BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021
Coalition wants Oregon
governor to deny Easterday
dairy permit near Boardman
By KRISTIN M. KRAEMER
TRI-CITY HERALD
BOARDMAN — A coalition trying to
prevent the opening of a mega-dairy in
Eastern Oregon plans to take their eff ort
directly to Gov. Kate Brown.
A petition with more than 1,200 sig-
natures was delivered Tuesday, Aug. 24,
in Salem, according to Stand Up to Fac-
tory Farms.
The petition demands that Brown deny
a Confi ned Animal Feeding Operation
(CAFO) permit that’s being sought by
Cole Easterday.
The Easterday agriculture conglom-
erate, based in Washington’s Frank-
lin County, wants to operate a large-
scale, commercial dairy and feedlot in
Boardman, about 60 miles south of the
Tri-Cities.
A permit is needed before any animals
can be housed in the dairy facility, which
is expected to hold about 28,000 cattle.
“A broad swath of community, environ-
mental, animal welfare and public health
organizations have raised concerns given
the Easterday family’s fi nancial distress,
the outsize impact mega-dairies have on
drinking water quality, climate change,
and the enormous quantities of water they
use,” Stand Up to Factory Farms said in
a news release.
The coalition cites the Easterday appli-
cation in saying the controversial pro-
posed mega-dairy would use about “20
million gallons of water per day in the
midst of a historic mega-drought and gen-
erate 128 million gallons of manure-con-
taminated waste water in an area with
dangerously high nitrate levels in the
community’s drinking water.”
The application was submitted last
month to the Oregon Department of Agri-
culture after Cole Easterday’s father, Cody
Easterday, was forced by the state agency
to withdraw his own permit request.
Cody Easterday’s application had been
in the permitting process for two years.
He led the family businesses until
earlier this year before both Easterday
Ranches and Easterday Farms declared
bankruptcy in court fi lings.
He also faces a few lawsuits over his
business dealings, along with a lengthy
federal prison sentence for bilking Tyson
Foods and an unnamed company out of
more than $225 million in a “ghost-cat-
tle scam.”
Since Easterday had to withdraw his
application for the dairy — to be on the
previous site of the troubled Lost Val-
ley Farm — his 24-year-old son fi led a
new feeding operation application that
is similar to his dad’s request.
The original application was no lon-
ger valid because Cody Easterday’s
name had been removed from offi cial
paperwork, and his controlling interest
in Easterday Dairy was transferred to
Cole Easterday.
Oregon state law requires the listed
applicant on a permit to be the owner
or operator of the facility.
The property was purchased by Cody
Easterday and Canyon Farms II LLC in
April 2019 for a reported $66.7 million.
The price did not include the cattle.
Easterday Dairy, which is a Wash-
ington corporation with a Pasco offi ce,
was registered in Oregon in March 2019.
Potatoes and other vegetables have
been growing on the site while the East-
erdays await the outcome of the permit
application.
The Department of Agriculture said
in July that the Boardman property has
elevated levels of nitrates in both the soil
and in one groundwater well.
A water quality advisory was issued
for the property because testing shows
soil nitrate levels could pose a risk of
nitrate moving into groundwater.
The operating permit will have to
undergo the usual public notice and par-
ticipation period, and receive ultimate
approval by the Oregon Departments of
Agriculture and Environmental Quality
before Cole Easterday can move forward
with the dairy plans.
Stand Up to Factory Farms, in oppos-
ing the application, has pushed the Ore-
gon Legislature to enact a moratorium
on the creation of new mega-dairies and
the expansion of existing operations.
The group wants policies instituted to
“meaningfully protect our air, water and
climate, and ensure the humane treatment
of animals and the economic vitality of
family farmers.”
“Representing 114,000 Oregonians
who want to see these industrial dair-
ies stopped,” the coalition’s release said,
“The Stand Up to Factory Farms coali-
tion has worked with hundreds of com-
munity members and small farmers to
elevate the voices of those on the front
lines of mega-dairy expansion.”
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Amstads auction
off vintage tractors
By NICK ROSENBERGER
STAFF WRITER
After collecting tractors
for around 40 years, Tony
and DeAnn Amstad success-
fully auctioned off hundreds
of their prized collection on
Saturday, Aug. 21, at their
2,400-acre potato farm out-
side Hermiston.
The main auction building
was a full house, with peo-
ple lining the sides to bid on
more than 100 tractors rang-
ing from antique John Deeres
to Caterpillars and every-
thing in between. They also
were selling a 1956 Interna-
tional S120 truck and a 1983
Cadillac.
The Amstads listed 110
items for sale through the
Booker Auction Co. based
in Eltopia, Washington, with
some dating back as early as
the 1940s.
As words fl owed in rap-
id-fi re and bids were shouted
out, the auction launched into
action with bidders from Ore-
gon, Washington and beyond.
With the auction lives-
treamed for online bids, many
of the purchases were going
to buyers from the Midwest,
with numerous bids for the
vintage tractors coming from
Iowa, DeAnn said. The buy-
ers would pack the tractors up
and ship them wherever they
needed to go.
The Amstads are sec-
ond-generation Swiss-Ameri-
Nick Rosenberger/Hermiston Herald
Attendees gather Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, in the main building to
bid on tractors for sale at the Amstad Collection Tractor Auction
at the Amstad family farm outside Hermiston. Booker Auction
Co., based out of Eltopia, Washington, conducted the event.
can potato farmers, and Tony,
who grew up on his dad’s
farm, fi rst learned to drive on
his father’s 1945 John Deere
Model A tractor. He bought
his fi rst John Deere, a Model
R Diesel, in the early 1980s
and continued to add to his
collection throughout his life.
Tony was able to restore
many of the tractors he
bought and got them in work-
ing condition and, according
to DeAnn, he still rode and
used them before the auction
on Aug. 21. She said it took
about two years to convince
him to sell his collection,
but it was nice to see them
going to others with the same
passions.
“It’s sad to see them go,”
said DeAnn, and mentioned
how much Tony loves going
to a good auction.
“You
really
appreci-
ate what they can do,”
DeAnn said.
BRIEFS
GriefShare off ers support,
encouragement
A faith-based grief support group is start-
ing soon at Stanfi eld Baptist Church.
The GriefShare program runs for 13
weeks. Each session is “self-contained,” so
participants are welcome to begin attending
at any point. The next cycle of groups begins
Wednesday, Sept. 8, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the
church, 310 E. Wheeler Ave., Stanfi eld.
The sessions include video seminars fea-
turing grief recovery experts, small discus-
sion groups and personal study through a
workbook. The nondenominational pro-
gram features biblical principles and off ers
help and encouragement after the death of
a spouse, child, family member or friend. A
free workbook is provided.
For more information or to regis-
ter for the group, contact Scott Zielke at
541-571-6886.
More than half of Lifeways
employees plan to join new
county mental health provider
By BRYCE DOLE
STAFF WRITER
PENDLETON — At least 60 former
Lifeways employees are joining Com-
munity Counseling Solutions when the
county’s new mental health and sub-
stance abuse provider begins its contract
this fall.
The new staff will be working for
the Heppner-based provider by Dec.
1, when CCS’ contract with Umatilla
County begins, according to Community
Counseling Executive Director Kim-
berly Lindsay. Several other employees
are on the fence but may end up work-
ing for CCS, Lindsay said, adding that
the employees transferring over worked
in outpatient behavioral health services.
That’s more than half the employees
Lifeways has said would be laid off this
fall, according to a Worker Adjustment
and Retraining Notifi cation — or WARN
— sent to the county board of commis-
sioners and the Oregon Employment
Department’s Dislocated Worker Unit on
Aug. 13.
The WARN notice stated layoff s “may
come in stages” between Oct. 13 and
Nov. 30, adding “layoff s may be earlier
or later in that time frame, again depend-
ing on the transition to the new provider.”
Lindsay said it’s unclear whether this
means employees could be without work
prior to joining CCS on Dec. 1. She said
Lifeways offi cials previously told her
employees in the county wouldn’t be laid
off until Nov. 30.
“If I were an employee of Lifeways,
and I knew I was going to be picked up
by CCS Dec. 1, and I read that, I would
wonder if I was going to be laid off work
for six weeks or seven weeks,” she said.
When asked about the gap, Lifeways
Chief Executive Offi cer Tim Hoekstra
said in an email the provider planned to
send the WARN notice in July, but “at
that time CCS had not had substantive
conversations with Lifeways employ-
ees in Umatilla County for the purpose
of providing an intent for employment.”
He then added Lifeways sent the
notice in mid-August “as we still did not
have a comfortable level of confi rmation
that CCS had committed to a suffi cient
number of employees.”
“We are very pleased that CCS has
responded positively to our recommen-
dations to shore up staff through those
letters of employment intent and accom-
pany us at our facilities to conduct meet
and greets,” he said.
The Ontario-based provider, offi cials
have said, employed more than 120 peo-
ple in the county, most of whom are
county residents.
Hoekstra said Lifeways plans to retain
some of its facilities, including Aspen
Springs in Hermiston, McNary Place
in Umatilla, and Westgate House in
Pendleton.
“Lifeways continues to be invested in
the well-being of the whole of Umatilla
County,” he said.
As for Lifeways’ eight other facili-
ties in Umatilla County, Lindsay said
CCS will acquire some of them and will
possibly lease some facilities owned by
Lifeways.
However, Hoekstra said: “There are
no specifi c plans for any of those build-
ing as of yet.”
Among those facilities is the old St.
Anthony Medical Offi ce Building in
Pendleton and some of the surrounding
land near 1601 S.E. Court Ave. Lifeways
acquired that property in October 2019
for $1 million, according to news reports.
Lifeways, which served the county
for more than 16 years, lost its contract
in May when the county went out for a
request for a proposal, seeking a new
provider that would cover both mental
health and substance abuse services. The
county awarded that contract to CCS in
late May.
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