RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Thousands of workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation were told to stay home Wednesday as efforts began to plug a hole that developed in the partial collapse of a tunnel containing dangerous radioactive waste from the building of nuclear bomb materials.

A gravel road was built to the site of the roof collapse, and workers were expected to begin filling the hole with dirt on Wednesday, said Destry Henderson, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy.

“We intend to start filling the hole today,” Henderson said Wednesday.

Hanford, located in southcentral Washington state, has about 9,000 employees and most of them were told to stay home Wednesday, Henderson said.

A 400-square foot section of the tunnel roof was discovered to have collapsed Tuesday morning, forcing thousands of workers to shelter-in-place for several hours.

Officials have detected no release of radiation and no workers were injured in the collapse of the unoccupied tunnel, Henderson said.

The rail tunnel was built in 1956 out of timber, concrete and steel, and topped by eight feet of dirt. It was 360 feet long.

Radioactive materials were brought into the tunnel by rail cars for about a decade. The tunnel was sealed in 1965, with eight rail cars loaded with nuclear waste stored inside.

The tunnel is a prime example of the sort of temporary methods to store radioactive waste that abound in the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. The government has been working since the late 1980s to clean up Hanford, and the work is expected to last until 2060 and cost another $100 billion.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a frequent Hanford critic, said the cave-in shows that the temporary solutions the Energy Department has used for decades are starting to fail.

“The longer it takes to clean up Hanford, the higher the risk will be to workers, the public and the environment,” Wyden said.

Hanford, built by the Manhattan Project in World War II, contains the nation’s greatest volume of radioactive waste left over from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. The most dangerous are 56 million gallons of waste stored in 177 aging underground storage tanks, some of which have leaked.

The tunnel roof collapse caused soil on the surface above to sink 2 to 4 feet over a 400 square foot area, officials said.

The anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear said the incident helped show “radioactive waste management is out of control.”

Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington said worker safety must be the priority.

“My thoughts are with the first responders who are working to assess the situation on the ground,” she said.

Worker safety has long been a concern at Hanford, which is located about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit last fall against the Energy Department and its contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, contending vapors released from underground nuclear waste tanks posed a serious risk to workers.

Ferguson said that since the early 1980s, hundreds of workers have been exposed to vapors escaping from the tanks and that those breathing the vapors developed nosebleeds, chest and lung pain, headaches, coughing, sore throats, irritated eyes and difficulty breathing.

Lawyers for the Energy Department have said no evidence has been provided showing workers have been harmed by vapors.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. It was discovered Tuesday as part of a routine inspection.

Workers near the site were evacuated and hundreds of others farther away were told to remain indoors for several hours, the federal agency said.

“No action is currently required for residents of Benton and Franklin counties,” the Energy Department said, referring to the nearly 300,000 residents near the site. “There is no indication of a release of contamination at this point.”

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry was briefed on the incident that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called a serious situation.

“Ensuring the safety of the workers and the community is the top priority,” said Inslee, a Democrat who previously represented the Hanford region in Congress.

The accident occurred at a plant known as the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Facility, or PUREX, located in the middle of the 500-square-mile Hanford site — half the size of Rhode Island.

The PUREX building is the length of three football fields and was used to recover plutonium from irradiated fuel rods.

The senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said he is requesting that the Energy Department brief the committee on the root cause of the collapse.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone said the incident underscores the need for the department to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety and security of workers.

The committee oversees the department’s management of the cleanup efforts.

The Hanford site was built during World War II and made plutonium for most of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of the war.

SALEM — The proposed sale of an expanse of state forest near the Southern Oregon coast was halted unanimously Tuesday by the State Land Board.

With Tuesday’s decision, the governor, secretary of state and treasurer rejected a planned partnership between a Native American tribe and a Roseburg timber company to purchase the Elliott State Forest in Coos and Douglas counties for $220.8 million.

That proposal had elicited significant opposition from environmental groups, and in the process raised questions about the state’s stewardship of public lands.

The offer from Lone Rock Resources and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians was rejected Tuesday in favor of continued public ownership, though the details of how that will work have yet to be determined.

The board initially considered selling the 82,500-acre swath of coastal forest in 2015 because timber harvests that provided money for education were declining after environmental lawsuits challenged them.

The Elliott State Forest is a state trust land and constitutionally required to provide revenues for the Common School Fund, which helps pay for public education.

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson and Treasurer Tobias Read, each of whom took office this year, initially supported moving forward with the sale at their first land board meeting in February. That changed Tuesday when they both opposed it.

The governor, secretary of state and treasurer are not out of the woods yet: They now need to find a way to finance public ownership of the forest and generate money for education.

Gov. Kate Brown has proposed using $100 million in bonds to buy a portion of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the forest — some estimates say that amount could be used to pay for about half of the total acreage — and negotiating what’s called a habitat conservation plan with federal land management agencies for the remainder.

Read last week announced a proposal that would build on the governor’s planned use of bond funds and have Oregon State University pay the remaining $120.8 million of the forest’s assessed value to turn the land into a research forest.

The idea is that foresters at OSU would study the relationship between active forest management and conserving endangered species.

Brown directed the department to consider Read’s research forest proposal, as well as work with tribal governments to “explore ownership or additional forest management opportunities.”

Doug Moore, executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, called the decision “a huge win for all and a reaffirmation of Oregon values.”

Although environmental groups, along with Brown and Read, struck a victorious tone Tuesday, the Oregon School Boards Association said last week that its member school districts may sue the board unless the full assessed value of the forest is paid to the Common School Fund.

Jim Green, executive director of the association, said after the meeting that his group would “continue to monitor these proposals very closely.”

“Any solution has to provide full value to the Common School Fund,” Green said. “That is what we owe our kids.”

Richardson suggested a swapping the Elliott State Forest for land owned by federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

During the meeting, Richardson indicated his displeasure with the fact that the state was backing away from the sale proposal, and said he thought it was likely that the state would face litigation, but said it was “obvious” that the sale was not going to proceed.

The Department of State Lands had begun talks with Lone Rock Resources and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, which had proposed forming a corporation to buy the forest. Now that the board has ended the sale, those negotiations will cease.

At her desk in the Madras city offices, Lysa Vattimo hauls out a fat binder full of documents, maps and lists. This is Madras’ solar eclipse plan.

“And it has a little bit of everything in it,” Vattimo said flipping through the pages. “From port-a-potties to the public safety plan, where fire engines will be staged, where police will be staged.”’

The eclipse will only last about two hours, with just two minutes of complete darkness. But those two minutes amount to months of planning for communities in the 70-mile viewing belt, otherwise known as the path of totality.

Madras is a normally quiet farming and industrial community of about 6,200 people that sits on Highway 97 about an hour north of Bend. Vattimo is an event planner and producer who was hired by the city to coordinate all things eclipse.

“They call me SEL for short,” Vattimo said.

“S-E-L: Solar eclipse lady.”

Madras typically has clear blue skies in mid-August. That’s why so many visitors are expected to flock here for the big event. Although the eclipse will occur over a narrow belt across the entire U.S., Madras has one of the highest chances for uninterrupted viewing.

“A lot of people tell us, quit inviting them in! Quit advertising this thing,” Vattimo said.

But it wasn’t the city of Madras that picked Jefferson County as a hotspot for the eclipse viewing. Astronomers did.

But since so many people are talking about Madras, why not make the most of it?

The city’s 325 hotel rooms have been booked for more than a year. Farmers are advertising fields as campgrounds. A four-day entertainment festival called “Solarfest” at the fairground hopes to attract thousands with concerts and science events.

And with so many campers in town, the grocery stores have a plan to stay stocked: they’ll park refrigerated semi-trucks behind the stores full of produce, meat and other barbecue supplies.

So Madras is doing everything it can to turn a two-minute celestial event into a multi-day extravaganza. After all, no other town in Oregon seems to have hired an eclipse coordinator.

They’ve even made a logo: It’s the state of Oregon,  Madras pinpointed with a “sunburst,” and the eclipse happening behind the peak of Mount Jefferson.

“A bunch of guys at the VFW are making engraved rocks and they’re selling [them] with that logo,” Vattimo said. “I thought that was cute.”

Beyond promotion, there are safety and public health logistics to think through with 70,000 people on the ground at one time in a small town.

What if it’s 100 degrees and thousands of people become dehydrated? If someone breaks a leg, how will ambulances navigate clogged highways? And then there are practical details like Internet. With so many people Instagramming and Facebooking and running credit cards, the networks are expected to be jammed.

“We’ve talked to businesses about running on cash. Which then involves banks. And talking to banks to make sure their ATMs are all stocked up. Well, ATMs also run on internet. ... So there’s a trickle-down effect,” Vattimo said.

And then there’s traffic. Officials expect cars will stagger in a few days before the eclipse happens on the 21st. But on Monday, Highway 97 could turn into 100-mile a parking lot.

“When the eclipse is over and that big mad rush of people that says ‘all right get in the car, we’re leaving! I think you’ll be in a hurry to go nowhere fast,” Vattimo said.

These preparations are not cheap. Eclipse planning has cost the city more than a $100,000. Madras is expecting to recoup that through lodging taxes and other fees.

Vattimo says it’s worth it. This is a giant marketing opportunity for a community that often struggles economically.

She hopes those 70,000 visitors will fall in love with Madras. Maybe a few will move there.

“We look at this as a more than just that one-weekend opportunity for our commerce sector,” Vattimo said. “We look at this as an opportunity to grow our city.”

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — So much timber money once flowed into this rural Oregon county that its leaders set up committees to find ways to spend it.

Today, Douglas County’s library system is on life support, and its sheriff’s department is on track to lose funding.

Nearly 30 years after environmental protections slashed logging in federal forests, Oregon counties like this one that thrived on timber revenues for decades are struggling to provide basic services. These so-called timber counties received hundreds of millions of dollars during logging’s long heyday, and since then the federal government has continued to pour money in to make up for timber’s downfall.

Now the money has dried up and people are reluctant to tax themselves, leaving leaders scrambling and public institutions in free fall.

Commissioners in Douglas County, which once received $50 million in annual profits from logging on federal lands, have slashed health services, cut nearly 300 jobs and started charging for landfill use and parking at parks. The county’s main library will close June 1 because voters rejected a tax, and voters in nearby Josephine County must decide May 16 whether to restore limited tax dollars to libraries and fund county response to 911 calls.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden recently joined other Western lawmakers in a last-ditch effort to restore federal assistance — but local officials aren’t optimistic.

“Most of the citizens have become accustomed to receiving that outside money, and now that that money is gone, we have to be self-sufficient — or at least more self-sufficient,” Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel said.

Yet anti-tax sentiment is strong here, where President Donald Trump dominated in November.

Voters in these counties have rejected tax levies for public services nearly a dozen times before, including for public safety and libraries. Many residents feel county leaders are quick to come to voters and must do more to bring back timber dollars, said Jim Rafferty, who opposes raising taxes in Josephine County.

“I’m not saying that we’re opposed to public safety. That’s not the message,” he said. “The message is for the county commissioners to roll up their sleeves and fund the sheriff when they can, rather than give us this rhetoric.”

The economic spiral playing out in western Oregon is interwoven with themes that have emerged across the American West: Anger over federal land policy, debate about the limits of environmental regulation and the question of who has the right to benefit from federal lands.

Communities across the American West have long received revenues from logging on federal land, but a quirk of history made the timber wealth of more than a dozen counties in Oregon even greater — and makes their current plight unique.

These 18 timber counties stretch from Portland to the California line. They contain 3,281 square miles of densely forested territory that is the central character in a tale of rapid Western expansion and century-old corruption.

The Oregon & California Railroad got the lands in the 1860s for a rail line. The project spurred growth in Oregon but also inspired large-scale land fraud that led to the indictment of a U.S. senator and two congressmen.

In the scandal’s wake, the federal government in 1916 took back the land, but locals argued that cheated them of a tax base on land ripe for logging.

Federal legislation tailored to compensate the counties created a cash cow: 75 percent of the logging receipts from those lands go to the counties, with no restrictions.

During the 1980s, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was selling 1 billion board feet of timber a year, producing so much money that some of the counties did not assess property taxes. Most also get 25 percent of timber receipts from national forests within their borders under a separate program.

But in the early 1990s, conservation groups won lawsuits to protect spotted owl and salmon habitat, and logging on federal land dropped by 90 percent. Federal dollars to ease the counties’ transition has been shrinking for years and was not renewed this year.

The adjustment has been whiplash in communities where unemployment rises to 8 and 9 percent.

Kate Lasky, executive director of Josephine Community Libraries Inc., runs a nonprofit foundation that has kept the libraries open with donations and volunteers.

The May 16 ballot measure would add 39 cents per $1,000 in taxes for voters in a special district of the precincts around the library’s branches. A previous county-wide levy failed.

“I have to focus on those people who want to support their community,” Lasky said. “We need to do that for generations, not just for next year.”

A public safety levy on the same ballot asks for 93 cents per $1,000. If that fails, residents who call 911 won’t get any help from sheriff’s deputies, said Daniel, the county sheriff, who handed out 17 lay-off warnings last month.

The Oregon State Police, which has been providing limited patrol coverage, says it can’t help more if the measure fails.

“We’re just bracing ourselves for the impact,” Daniel said.

In Douglas County, officials in the 1990s realized there would be a drop-off in funding and started building up reserves, but those funds are almost gone.

“Literally, and I’m not kidding, we had committees that just sat around and figured out how to spend the money. That’s no joke. That was their job,” Douglas County Commissioner Gary Leif said of timber’s peak.

“What I fear — what I know — is going to happen, is that we will have to go to the people and say, ‘We’ve cut everything down to the bones. There’s nowhere else to cut.’”

Oregon brewery plans to build wastewater treatment facility

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Deschutes Brewery in Oregon will be building its own wastewater-treatment facility.

The brewery plans to invest $11.2 million into the on-site facility instead of sending its wastewater to the city and nearby farms, The Bulletin reported.

The brewery came up with the idea after the city of Bend increased waste charges and the trucking company it used to take its waste to farms announced it would no longer be able to do so.

“The farmers benefit from it, but we don’t know how long that business will be in place,” said Michael LaLonde, the brewery’s president. “Right now with the increase in rates that the City Council passed last year, plus that risk, we really had to dive deep into how we are going to handle our waste long term.”

The new plant at the brewery’s headquarters will be able to process more than 150,000 gallons of wastewater per day. It is expected to be completed by 2018.

It is also being designed to generate electricity for the brewery’s operation.

Methane gas from the facility will be fed into an engine that burns the gas, turns a generator and makes electricity. The heat coming off the engine would heat the water used in the brewing operation.

The result will offset 50 percent of the brewery’s power usage, LaLonde said.

“It’s pretty substantial,” he said. “We can actually generate electricity through this digester through the generation of methane gas.”

Ryan Reid, project engineer at Deschutes Brewery, said the facility might also be available for other breweries in the area to use as well.

———

Donata Doornenbal was crowned the 2017 Marion County Dairy Princess/Ambassador May 2 at the Red Lion Hotel in Salem.

She is the daughter of Joe and Astrid Doornenbal of Scio, Ore. She was raised on her family’s 200-cow organic dairy farm, where she attained her high school diploma as a home school student.

Currently, Donata works as a tax preparer in Salem. In her time off she enjoys working on the dairy, feeding calves and mowing pastures, among other chores, according to a news release.

She plans to attend Chemeketa Community College to further her education in foreign language and business accounting. Donata is also a member of the Salem Youth Symphony, playing the violin, and is active in the music group at Immanuel Reformed Church.

At the event, Donata gave an entertaining speech titled “No Farms. No Food!” She then presented a TV commercial about cheese and answered an impromptu question.

The 2017 Oregon Dairy Princess/Ambassador, Kiara Single, presented her with the tiara that she will wear as she represents Marion County dairy farm families and promotes dairy products. In addition, she will compete to become the 2018 Oregon dairy princess-ambassador in January.

Donata will receive scholarships from Marion County Dairy Women, Woodburn Livestock Exchange, Cascade Dairy Service, VandeBurgt & Co., Ernst Irrigation, Buchanan Cellars/Valley Feed, Ag West Supply, All West/Select Sires, CHS Nutrition, Purina Nutrition and Oak Lea Mixers.

Emma Coleman, of St. Paul, the 2016 Marion County Dairy Princess/Ambassador, received the $2,500 college scholarship given by Marion County Dairy Women. She is a freshman at Cal Poly.

To schedule an activity with Donata, contact her advisor, Jessie DeJager, at 503-588-9092.

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — The dark gray fish prized for its buttery flavor live deep in the ocean, so researchers keep their lab cold and dark to simulate ideal conditions for sablefish larvae.

A biologist shines his dim red headlamp and uses an ultrasound to scan the belly of an anesthetized sablefish about the length of his forearm to tell if it’s female and has eggs to collect. He gently squeezes out hundreds of tiny, translucent eggs into a glass beaker.

After the eggs are fertilized externally, they’ll grow in large indoor tanks and some in floating net pens in Washington state’s Puget Sound to be used for research.

At this federal marine research station near Seattle, scientists are studying sablefish genetics and investigating ways to make it easier and more efficient to commercially grow the fish.

It is part of a larger effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support marine aquaculture as a solution to feed a growing demand worldwide for seafood.

People are consuming more fish than in previous decades, with average worldwide per capita consumption hitting 43 pounds (20 kilograms) a year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Fish consumption is expected to grow even more in coming years.

NOAA says aquaculture can relieve pressure on fishing populations and promote economic growth.

Fishermen along the U.S. West Coast, mostly in Alaska, catch millions of pounds of wild sablefish each year but no commercial sablefish net-pen farming exists in the U.S.

Sablefish, also known as black cod or butterfish, are long-lived species that is native to the northeast Pacific Ocean and highly valued in Asia for its beneficial nutrients and delicate flavor. The fish are grilled, smoked, poached, roasted or served as sushi.

Michael Rubino, who directs the NOAA aquaculture program, noted that practices for farming fish in the U.S. meet very strict environmental regulations.

But some critics worry large-scale farms could harm wild fish stocks and ocean health, and some commercial fishermen worry about potential competition.

“This would be a big threat for us,” said Robert Alverson, executive director of the Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association, a Seattle-based group that represents about 95 commercial fishermen in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California.

In 2015, fisherman harvested about 35 million pounds (16 million kilograms) of sablefish worth $113 million in the United States, all along the U.S. West Coast.

Of that, nearly two-thirds, or about 23 million pounds (10 million kilograms), were caught in Alaska, with smaller amounts in Oregon, Washington and California. Nearly half of the sablefish caught in the United States is exported, with a majority going to Japan.

“Our fear is that science isn’t going to stay in the U.S., and it will be exported to a Third World country where people work for a few bucks a day,” Alverson said. “They’ll raise it with low-valued labor and use our science to undercut our commercial fishery and coastal communities.”

Alaska law prohibits finfish farming.

Rubino and others say wild harvests and aquaculture can complement each other, particularly during months when there are lower catch limits for wild sablefish.

“You always have this yin-yang problem between fisheries and aquaculture,” Rick Goetz, who leads the marine fish and shellfish biology program at the Manchester Research Station, across Puget Sound from Seattle. “The big problem is allaying the fears of people that you can have both. You can have both of those things working, particularly because this fish is such a high-value product.”

In recent years, NOAA Fisheries scientists have worked to reduce potential barriers to sablefish aquaculture. They have developed techniques to produce all-female stocks of sablefish that grow faster and much bigger than males in about 24 months. Ideal market size is roughly 5 ½ pounds (2 ½ kilograms).

They’ve also studied different ways to reduce the costs of feeding juvenile fish, increase larvae survival rates and decrease deformities.

One research project is replacing more expensive algae with clay that is used to help sablefish larvae better find their prey. Another looked at finding the optimal temperature to increase larval growth.

Wild fish are caught off the Washington coast and used to develop captive brood stocks, or mature fish that are used for breeding.

At the facility, the fertilized eggs grow in silos in dark, cold rooms before being moved to other indoor tanks where they’re fed a steady diet of brined shrimp and other food. Large circular tanks hold fish in different growth stages.

The facility produces about 10,000 all-female fingerlings, or juveniles about an inch (25 millimeters) long, each year.

It has sent some fish to a Texas company that uses land-based recirculation tanks to grow fish, as well as others interested in sablefish aquaculture.

NOAA Fisheries also is working with a Native American tribe in Washington state to get a pilot project to grow sablefish in net pens outside the research facility at Manchester. The tribe and others have applied for a federal grant.

Kurt Grinnell, aquaculture manager for the Jamestown S’Kallam Tribe, said the tribe is very interested in sablefish aquaculture for many reasons.

“It’s a native fish to our area. It’s a very robust fish. It’s very sought-after. It’s got great market value,” he said. “Over time, our country and other countries will have to get their protein source somewhere, and we believe this is one way to meet that demand.”

ONTARIO, Ore. — Every sixth-grader in Malheur County was introduced to the locally available ag-related careers involving aviation during a May 4 field day at the Ontario Municipal Airport.

About 400 students got a chance to learn about aviation, speak with pilots who fly helicopters and airplanes to spray farm fields, and experience flying using virtual reality goggles.

They also learned about some of the locally available jobs centered around aviation, including crop duster pilots and associated engineering jobs.

“We really want to get the kids thinking about the careers available locally, including careers in agriculture, and keep them in our community,” said event organizer Barbara Brody, Oregon State University’s local 4-H coordinator.

She said 4-H did a community needs assessment five years ago and found that many kids did not know what careers are available in the area, which is heavily agricultural.

Brody began working with Frazier Aviation to expose kids to some of the jobs available locally and has recently partnered with Treasure Valley Community College, one of the few colleges in the nation where people can obtain an ag applicator license.

Part of the field day involves teaching the students about agriculture, which drives the local economy.

“A lot of these kids are not aware of what our local farmers do so it was a great way to expose them to the ag industry,” Brody said.

In this area, farming and aviation go hand-in-hand, said Tommy Frazier, owner of Frazier Aviation.

Three ag applicators are based at the airport, a lot of area ranchers utilize helicopters in their operations and employees of many of the region’s biggest farm companies regularly fly in and out of the area, he said.

Careers in aviation and associated industries, such as drones, are going to expand in the near future, Frazier said, and TVCC’s aviation program will allow local residents to participate in those careers.

“There are going to be some excellent opportunities here locally,” he said. “And those kids are not going to have to go out of state to do that. They can do it right here.”

Aviation has always been a career that many people want to be in but are not sure how to go about getting into, said Paul McAlvain, president of Pauly’s Helicopter Services.

McAlvain spent the field day showing kids his helicopter and explaining how the boom attached to it is used to apply chemicals to farm fields.

He said not one of the students, or their teachers, knew that helicopters were used to spray farm fields.

He said the field day is an excellent way to introduce area youths to careers available in the aviation field.

“It’s fabulous they’re doing this,” he said. “People just need to be introduced to it.”

After visiting the airport in the morning, the students toured the TVCC campus to learn about some of the aviation and engineering courses available there.

PORTLAND — A long-standing dispute over cattle impacts on bull trout has been roused from dormancy, with environmentalists seeking an order prohibiting grazing along two Eastern Oregon rivers.

The Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Center for Biological Diversity initially filed a complaint challenging federal grazing authorizations along the Malheur and North Fork Malheur rivers in 2003.

That lawsuit was combined with two later grazing cases that were eventually closed, but the environmental groups were unable to settle the original litigation with the U.S. Forest Service and the affected ranchers.

During oral arguments on May 5, the plaintiffs asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papak to declare that grazing authorizations in seven allotments of the Malheur National Forest violated the National Forest Management Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

“The bull trout is in serious trouble in these two watersheds,” said Mac Lacy, attorney for ONDA. “We are at an important point here. Immediate action is needed to stave off that damage.”

Trampling by cattle erodes soil along streams, harming bull trout egg nests, as well as widening river channels and reducing vegetation, which raises water temperatures to the detriment of fish, the plaintiffs claim.

Bull trout were listed as a threatened species nearly two decades ago, resulting in protections for their in-stream habitats across the Northwest.

“On-the-ground conditions are relevant to the Forest Service’s decision-making, or they should be,” Lacy said.

However, only about 50 bull trout inhabit each of the two rivers in question, which shows the Forest Service’s approach isn’t working, he said.

“The populations themselves are dropping precipitously,” Lacy said.

The bull trout’s fortunes have continued to decline even though the agency reports that conditions are improving, he said.

The Forest Service bases this conclusion on proxy measurements, such as stubble height and stream bank alteration, Lacy said.

Meanwhile, the areas continue to fall short of the actual “riparian management objectives” that are integral for fish recovery, he said.

“The proxy doesn’t mirror reality,” Lacy said.

For example, cattle generally haven’t altered stream banks along a portion of the North Fork Malheur River beyond allowable annual standards, Lacy said.

Nonetheless, stream banks in the area went from 95 percent stable in 2005 to 51 percent stable in 2010, he said.

“These failures, to the extent they’re showing up in the record, are getting worse over time,” Lacy said.

Steve Odell, attorney for the Forest Service, said the plaintiffs have zeroed in on problem “hot spots” and then assuming that grazing is to blame.

“Cherry picking is easy to do in these situations,” he said.

The plaintiffs chose problem sites to prove a point, but those “hot spots” don’t reflect overall conditions, he said.

Attributing the challenges facing bull trout entirely to grazing also isn’t tenable, Odell said.

A forest fire, debris from a storm and low stream flows were likely culprits in one area, he said.

“These are natural events,” Odell said.

The Forest Service’s scientists have determined that monitoring stubble height in pastures and the alteration of stream banks by cattle hoofs are permissible indicators of progress, he said.

These measurements indicate that grazing plans are in compliance with the agency’s strategy for inland fish recovery, he said.

“The record does not show ongoing negative effects from grazing,” Odell said.

The environmental groups are impermissibly attacking the agency’s entire system for regulating grazing, rather than distinct actions, he said.

It’s up to the executive branch or Congress to overhaul the grazing program, but the role of federal courts is limited to specific agency decisions, according to the Forest Service.

“Judges have to take a very narrow view because we have a separation of powers issue here,” Odell said.

Grazing isn’t allowed to deter the areas from achieving “riparian management objectives,” or RMOs, at the watershed scale, he said.

It’s not practical, or required, to show that RMOs are being met every year in every pasture or reach of a stream, according to the agency.

“The Forest Service would have to have an army of 300 people to be able to do that,” Odell said.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Officials with BNSF Railway say mudslides have forced the suspension of train traffic on a heavily traveled section of rails between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

Gus Melonas, spokesman for the railroad, said early Friday that 10 slides just north of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge have halted rail traffic. The slides came hours after a series of thunderstorms rolled through western Washington.

He says a 48-hour hold has been put on Amtrak trains between Seattle and Portland, and that hold is scheduled to last until 11:30 p.m. Saturday. On its website, Amtrak says it is seeking alternate transportation.

Melonas says the slides consisting of mud, rock, trees and debris coming from a 100-foot cliff started at about 9 p.m. Thursday. He says crews are using excavators and cranes to remove debris and that a ditch has been constructed to allow water to flow. He says it has been an extremely wet seven months in the area.

Melonas says about 60 trains per day from Amtrak, BNSF and Union Pacific use the tracks.

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) — The Port of Coos Bay has stepped up its public outreach efforts in recent weeks to promote its proposed $400 million channel modification project.

“This city, this bay was built on shipping. It’s a valuable resource,” Mike Dunning, the Port’s director of maritime operations, told Coos Bay city councilors Tuesday night. “One of the important numbers to think about is 1986: we had almost 400 vessel calls a year, (now) we are down to 50.”

The project would involve dredging the current channel and deepening it 8 feet along more than 8 miles of river, beginning near Roseburg Forest Products. The same stretch west of the McCullough Bridge would likewise be widened 150 feet.

A 1,400-foot-long by 1,100-foot-wide “vessel-turning basin” would also be created at the upper end of the proposed modification.

Currently, the channel sits at a depth of 37 feet with a width of 300 feet.

Those numbers would change to 45-feet deep by 450-feet wide at the project’s conclusion.

If completed, the work would be the largest and deepest dredging project in Coos Bay’s history.

Filling A Need

Dunning argued the modifications are necessary to stay relevant in an evolving market.

“We want to build a robust shipping port in Coos Bay but ships are getting bigger,” he said, adding that ports like Los Angeles and Charleston, South Carolina, were already dredging to make their channels more than 50 feet deep.

According to Dunning, the larger ships do have a benefit however, they can carry more product.

“It makes us more competitive (with bigger ports),” he said.

And while Coos Bay will never operate at the same level as behemoths like Long Beach and Los Angeles, there is still a niche for the largest deep-water channel between San Francisco and Puget Sound.

“(The logging industry) is not really going to be our concentration (for shipping),” Dunning said, explaining that the target was bulked goods. “Maybe boutique containers, potentially some small containerized vessels — we don’t ever really see ourselves being a large container port.”

Dunning noted that Coos Bay is optimally located for trade with Asia and other international markets and possesses a comprehensive multimodal transportation network that included rail, highway, maritime and air.

He said the Port operated rail network would benefit greatly from the influx of cargo.

“We run about 6,500 to 7,500 (rail cars) a year but it was built in 1914. It needs a lot of work.”

According to the Port’s Finance and Administration report, rail operations earned less revenue than planned in January of this year.

The report blamed lower volume and less cargo for the rail’s weakness and estimated the Port would fall short of an estimated $286,000 additional surplus for the year to date because of the rail’s consistent underperformance.

“To maintain that rail and maintain all the bridges and structures we have on that system, we have to get more than 7,500 cars,” Dunning said. “That’s the reality and we do that by increasing our shipping.”

On Tuesday night, Coos Bay City Councilor Phil Marler said he recognized the importance of a well-maintained rail system in relation to imports and exports but called on the Port and its partners to consider the wear and tear on surrounding highways that will come from increased trade.

“I think about that accident in Scottsburg,” he said, referencing a semi-truck crash that shut down bridge traffic for several days last month. “It really concerns me about the state of that bridge and sections of that highway. We all have to look 20 years down the road, not tomorrow.”

Dunning assured the council that road and highway health was a priority and that the Port is required to work with Oregon Department of Transportation.

“Multi-use” Terminal

Port officials say the project will also help foster development of 1,000 acres of Port-owned property on the North Spit.

Dunning said the land could be converted into a multi-use terminal.

“We have a gem here when it comes to shipping,” he added. “There’s not a lot of greenfield or brownfield property ready to build on the West Coast with deep water access like Coos Bay. It really is a gem.”

When asked by The World if Jordan Cove or its parent companies, Veresen and Pembina Pipeline Corp., would be beneficiaries of the work, Dunning said a variety of parties stood to gain from the presence of a vibrant port.

At the moment, the Port is working collaboratively with the state and “various private partners” to fund the project.

While Dunning would not comment on Jordan Cove’s involvement with the project, he did say, “there have been discussions” between the port and the energy company.

Timeline

The process to modify Coos Bay’s channel has spanned more than a decade and will take at least the better half of another before completed.

Beginning in 2006, the Port began preliminary design and studies for a terminal and deepening the channel. Since then, Port officials have worked with the US Army Corps of Engineers and consultants to evaluate and analyze methods.

In 2016, the Port submitted tentatively selected plans to the Corps and expects to submit draft reports and a draft of an Environmental Impact Statement by the end of this year.

The Corps will then evaluate and scope the draft EIS as part of the National Environmental Policy Act. At that time, the public will be able to provide input through meetings and other opportunities.

If approved by the Corps and public, permits will be issued in 2019 before construction begins sometime that next year.

Port officials say they hope construction would then be completed by 2022.

But as Dunning noted, there is still much to be done.

“This is not the end-all, be-all,” he said. “This is the beginning.”

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A small business owner in southwestern Idaho says he plans on selling oil extracted from marijuana despite operating in a state with strict drug laws.

Mike Larsen, who co-owns Welcomed Science, tells KTVB-TV (http://bit.ly/2qw1reJ ) that he believes Idaho law allows businesses to sell the mature stalk of a marijuana plant. Larsen says that his oil is made from that matured stalk and will be tested in a lab to ensure it is does not have the hallucinogenic chemical found in marijuana.

However, Elisha Figueroa with the Idaho Office of Drug Policy says that the extract, also known as cannaboid oil, is illegal under state and federal law. She declined to talk specifically about Larsen’s business.

Larsen says that the law is on his side and will open his store soon in Garden City.

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — A new report says Congress should consider authorizing the Department of Energy to use grout to stabilize some of Hanford’s radioactive waste, rather than a more expensive plan to turn it into glass.

The Government Accountability Office report was released Wednesday.

The Tri-City Herald says the report argues that grouting is less expensive than turning the waste into glass logs, and might allow the waste to be treated sooner.

But the state of Washington has long insisted that any waste disposed of at Hanford be turned into glass to best protect the environment.

The waste is left over from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation contains the nation’s highest volume of waste, about 56 million gallons stored in underground tanks. Some tanks are leaking.

The Canadian company behind the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project is getting bigger. A larger Canadian energy company announced plans to buy it for nearly $7 billion U.S. dollars.

 In a deal announced this week, Pembina Pipeline Corp will acquire Veresen.  Veresen is the energy company that wants to build the export terminal near Coos Bay in southern Oregon. Veresen is also proposing a 235-mile-long pipeline that would tie the terminal to natural gas supplies in the inland West. The pipeline route runs across public and private land in four Oregon counties.

In a media call Monday announcing the merger, the companies indicated that their combined financial strength puts them in a better position to get the Jordan Cove project done.     

 Federal energy regulators blocked Veresen’s bid to build the terminal and pipeline last year, but the company has re-applied and hopes to get a better reception from the Trump Administration. An administration official voiced support last month for the project.

 Local efforts to block the Jordan Cove project continue.  Landowners along the pipeline route have been outspoken in their opposition to the use of eminent domain.  Climate activists oppose further fossil fuel development.  And some community members have argued that Oregon is taking on all the safety risk for the pipeline and terminal, but most of the reward will be reaped in Canada.   

 The merger of Pembina and Veresen will create one of the largest energy infrastructures in Canada. Pembina expects the merger to be finalized by the end of the year.

The USDA’s agreement to kill wolves on behalf of Oregon wildlife regulators isn’t a “major federal action” warranting environmental review, according to a federal judge.

Even if USDA’s Wildlife Services was required to study the impact of killing wolves in Oregon, the agency properly concluded it would have no significant environmental impact, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane ruled.

Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit last year arguing that USDA’s Wildlife Services insufficiently studied the effects of its contract to kill wolves with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The plaintiffs — Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Wildearth Guardians, Predator Defense and Project Coyote — claimed the agency’s decision violated the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

Wolf management is governed by state wildlife officials in Eastern Oregon, where the predators aren’t protected under the Endangered Species Act.

In 2009, ODFW directed USDA Wildlife Services to kill two wolves, bringing about a lawsuit from environmental groups.

The resulting settlement obligated USDA to conduct an environmental assessment of the agreement, but the analysis found the federal agency’s involvement didn’t have significant environmental consequences.

McShane has now rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that USDA should have conducted a more extensive “environmental impact statement,” or EIS, due to the controversy and unknown risks of killing wolves.

The agency took a “hard look” at the issue and allowably concluded that “due to the high reproductive rates of wolves and the ample prey and territory in eastern Oregon, wolf populations are expected to grow despite wolf removal, regardless of the source,” the judge said.

Some of the studies submitted by the environmental plaintiffs supported the concept that killing wolves eliminates “genetic or behavioral traits” linked to livestock depredation, McShane said.

However, the USDA wasn’t even mandated by NEPA to perform this environmental analysis, he said.

The decision to kill wolves ultimately rested with ODFW, not USDA Wildlife Services, so the action doesn’t trigger an environmental review by the federal agency, the judge ruled.

“Because Wildlife Services provided only marginal federal funding and lacks the requisite discretionary control, Wildlife Services’ actions in assisting with wolf removal as part of Oregon’s Wolf Plan does not constitute ‘major federal action’ and NEPA does not apply,” he said.

ONTARIO, Ore. — EPA has approved a special local need label for an herbicide that is effective in controlling a genetically engineered creeping bentgrass that has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon after escaping field trials in 2003.

The label is approved for only those counties.

The bentgrass was genetically engineered by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. and Monsanto Corp. to resist applications of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer, which makes it hard to kill.

The special label will allow growers, irrigation districts and others to spot spray glufosinate over water during the growing season.

Glufosinate has proven the most effective herbicide for controlling the bentgrass but it previously could only be used over waterways such as canals during a short period at the beginning and end of the growing season.

“This is a huge tool in our tool box,” said Dan Andersen, co-chairman of a working group of farmers, irrigation district representatives and others that was developed in Malheur County to coordinate with Scott’s in its continuing efforts to control or eradicate the grass.

Some farmers worry the bentgrass could clog irrigation ditches and affect shipments of crops to nations that don’t accept traces of genetically modified organisms.

The bentgrass has proven difficult to control near canals and irrigation ditches because of the previous lack of an herbicide approved for use over water.

Malheur County farmer Bruce Corn, a member of the Owyhee Irrigation District board of directors, said having the ability to use glufosinate over waterways for the entire growing season will be a big benefit.

“It should really help efforts to eradicate it,” he said. “It’s a big deal.”

USDA in January deregulated the bentgrass and some growers have questioned Scott’s commitment to continue controlling it.

But Andersen and other members of the Malheur County working group told Capital Press the company is living up to its promise to continue helping growers and irrigation districts control it.

Les Ito, a farmer and working group member, said his biggest fear when USDA deregulated the bentgrass was that Scotts would walk away from the issue.

“I’m much more comfortable with them now than I was prior,” he said. “They’re showing that they are putting out a great deal of effort to work with us.”

Andersen said Scotts led the effort to get the special need label, which is valid through 2022, and the company has also designated an employee to coordinate with the working group and address concerns as they arise.

Andersen said no crops have been contaminated by the grass to date and he feels good about Scotts commitment to continue controlling the bentgrass.

“The relationships we have built up with Scotts are sound. I’m going to trust them to do what they say they are going to do,” he said. “And yet we are also going to keep their feet to the fire and we’re going to keep asking questions and we’re going to keep on them.”

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Deputies arrested a man following an investigation into the care of animals at a Central Oregon farm.

Court records show 40-year-old Joshua Larkly of Culver faces numerous counts of animal neglect.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy Steve Keever told The Bend Bulletin the investigation began last month when four pigs got loose. Deputies went to the farm to see if they lived there.

He says they discovered 110 farm animals living in deplorable conditions, and more than a dozen animals were dead.

Keever says the chickens, cows, ducks, goats, pigs and sheep were confined to two pens. A vet called to the scene said the animals lacked water and proper food.

Keever says the suspect was taking care of the animals for a brother who’s away working as a trucker.