TEN - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 15, 2022
EMERGENCY
-Continued from PAGE ONE nity leaders questioned
mended rate which is 10
parts per million or 10 mg
per liter. At 50 and above
that can cause quite a bit of
health issues,” Gray said.
“Pregnant women and chil-
dren up to six months can
be seriously affected by
this. If we save one child
it’s worth it,” he said in ad-
vocating for the declaration.
Gray also touched on
the cultural issue of the
water contamination. “I
want to make sure we are
still looking at the children,
especially when we are
looking at the equity as-
pect of this with our Span-
ish speaking residents and
making sure they get a fair
shake out this,” Gray said.
“It makes me worried,”
he said of people’s lack of
education on the problem,
“especially when people are
boiling the water thinking
that is going to get rid of
the issue and all that does
is condense that nitrate and
make it even worse.”
On the advantage of
having the emergency
declaration, Gray said the
declaration does help the
county get more support
from the state, and, as an
example, also allows him
more leeway in making
purchases of needed goods
and services. “The process
gets pushed to the side
and gives me more leeway
to get that stuff in faster
and not go after the lowest
quote,” he explained. He
said the emergency also
allows the county to get
the state money. “We have
already used the money the
county has put aside for the
(well) testing so if we want
to get more testing done we
need more help from the
state. That way they will
help to cover some of the
costs.”
Lindsay said before
voting in favor of the dec-
laration she wanted an-
swers over concerns about
state control over Morrow
County’s response. “My
biggest involvement was
with COVID. I appreciated
the help we received,” she
said about when she was
main driver of the county’s
pandemic response. “The
state was in control, and we
needed to retain local team
work and control and not
have the state step in and
take this over. The last thing
we want is to have Gover-
nor Brown running our re-
sponse to this. It needs to be
local boots on the ground.
Any risk that we are going
to give up that control?”
she asked.
Gray assured everyone
control of the nitrate emer-
gency response will stay in
local hands. “It starts and
ends at the local level. Even
if the feds were to come in
from FEMA (Federal Emer-
gency Management Agen-
cy) they are not in control
of this disaster,” he said.
“This is our disaster. If it is
either FEMA or the state,
they are support that is all
that they are. We always
will maintain that control,”
he emphasized.
One person in the au-
dience said during Covid,
“You had the government
throwing things out there
like the mask mandates.
Does the government have
the right to push anything
else on this?” Doherty re-
sponded saying he was in
contact with Governor Kate
Brown. “Governor Brown
got ahold of me the other
day and said let us know
what we can do to help,”
Doherty said. “She didn’t
say I’m going to come and
run the county. We need
the help wherever we can
get it.”
Questions over hasty
special meeting
Several other commu-
Doherty on his need to call
the special meeting and
rush into an emergency
declaration. “I have just
spent 60 days doing out-
reach and collaboration and
I wondered where we have
been for 30 years,” Doherty
responded. “The pros and
cons of the declaration; I
am hoping it saves lives.
The downside of it (declar-
ing an emergency) I’m less
worried about,” he said.
JR Cook, founder and
director of the NE Oregon
Water Association and one
who has been involved
with nitrate issues in the
area for many years, was
concerned about a negative
impact the emergency dec-
laration would have on his
and others ongoing efforts
to mitigate the long-time
problem of nitrate in the
water. Cook said the other
groups working on this
issue for so long, should
have been consulted and
involved before Doherty
just moved forward with
the emergency declara-
tion. “We believe this ef-
fort should have been, at a
minimum, communicated
to the LUBGWMA (Low-
er Umatilla Basin Group
Water Management Area)
Committee and sub-com-
mittees that are working
hard on our dime to work
out a detailed plan as well
as short term actions,” Cook
said. He added, “We have
been working with OHA
(Oregon Health Authority),
DEQ and both counties
(Morrow and Umatilla) on
a plan which includes short
and long-term action items,
as well as a clear pathway to
vetted science and data sets
to inform current and future
decisions,” Cook said.
“It is all positive. No
negative impact,” Doherty
replied to Cook’s concerns.
And once again he brought
up the racial and cultural
issue. “I was on the original
committee, and we spent
six years on it. We did two
plans, and I don’t think
either one of them was in
Spanish,” he added.
Bill Antilla , president
of Three Mile Canyon
Farms, the largest agri-
cultural operation in the
county, also voiced concern
about a possible negative
impact of the emergency
declaration. “JR’s (Cook)
point is a good one. Does
the emergency action im-
pact these other efforts in
a negative way?” Antilla
asked. “It would seem a
seven-day delay would
allow us to better under-
stand this important issue
and get better alignment
around solutions. I am a bit
confused by this sudden,
rushed meeting outside of
the normal process,” Antilla
wondered. “If Commission-
er Lindsay is ready to vote.
I’m ready to enact it,” is all
Doherty said in response.
Boardman City Planner
Carla McLane also wanted
to know why no other lo-
cal agencies were consult-
ed or engaged before the
emergency declaration was
pushed. “Has the LUBGWA
been engaged? How have
local and regional partners
been asked to participate
in this emergency declara-
tion?” she wanted to know.
Debbie Radie, vice
president of operations at
Boardman Foods, a large
food processor located at
the Port of Morrow, said
she agreed with the com-
ments whether the emer-
gency action is needed and
what are its impacts. “I am
wondering what a state
of emergency declaration
gives our county in terms
of resources that we do not
already have or could have
with the efforts we have go-
ing on in our own county?”
Radie wondered. Doherty
said testing alone has not
gotten any resources and
only the emergency action
is now getting action. “I can
tell you those 70 tests we
did surely didn’t get any of
those resources or efforts.
And this is all that is driving
this to happen.”
Doherty said when go-
ing door to door around
Boardman he found the
affected people who under-
stand the water is tainted
were spending around $80 a
month on purchasing water.
He said they were also told
about filtration systems that
could be bought to remove
the nitrates “We told them
about the whole house fil-
ters, which frankly for most
of them their house isn’t
worth what the whole house
filter would cost,” Doherty
related.
Irrigon City Manager
Aaron Palmquist wanted to
know why the communities
of Boardman and Irrigon
were not approached about
providing water instead of
going the emergency dec-
laration route. He said a lot
of the affected areas were
close to city water systems
and maybe there could be
help there. Doherty said a
lot of these communities
are 60 feet away from a
city system and maybe the
county could find some
money to tie into the city
systems. Doherty said the
idea of water districts has
also been talked about.
Another question being
asked, Doherty said people
have been approaching
him wanting to know if
his motives to push though
the emergency declaration
are politically driven. “I
sure wouldn’t be out there
walking the streets on a
Sunday when I could be
in church getting saved,”
he said of his efforts going
door to door.
Doherty’s past no votes on
emergencies
Doherty also received
criticism from fellow com-
missioner Lindsay on his
previous opposition, in-
cluding two no votes on
emergency declarations
supporting her efforts
during her fight against the
COVID pandemic in the
county..
“I don’t wish to go
down as opposing a motion
at this point,” Lindsay said.
“I’m a fan of the emergency
declaration. I pushed really
hard to get Boardman de-
clared one when we had the
wind damage and nobody
wanted to do it, and I took
it upon myself as the chair
to push for that,” she said
of Doherty’s history of not
wanting to support emer-
gency declarations. “Same
with the COVID pandem-
ic.” Lindsay recalled when
she was spearheading the
county’s efforts against
the pandemic and did not
receive Doherty’s support.
“Commissioner Doherty,
you voted against the last
two declarations of covid.
Why?” Lindsay asked.
“Was there concern about
something out there you
were worried about. Was
there information I should
know of why you would
be an opponent? When
it’s simply doing good. I
want to know where we are
headed because there is a lot
of public concern around
this,” Lindsay said of the
current nitrate emergency
declaration before the com-
mission.
Doherty responded, im-
plying he did not think last
year’s COVID pandemic
was a “true emergency”
and of course this one was.
“That is a fair question, and
you can go back and pull
up the record,” Doherty
said. “After the initial dec-
laration and the follow up
declaration, as we got fur-
ther down the pike, it got to
where this allowed us to do
some things that didn’t rise
to level of a quote-unquote
emergency but allowed us
to do some things. And I
was a little uncomfortable
accessing folks for money
for something that didn’t
rise to the level of quote-un-
quote emergency,” he said
in explaining his opposi-
tion to last year’s COVID
emergency declaration. “I
don’t think there is anyone
in this room or this coun-
ty who wouldn’t say this
(nitrate problem) is above
and beyond an emergency,”
Doherty said. “That is the
best explanation I can give
you and I am happy to have
Roberta (the court secre-
tary) pull up the record on
that. That’s a fair question,”
he said.
The record shows that
at last August’s commis-
sion meeting Doherty had
panned the emergency pro-
cess, not wanting to enact
it for the benefit of the
COVID pandemic because
he wanted more informa-
tion before he would vote
yes. Doherty had pressed
Emergency Manager Gray,
saying he wanted more
information and specific
data before he would vote
in favor of an emergency
declaration. “I need some-
thing empirical,” he said at
the time. “When people ask
me why are we doing this
(emergency declaration)?
I say because they said it
(COVID) is bad. How bad?
I don’t know how bad. Bad
with a capital B.” Doherty
said at the time he was frus-
trated with what he heard as
only anecdotal and hearsay
reasons driving the emer-
gency declaration request,
so he voted no.
And once again, at
another later December
commission meeting again
dealing with the COVID
pandemic, Doherty yet
again spoke against declar-
ing an emergency, this time
mockingly saying he would
ask the county attorney if
they could just enact a “per-
petual state of emergen-
cy” for the county. “Let’s
just make it perpetual,”
Doherty said of the renewed
emergency declaration for
COVID. “Let’s just make
it that Morrow County is
perpetually in a state of
emergency that allows us
to do these things.” Doherty
said then he didn’t see an
emergency with the pan-
demic, was opposed to the
first COVID declaration,
and was still opposed to it.
“These things have to mean
something and at this point
I fail to see the necessity.
So, I’m a no vote,” he said.
He said since the coun-
ty just keeps authorizing
emergencies, he would talk
to County Counsel Justin
Nelson about just making
the emergency declaration
ongoing. Doherty never did
not follow through on his
threat to do that, however.
Gray said he had dis-
cussed Doherty’s previous
actions against emergency
declarations with the com-
missioner. “We actually
did discuss Chair Doherty
backing out of the last two
declarations,” Gray related.
“Because I wanted him to
know anytime I’m bringing
something forward it is a
concern,” Gray said of his
commitment to this emer-
gency declaration process.
“I’m the emergency man-
ager and if he throws some-
thing at me and it looks like
an emergency that is going
to harm the residents of my
community, I’m going to
run with it and do what my
job is, which is trying to
fix whatever problems we
have. If this (nitrate issue)
wasn’t that big a deal, I
wouldn’t be that concerned
and you would not see an
emergency declaration in
front of you,” Gray ex-
plained of his support for
the declaration.
However, at last Thurs-
day’s special meeting, it
was Lindsay who this time
expressed her doubts about
an emergency declaration
and the need to hastily
enact one. “I’m unclear on
this declaration on what
those resources (from the
state) will look like,” she
told Doherty and Gray. She
also wanted to know why a
special meeting had to be
hastily called. “Why today
versus Wednesday? And
just be able to gather a little
more as far as goals and
objectives. What do we get
today versus next Wednes-
day at a normal meeting?”
she wanted to know. “What
comes to the table? Are we
getting something in the
next five days that causes
us to do this today versus a
Wednesday meeting?” she
asked.
Lindsay emphasized
however, that in the end, the
“Safe drinking water of our
constituents is number one
and all the other issues that
have come my way in the
last two hours are number
two. But what are we bring-
ing to the table doing this
expeditiously today versus
a Wednesday? I would like
to get those answered,” she
said.
Doherty said he called
the special meeting be-
cause he did not have the
opportunity to put this on
the agenda at a regular com-
mission meeting. “This is
a big-ticket item,” he said.
Adding he gave concerned
members of the public 24
hours to know what the
county was doing. Doherty
said postponing the emer-
gency declaration decision
until the next Wednesday’s
commission meeting would
have just given more time
to an already bad situation.
“One thing it does give us
is seven more days of an
emergency that should have
happened a long time ago,”
he said of his reason for
haste. “When you are out
there in the streets you wish
it would have happened a
long time ago,” he added.
Doherty said he had a
meeting the previous day,
Wednesday, with 37 repre-
sentatives of state agencies
in attendance. “Everyone
there, every one of them
was leaning in saying we
have some things that will
help with this,” Doherty
recalled. He said the state
veterinarian was even in
on the meeting saying he
wanted to talk to the local
veterinarians on what is
going on with the livestock
there drinking the contam-
inated water, and what can
happen to them. “I don’t
know what waiting seven
days is going to do other
than waiting seven days,”
Doherty said. “Paul (Gray)
has water ready to go out
this weekend to people
who shouldn’t be drinking
the water,” Doherty em-
phasized.
Trucking in drinking
water
Gray said emergency
management people were
“looking at bringing bottled
water in tomorrow.” We are
working on getting some
water distribution trailers
set up with a small team.”
He said they would find a
location for the water trailer
early next week so people
could come in and fill up
jugs that could be taken
back to the house and used
for drinking and cooking.
Gray said they were also
looking at water delivery
needs for home bound peo-
ple. “We are going to have
some type of volunteer sys-
tem hospice or some other
agency to get the people
the resources they need,”
he said. He said all of their
efforts would be on the
Morrow County side of the
line, even though the nitrate
problem is also present in
Umatilla County.
Tim Seymour of the re-
gional Oregon Emergency
Management department
was also at last Thursday’s
meeting and told commis-
sioners “if you declare an
emergency today you are
telling the state this is a
top priority and we will do
what we can to help you
and we will do that to the
best of our ability. If today
you do not declare a state
of emergen-
cy, then we
will pump
the brakes
a little and
wait,” he
explained.
“ T h a t
d o e s n ’ t Tim Seymour
n e c e s s a r - Oregon
Emergency
i l y m e a n Management
we won’t
continue to
provide support. We have
regional people, me in-
cluded, out here in eastern
Oregon working with the
public health department
and emergency manager,”
Seymour said. He added if
the emergency declaration
were not enacted that day,
“It definitely slows down
the speed that we are going
to do things. That says a lot
about the importance of the
declaration,” he explained.
“When I started re-
searching nitrates, it starts
how the blood stream can
carry oxygen in your sys-
tem,” Gray stated. “Women
who are pregnant and chil-
dren six months or younger
can be severely affected
by nitrates. We can wait a
week. I am ok with that.
Or we can jump on this
today and actually get clean
water for these people to
start drinking probably by
tomorrow,” he declared.
Gray also emphasized
they were not just talking
short term solutions like
providing bottled water.
“This is not just us working
on a short-term solution.
This is what is going to
happen immediately. We
will be working with the
state to get more testing
done. We will be looking
at money for filter systems
to put into these homes,”
he said. Gray said they are
planning for short and long
term and getting the state
out of here as quickly as
they can and putting the
county “where we are not
going to have to ask for
anymore assistance.”
After the long discus-
sion the commissioners vot-
ed 2-0 in favor of declaring
a state of emergency.
All Umatilla National
Forest offices are now fully
open for walk-in visitors.
Office hours are generally
Monday through Friday
from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
however some of Ranger
District offices do offer
expanded hours to accom-
modate local community
needs. Additional infor-
mation is available on the
Forest website.
The press release stat-
ed, “We are excited to offer
in-person customer service
once again to our commu-
nities. On behalf of the
Umatilla National Forest,
please accept our gratitude
for your flexibility during
the time we provided ser-
vices virtually. The Uma-
tilla staff greatly appreciate
all the creative ways that
you have worked with us
as we all navigated through
this historic last couple of
years. And now that our
office doors are officially
open, stop by to visit us.
We would love to see you.”
Forest offices reopen