lating in Ione had the Commissioner how the blades
blades ending up in a Melissa
would be disposed
landfill somewhere in Lindsay
of, which along
the county. Cooley as-
with the burial ru-
sured her that was not going mors, concerned Lindsay.
to happen.
Cooley was actually
“The blades will be before the commissioners
cut into eight-foot sec- on another matter, seeking
tions, stacked on trucks and approval of a road agree-
hauled to Missouri and used ment between Brookfield
in a concrete cement kiln Renewable and the county
to facilitate road access
to 85 wind towers located
in Morrow County, when
Lindsay brought up the
disposal plans. “This is our
only opportunity to know
what is going to happen
to these blades,” Lindsay
said in questioning Cooley
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