NEWS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
New application submitted for Easterday Dairy
By GEORGE PLAVEN
STAFF WRITER
Plans to reopen Ore-
gon’s second-largest dairy
are back on the table, with a
third owner at the helm.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture received a
new application from Cole
Easterday to operate the
dairy near Boardman. Cole’s
father, Cody Easterday, was
forced to withdraw his appli-
cation on July 15.
It is the latest develop-
ment for the property for-
merly known as Lost Valley
Farm, which opened in 2018
and closed less than a year
later due to repeated viola-
tions of its confi ned animal
feeding operation, or CAFO,
permit.
Former owner Greg te
Velde eventually declared
bankruptcy and the site was
sold in 2019 to the Easterday
family, which ran several
farming businesses around
Pasco.
However, Cody Easter-
day ran into legal troubles of
his own and pleaded guilty
earlier this year to defraud-
ing Tyson Foods in a “ghost
cattle” scheme, selling more
than 200,000 animals that
existed only on paper.
He agreed to pay $244
million in restitution and
EO Media Group File
The former Lost Valley Farm outside Boardman, which Cole Easterday proposes to reopen.
faces up to 20 years in
prison for felony wire fraud.
Sentencing is scheduled for
Oct. 5.
Meanwhile, both East-
erday Farms and Easterday
Ranches have fi led for bank-
ruptcy, and Cody Easter-
day’s sons — Cole, Clay and
Cutter — purchased con-
trolling interest in the fam-
ily’s dairy business, known
as Easterday Dairy LLC.
Since Cody Easter-
day is no longer listed as
the dairy’s operator, ODA
required Cole Easterday to
submit a new CAFO permit
application subject to the
agency’s review.
The new application is
similar to the old. It calls for
28,300 total animals, includ-
ing 9,700 mature dairy
cows, 8,600 dairy heifers
and 10,000 non-dairy cattle.
Liquid manure will
be stored in open-air
lagoons for up to 111 days
each year, with a capac-
ity of 86.8 million gal-
lons, and solid manure will
be kept year-round on an
impervious soil pad.
The dairy also plans to
recycle manure and pro-
cessed wastewater to grow
crops on 5,390 acres of
farmland, mixed at agro-
nomic rates to avoid ground-
water contamination.
Nitrate concerns
However, the state agri-
culture department has
issued a water quality advi-
sory for the property after
tests showed soil nitrate lev-
els could potentially migrate
into the groundwater.
As part of the original
purchase agreement, Cody
Umatilla Electric Cooperative hits
2,000 days without an accident
By NICK ROSENBERGER
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON — Every
morning, families across
Umatilla County click their
lights on, fl ip the switch on
their coff ee makers and take
showers warmed by an elec-
tric current. Their work-
places are air conditioned
and laptops charged by
wires threading through the
county’s golden country-
side — wires with enough
voltage to kill with a simple
mistake.
The men and women at
Umatilla Electric Cooper-
ative work with these live
wires every day so we can
enjoy these simple plea-
sures. While the worst work-
place injuries in most indus-
tries might be a joint injury
or broken bone, those work-
ing with these currents face
a diff erent kind of danger.
“These guys miss the
wrong thing and it kills
them,” said Chris McMa-
hon, UEC’s administrative
safety assistant.
But over the last nearly
5-1/2 years, or 2,004 days to
be exact, Umatilla Electric
Cooperative has avoided
all accidents leading to
lost time, which McMa-
hon described as an acci-
dent where someone injures
themselves during work-re-
lated duties and is not able
to work.
This is not a simple
achievement with electri-
cal work posing such a risk
for injury or death. Accord-
ing to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, there were 75
fatalities in the fi ve years
between 2014 and 2019 in
the electrical power trans-
mission, control and distri-
bution industry alone. This
number does not include
nonfatal injuries.
Another Bureau report in
December 2020 found there
were 750 fatalities related
to exposure to electricity
across all industries from
2015 to 2019.
“The motive to con-
stantly be learning and to be
diligent in what we do is par-
amount in what happens,”
McMahon said, “because
the simplest of mistakes can
easily kill somebody.”
Whether working on
construction, doing repairs
or making sure trees are
pruned away from high-volt-
age power lines, the dangers
are persistent — especially
as brutal heat continues to
pound the Pacifi c North-
west and puts a strain on the
state’s electrical system.
There also is a potential
for a backfeed of electric-
ity from somebody running
a generator because their
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
Matt Ellis, a lineman with Umatilla Electric Cooperative,
positions equipment atop a utility pole in Hermiston on
April 7, 2021. UEC recently celebrated 2,000 days without an
accident leading to time off work.
power went out.
eral manager and
When employees go
CEO. “In my years
out to do a simple
in the utility indus-
repair there may be
try, this is a mile-
dangerous levels of
stone I am most
electricity from the
proud of and want
generator that unin-
to express to each
Echenrode
tentionally
fl ows
employee my appre-
backward towards
ciation for continu-
workers.
ing to keep safety
“It’s a day-to-
at the front of their
day occurrence that
minds and reach-
these guys are con-
ing this incredible
stantly in that envi-
achievement.”
ronment,” McMa-
According
to
hon said.
McMahon,
UEC
McMahon
“I stand with
made safety a top
Umatilla
Elec-
priority to make it so
tric employees who have far without injuries, starting
demonstrated safety for with hiring people with the
their community and safety right mindset and who are
for one another,” said Rob- cautious about their work.
ert Echenrode, UEC’s gen-
“It’s a culture of safety that
we develop here at Umatilla
Electric,” McMahon said.
While they have their
daily actions, procedures,
policies and safety meet-
ings, UEC employees also
study near misses. Whether
it is their own near misses
or those in other facilities,
the information is accessi-
ble and open to review.
“A near miss is essen-
tially something that poten-
tially could have been a lost
time accident, but it was not
just due to the grace of God,”
McMahon said. “We’re able
to look at that and learn
from other people.”
On Tuesday, July 27,
its 2,000th day without an
accident, UEC held a cele-
bratory dinner for employ-
ees and families at the
Maxwell Event Center,
Hermiston. The coopera-
tive had employees anon-
ymously vote for someone
they felt went above and
beyond and embodied the
safety culture in the organi-
zation and named Glen Saul
the Umatilla Electric Safety
Champion.
“They’ve shown that
they can do this,” McMa-
hon said. “They got it down.
They understand and they’re
constantly practicing.”
“Collectively it takes
everybody to be able to
do something like this and
to constantly be engaged
in what happens each and
every day,” McMahon
said, “because compla-
cency kills.”
Easterday agreed to clean
up the property under ODA
supervision. Under te Vel-
de’s ownership, Lost Val-
ley Farm had racked up 200-
plus violations of its CAFO
permit related to manure and
wastewater management.
One condition of the
cleanup permit includes
ongoing soil testing to mon-
itor for nitrates, which at
elevated levels can impact
human health.
The proposed dairy is
within the Lower Umatilla
Basin Groundwater Man-
agement Area, which the
Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality desig-
nated in 1990 for having ele-
vated levels of groundwater
nitrates.
While no animals are
allowed on site, Cody East-
erday had been growing
potatoes and other vege-
tables at the dairy while
awaiting the outcome of his
CAFO permit application,
according to the state ag
department.
The agency stated in a
news release that it issues
water quality advisories
“when there is a risk of vio-
lating permit conditions, and
is a proactive notifi cation to
alert the owner-operator that
steps must be taken to pre-
vent violations.”
Police respond to multiple
crashes over weekend
HERMISTON HERALD
The Oregon State Police
had a busy weekend respond-
ing to car crashes, including
four where people were hos-
pitalized with injuries.
On Thursday, July 29,
a driver lost control while
attempting to stop his car
and rear-ended another vehi-
cle near milepost 24 on
Highway 207, OSP reported.
Robert Alan Shaff er, 21,
from Lexington, was injured
and had to be taken to Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston.
Then, July 30, three vehi-
cles crashed near milepost
179 on Interstate 84. The
crash occurred when a car
merged onto the interstate
from exit 177 and another
car failed to yield to the right
of way, police reported. The
cars sideswiped another
vehicle traveling east.
Police cited the driver
who failed to yield. The pas-
senger of the car that was
sideswiped was injured and
taken to Good Shepherd.
On July 31, a vehicle car-
rying four people crashed
and rolled. One passenger
was hospitalized at Good
Shepherd.
State police arrested the
driver, Stephanie Michelle
Ramirez, 19, of Umatilla,
for driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants, three
counts of reckless endan-
gering and one count of pos-
sessing alcohol as a minor. A
breath test showed her blood
alcohol content to be 0.13%,
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state police reported.
Local emergency ser-
vices also responded July 31
to a crash on Vansycle Road
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East Umatilla Fire and
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Residents reported hearing
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The state police report did
not provide a location for the
crash, which involved a man
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The person who was
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investigation revealed alco-
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tor in the crash, according to
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Another condition of the
dairy cleanup requires the
Easterdays to monitor each
of 11 groundwater wells
every quarter.
During the most recent
round of testing, the agri-
culture department reported
one of the wells exceeded
the allowed level of nitrates.
“ODA is advising the
operator on how to reduce
nitrate levels,” the agency
stated, adding regulators
will now require monthly
well tests and reduced appli-
cations of nitrogen fertilizer
and irrigation water on crop
circles closest to the aff ected
well.
Cole Easterday did not
immediately return a mes-
sage seeking comment.
A coalition of environ-
mental groups continues
to oppose the project, and
urged the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture and
Gov. Kate Brown to reject
the Easterday permit.
“No matter who the appli-
cant is,” coalition organizer
Kristina Beggen said, “East-
erday Dairy will produce
dangerous methane emis-
sions, hijack scarce ground-
water resources, and pollute
the air and water of frontline
communities already strug-
gling with the impacts of the
pandemic.”
Shaun
Shaun Curtain
Curtain 360-921-2071
360-921-2071
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
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