The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Oregon Beach Weather
Today- Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. Southeast wind 7 to 11 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
Thursday- Rain. High near 50. Breezy, with a southeast wind 13 to 15 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday- Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Snow level 2500 feet. High near 50. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday- Showers likely, mainly before 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 50. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Sunday- A chance of showers after 11am. Snow level 1900 feet rising to 2400 feet in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50.
Oregon reports 267 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 22 new deaths
There are 22 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon raising the state’s death toll to 2,346. The Oregon Health Authority reported 267 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 160,050.
Note: Due to a delay in laboratory reporting, OHA received a large quantity of approximately 9,000 negative electronic laboratory results (ELRs) on March 15, 2021. The tests are from Aug. 1, 2020 through March 10, 2021. As a result, daily ELR totals are higher than usual for March 15 and percent positivity is lower than anticipated.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA cannot provide updates for newly administered first and second doses or cumulative doses administered due to a server outage that affected the ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS) in Oregon and four other jurisdictions. This multi-state outage affected the ability of providers to submit administered vaccine doses, and Oregon’s data totals may be affected in coming days as providers catch up in data entry.
To date, 1,731,755 doses have been delivered to sites reporting to ALERT IIS. Please see the daily media release from March 15 for the last update on vaccination data.
These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA’s dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.
COVID-19 Cases Are Climbing in Oregon Compared to the Nation
Following a surge that exceeded some of the most dire predictions, new cases of COVID-19 are declining in the United States. There were an average of 16.8 new daily cases of the virus for every 100,000 Americans in the past week, down slightly from average of 17.3 new daily cases per 100,000 the week before.
In total, about 29,096,000 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the United States since the first known infection was identified on Jan. 21, 2020.
Breaking with the national trend, new daily cases are increasing in Oregon. Over the past week, there were an average of 9.9 new daily cases of the coronavirus for every 100,000 people across the state, compared to 6.8 new daily cases per 100,000 people the week prior.
Nationwide, the average number of new daily infections has increased in 21 states, decreased in 22, and remained effectively unchanged in seven over the past week. Of all states, Oregon reported the 11th largest uptick in average new infections per day over the last week.
The current average daily infection rate in Oregon ranks as the eighth lowest of all 50 states.
Since Feb. 28, 2020, when the first coronavirus case was identified in Oregon, about 159,800 state residents tested positive for the virus. Oregon, home to about 1.30% of the U.S. population, accounts for about 0.50% of all known COVID-19 cases nationwide to date. Among all states, Oregon has the fourth fewest cumulative COVID-19 cases on a per capita basis.
Like most other states in the early days of the pandemic, Oregon implemented strict measures to slow the spread of the virus. A temporary stay at home order went into effect across Oregon on March 23, 2020.
Nationwide, there have been 518,702 COVID-19 related deaths to date — and 2,324 of them have been in Oregon. Oregon’s coronavirus death per capita rate currently stands at 55 for every 100,000 people. For context, there have been 159 deaths per 100,000.
All COVID-19 data used in this story is current as of March 15, 2021. Due to inconsistent data reporting, Utah has been excluded from the following ranked list of states.
These are all the counties in Oregon where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).
| RANK: | STATE: | CHANGE IN NEW CASE RATE: | AVG. NEW DAILY CASES PER 100,000 PPL LAST WEEK: | AVG. NEW DAILY CASES PER 100,000 PPL 2 WEEKS AGO: | TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES TO DATE: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware | 8.39 | 30.29 | 21.9 | 90,614 |
| 2 | Michigan | 6.6 | 22.24 | 15.63 | 673,916 |
| 3 | Minnesota | 6.32 | 19.69 | 13.37 | 498,218 |
| 4 | New Jersey | 5.91 | 41.79 | 35.88 | 840,847 |
| 5 | Alabama | 5.3 | 23.78 | 18.48 | 508,229 |
| 6 | Idaho | 4.08 | 19.12 | 15.04 | 175,657 |
| 7 | Connecticut | 3.74 | 22.82 | 19.07 | 293,102 |
| 8 | West Virginia | 3.73 | 16.23 | 12.49 | 135,678 |
| 9 | Nevada | 3.13 | 14.49 | 11.36 | 299,471 |
| 10 | Oregon | 3.06 | 9.9 | 6.84 | 159,788 |
| 11 | Mississippi | 2.74 | 15.45 | 12.71 | 300,881 |
| 12 | Maryland | 1.63 | 14.24 | 12.61 | 394,058 |
| 13 | Rhode Island | 1.53 | 33.86 | 32.33 | 131,487 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 1.43 | 18.76 | 17.33 | 792,795 |
| 15 | New Hampshire | 1.23 | 18.46 | 17.23 | 78,813 |
| 16 | Maine | 1.16 | 13.59 | 12.42 | 47,199 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 1.13 | 7.52 | 6.4 | 569,932 |
| 18 | Missouri | 0.79 | 6.61 | 5.82 | 483,748 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | 0.61 | 19.45 | 18.84 | 967,598 |
| 20 | Massachusetts | 0.34 | 20.62 | 20.29 | 602,308 |
| 21 | North Dakota | 0.28 | 10.94 | 10.66 | 101,001 |
| 22 | Iowa | 0.26 | 14.67 | 14.4 | 342,933 |
| 23 | Montana | 0.24 | 13.1 | 12.86 | 101,933 |
| 24 | Hawaii | 0.23 | 3.72 | 3.49 | 28,305 |
| 25 | Wyoming | -0.2 | 10.48 | 10.68 | 55,327 |
| 26 | Virginia | -0.24 | 15.55 | 15.8 | 595,865 |
| 27 | Ohio | -0.29 | 12.97 | 13.26 | 990,340 |
| 28 | South Dakota | -0.31 | 13.05 | 13.36 | 101,504 |
| 29 | Alaska | -0.35 | 18.91 | 19.26 | 60,651 |
| 30 | Washington | -0.47 | 9.05 | 9.52 | 350,506 |
| 31 | California | -0.52 | 8.72 | 9.24 | 3,528,795 |
| 32 | Indiana | -0.62 | 11.17 | 11.79 | 672,967 |
| 33 | Kentucky | -1.1 | 17.81 | 18.91 | 416,610 |
| 34 | Illinois | -1.21 | 11.88 | 13.09 | 1,210,113 |
| 35 | Colorado | -1.28 | 19.53 | 20.82 | 444,390 |
| 36 | New York | -1.51 | 34.9 | 36.4 | 1,734,213 |
| 37 | Louisiana | -1.56 | 10.04 | 11.6 | 437,565 |
| 38 | Arkansas | -1.58 | 10 | 11.58 | 327,060 |
| 39 | Kansas | -1.87 | 8.67 | 10.54 | 298,218 |
| 40 | North Carolina | -1.96 | 15.56 | 17.52 | 886,218 |
| 41 | New Mexico | -2.01 | 9.87 | 11.88 | 188,488 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | -2.33 | 13.16 | 15.48 | 432,793 |
| 43 | Vermont | -2.78 | 18.09 | 20.87 | 16,992 |
| 44 | Nebraska | -2.82 | 12.65 | 15.48 | 204,758 |
| 45 | South Carolina | -3.56 | 21 | 24.56 | 534,188 |
| 46 | Florida | -4.06 | 21.01 | 25.08 | 1,979,634 |
| 47 | Texas | -4.91 | 15.78 | 20.69 | 2,721,126 |
| 48 | Arizona | -6.52 | 12.24 | 18.76 | 833,381 |
| 49 | Georgia | -8.74 | 13.35 | 22.1 | 1,034,763 |
OREGON COAST HEADLINES:
Lincoln City Lays Out Plan for Emergency Preparedness Goals
During a Monday workshop, the Lincoln City City Council met with staff to go over the city’s Fiscal Year 2022 goals. The March 15 meeting covered the city’s first three goals: emergency preparedness, community engagement and parks and recreation.
City Manager Ron Chandler led the discussion, highlighting some of the things the city is planning to do in order to meet those goals. The topic that took up the most time was the city’s emergency preparedness goals, to which Lincoln City Emergency Management Coordinator Ken Murphy also provided input.
To start, the city is preparing an education program for residents to help them take the initiative when it comes to preparing for a disaster. The program would send out flyers once a quarter, run a newspaper ad, provide updates via the city’s website and social media, organize community preparedness events and provide regular electronic and written materials to businesses and members of the lodging industry on how to be prepared.
“We always worry about the expectation that the government will just be able to come in and rescue everybody, but to be honest, that’s just not possible,” Chandler said. “The best emergency preparedness that can happen is personal preparedness.”
The city will also be working on new emergency preparedness training for staff manning the emergency operations center (EOC), which is currently designated as the newly renovated police office, as well as obtaining proper emergency equipment for the EOC.
The acquisition and storage of emergency preparedness supplies is also a high priority for the city. The city currently has six emergency caches, which have little in them, according to Murphy. A cause for concern was whether the city could provide supplies for seasonal visitors in addition to residents, which Murphy said would likely be far too expensive and would require far too much storage space, around another 20 caches.
“I’m not sure we’d even have the space around the city to store that much material. The amount of challenges I ran into just putting these six caches together was challenging at best,” Murphy said.
Murphy noted that in the event of a large disaster such as an earthquake that could potentially damage the roads for an extended amount of time, supplies would be delivered by air and sea, but it would take at least five days for the distribution to begin, and there is no guarantee that Lincoln County would be the only coastal area in need, making local supply caches essential.
Staff is also planning to draft an evacuation plan and submit to the city council for approval. Council members discussed some of the city’s existing traffic issues and the possibility that two of the city’s three entrances could be put out of operation.
“There’s a lot of people coming through town, and if you were out this weekend, it was wild — you can see it was backed up,” Councilor Riley Hoagland said. “That light at Southeast 29th Street is still awful, and it’s only going to get worse. When you have traffic stuck up to the lake because of the light in Nelscott, that’s wild. How would we do something there in an orderly fashion?”
Council members and staff discussed the installation of large programmable signs that could be used to help with traffic during such emergencies, but also for greetings or other events.
The possibility that bridges are taken out by an earthquake is another issue the city will need to consider while drafting its evacuation plan, either establishing alternative routes or arranging temporary methods of crossing the river.
While discussing the city’s community engagement goal, Chandler said the city is looking to incorporate time for city staff to visit residents, businesses and otherwise mingle with the public.
The city will also look to engage residents online by adding a new section to its website, as well as update its electronic media policy overall. Chandler said the city wants to find a way to make its website the “place to go” to get information on Lincoln City.
As part of community engagement, the city will also be reexamining the roles its various committees play, while also looking to revise their rules and regulations for consistency. The city will be looking to provide committee members with annual training similar to other elected officials.
“This one is pretty vague because there’s a lot that needs to be developed to standardize and revise the committee,” Chandler said in regard to the committees. “That’s going to take a little bit of work to lay them all out together, compare them and then bring it all together.”
The final goal discussed was parks and recreation, which will focus on providing and maintaining the city’s natural resources and recreational opportunities. Staff also reviewed the development of Taft Park and Nesika Park and parking for the city’s recreational facilities.
Another workshop is scheduled for March 29 to discuss the rest of the goals.
Pacific Fishery Management Council Sets Alternatives for 2021 West Coast Ocean Salmon Fisheries
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted three alternatives for 2021 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon and California for public review. The council will make a final decision on salmon seasons at its meeting on April 6-9 and 12-15. Detailed information about season starting dates, areas open and catch limits for the three alternatives are available on the council’s website at www.pcouncil.org.
Forecasts for many Chinook and coho stocks have improved over last year; however, the council is constrained by requirements to conserve Fraser River (Canada) Washington coastal and Puget Sound natural coho runs, lower Columbia River natural tule fall Chinook and Klamath River fall Chinook.
“Meeting our conservation and management objectives continues to be the highest priority for the council,” said council Executive Director Chuck Tracy. “Balancing those objectives while providing meaningful commercial and recreational seasons remains a challenge in 2021.”
Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said, “the council is considering the needs of southern resident killer whales as part of its deliberations. We are also considering the need to rebuild some Chinook and coho stocks that have been designated as overfished.”
Washington and Northern Oregon (north of Cape Falcon) – Fisheries north of Cape Falcon (in northern Oregon) are limited by the need to constrain catch of lower Columbia River natural tule Chinook and Washington coast coho stocks of concern. Additionally, three coho salmon stocks remain categorized as “overfished” (Queets River, Strait of Juan de Fuca) or “not overfished/rebuilding” (Snohomish), which is also a concern when structuring 2021 fisheries.
Tribal ocean fisheries north of Cape Falcon – Tribal negotiations are underway, but at this time the Chinook and coho quotas for tribal ocean fishery alternatives range from 0 to 50,000 for Chinook salmon (compared to 35,000 in 2020), and from 0 to 35,000 coho (compared to 16,500 coho in 2020). Under the range of alternatives, seasons open May 1 and continue through September 15.
Commercial season alternatives – For the non-Indian ocean commercial fishery North of Cape Falcon, there are two alternatives with traditional seasons between May and September. Chinook quotas for all areas and times range from 25,000 to 32,000, compared to 27,460 in 2020. Coho quotas range from 4,800 to 14,400 marked coho, compared to 2,000 in 2020. The third alternative has the season closed in this area.
Sport season alternatives – For the ocean sport fishery north of Cape Falcon, there are two alternatives with Chinook recreational quotas ranging from 25,000 to 28,000, compared to 26,360 in 2020. For coho, recreational quotas range from 75,200 to 95,600 marked coho, compared to 26,500 in 2020. Starting dates range from June 14 to June 19, and in both alternatives recreational fisheries are scheduled to run through September. Chinook retention is allowed throughout the proposed seasons, but coho retention is limited in some of the alternatives. The third alternative has the season closed in this area.
Oregon (south of Cape Falcon) and California – Fisheries south of Cape Falcon are limited mainly by the low abundance forecast for Klamath River fall Chinook. Klamath River and Sacramento River fall Chinook contribute significantly to ocean harvest, and Klamath River fall Chinook are categorized as overfished. This year’s management alternatives are designed to provide fishing opportunity for the more abundant Sacramento River fall Chinook while reducing fishing impacts on Klamath River fall Chinook.
Commercial season alternatives – Commercial season alternatives south of Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain are open either beginning in late March or May through October, with closed periods in most months. A limited incidental hatchery coho season is also being considered.
The commercial alternatives in the Oregon Klamath Management Zone provide a range of Chinook only season alternatives opening from late March through May and include quotas in June and July in two alternatives. All alternatives have the California Klamath Management Zone closed for the season.
Commercial seasons south of the California Klamath Management Zone vary considerably between the alternatives and management areas (Fort Bragg, San Francisco and Monterey), but in general provide similar or reduced levels of opportunity compared to last year.
Sport season alternatives – Chinook fishing in the Tillamook, Newport and Coos Bay areas all open March 15, with alternative 1 running continuously through October 31, similar to the 2020 season. Alternative 2 and 3 have varied closures to Chinook retention during August.
Oregon ocean recreational alternatives include mark-selective coho fishing seasons starting in early to late June and running through most of August south of Cape Falcon, with intermittent Chinook non-retention periods in specific areas. Quotas range from 110,000 to 120,000 marked coho (compared to 22,000 in 2020). In addition, non-mark-selective fisheries are proposed in all alternatives for the area between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain starting in September, with quotas ranging from 11,000 to 14,000 coho (compared to 3,000 in 2020).
The range of alternatives include proposed fisheries for the Klamath Management Zone in both California and Oregon with the majority of the fishing opportunity occurring June through August in Oregon and during July in California.
California ocean recreational alternatives for the Fort Bragg and San Francisco areas have reduced opportunity compared to 2020, whereas alternatives for the Monterey area have similar or increased opportunity. Seasons vary between management areas.
Management Objectives for Southern Resident Killer Whales
The council has worked collaboratively with National Marine Fisheries Service to understand the effects of Council-area fisheries on southern resident killer whales, which are listed as endangered. Based in part on information provided by the council’s ad-hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale Workgroup, NMFS provided guidance on the structure of the 2021 salmon fisheries to address the needs of the whales while providing salmon harvest opportunities. Chinook abundance is well above the level that would require additional fishery restrictions.
Management Process
The council has scheduled one public hearing for each coastal state to hear comments on the alternatives. The hearings will occur online and are scheduled for Tuesday, March 23, (Washington and California) and Wednesday, March 24, (Oregon). The public will also be able to comment on the alternatives during the April council meeting. Materials and instructions for joining online council meetings and hearings will be posted to the council website.
The council will consult with scientists, hear public comment, revise preliminary decisions and choose a final alternative at its meeting via webinar April 6-9, and 12-15.
The council will forward its final season recommendations to NMFS for its approval and implementation no later than May 16.
AROUND the STATE of OREGON
Covid-19 Led To Cleaner Air Around The World, But Not In Oregon Due to Wildfires
A new global air pollution report for 2020 highlights the profound effect the Labor Day wildfires had in Oregon.
“Because of devastating wildfires, during September 2020 numerous U.S. cities constituted a remarkable 77 of 100 of the world’s most polluted cities for PM2.5 by monthly average,” the report by the Swiss air-monitoring company IQAir said. “These were located in California (35), Oregon (35) and Washington (7).”
As a result, most Oregon cities in 2020 saw big annual average increases in PM2.5 — the fine particles that can be absorbed into the bloodstream — even as pandemic shutdowns brought improved air quality to much of the world.
In Portland, PM2.5, measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air, rose from an annual average of 8.1 in 2019 to 11.2 in 2020, a 38% increase.
Eugene fared worse, going from 8.8 to 14, a 59% increase. It was worse yet in Southern Oregon, where PM2.5 rose 82% in Medford, to 15.8, and in Central Oregon, where Bend suffered a 134% increase, from 5.8 in 2019 to 13.6 in 2020.
At the same time, IQAir reported that 84% of the countries monitored had improved air quality, “largely due to global measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.” It highlighted improvements in several major cities, including Beijing (down 11%), Chicago (down 13%), Delhi (down 15%), London (down 16%), Paris (down 17%) and Seoul (down 16%).
Despite the improvement in Delhi, it remained the most polluted capital city, with average PM2.5 of 84.1 micrograms per cubic meter, seven and half times even the elevated average for Portland in 2020.
Oregon Adds 13,900 Jobs in February
Oregon’s unemployment rate edged down to 6.1% in February, from 6.2% in January. After dropping rapidly during May through November of last year, Oregon’s unemployment rate declined at a slower pace in recent months. During the past 10 months the pace of recovery in the national unemployment rate has mirrored Oregon’s experience. The U.S. unemployment rate also declined by a tenth of a percentage point last month, to 6.2% in February, from 6.3% in January.
Nonfarm payroll employment rose 13,900 jobs in February, following a gain of 7,000, as revised, in January. Nearly all of the jobs gained in February were in leisure and hospitality (+11,100 jobs), where some fitness centers and restaurants hired back workers following closures or curtailments due to COVID-19 restrictions or cautions. Only two other major industries added a substantial number of jobs in February: transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+1,200 jobs) and wholesale trade (+800). Only one major industry — professional and business services, which cut 900 jobs in February — performed substantially below its normal seasonal trend.
In February, Oregon’s nonfarm payroll employment totaled 1,819,100, a drop of 153,900 jobs, or 7.8% from the pre-recession peak one year ago in February 2020. Oregon’s employment dropped to a low of 1,687,500 by April. Since then, Oregon has recovered 131,600 jobs, or 46% of the jobs lost between February and April 2020.
Even as overall economic activity hasn’t recovered fully, some industries reached record high employment in February. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities is up 5,300 jobs, or 7.2%, over the year. Professional and technical services hit a fresh record high for the first time in over a year as it added 600 jobs since February 2020, a gain of 0.6%. Architectural and engineering services expanded the fastest of the published industries in this category, adding 700 jobs, or 4.0%.
Next Press Releases – The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the February county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, Mar. 30, and the next statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for March on Tuesday, Apr. 13.
The PDF version of the news release can be found at QualityInfo.org/press-release. To obtain the data in other formats such as in Excel, visit QualityInfo.org, then within the top banner, select Economic Data, then choose LAUS or CES. To request the press release as a Word document, contact the person shown at the top of this press release.
To file a claim for unemployment benefits or get more information about unemployment programs, visit unemployment.oregon.gov.
Equal Opportunity program — auxiliary aids and services available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Contact: (503) 947-1794. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, call 711 Telecommunications Relay Services. Oregon Employment Department
Oregon Lottery – 2021 Winning $1 Million Raffle Number
Winning $1 Million Top Prize Number: 171474
Prizes for the St. Patrick’s Day Raffle include:
- One $1 million top prize
- 300 prizes of $500
- 1,500 prizes of $100
To check the winning Raffle numbers for all 1,801 prizes, players can use the Lottery’s smart phone app, go to www.oregonlottery.org or visit a participating Oregon Lottery retail location.
The $500 and $100 prize winners can claim their prizes at any Oregon Lottery retail location. In addition, players can claim their prize by mail – visit oregonlottery.org/about/claim-prizes for instructions. The $1 million Raffle prize winner will need to make an appointment to come to the Oregon Lottery office in Salem. They can call 503-540-1000 for assistance.
As always, players should be certain to sign the back of their tickets.
The Raffle offers the best odds of any Oregon Lottery game of winning $1 million – 1 in 250,000. Overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 138.8. The Oregon Lottery’s Raffle game went on sale with 250,000 tickets available and all tickets were sold.
Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned more than $13 billion for economic development, public education, state parks and watershed enhancements, Veteran Services, and Outdoor School. For more information on the Oregon Lottery visit www.oregonlottery.org – Oregon Lottery
Detroit Lake Dam Deemed ‘At Risk’ of Failing in Large Earthquake
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that a large earthquake — which is expected to occur again in the Pacific Northwest sooner or later — could cause the spillway gates of a dam in Oregon to buckle, resulting “in a potentially catastrophic flood.”
The Corps said late Monday that it would try to minimize the danger by reducing the maximum height of the lake by five feet starting in April. Hundreds of thousands of people, including those in Salem, Oregon’s capital, live downstream from the Detroit Dam, whose construction in the 1950s created the narrow, nine-mile-long Detroit Lake.
The move comes as Oregon and the wider Pacific Northwest are coming to grips with “the big one” that experts say is coming. Earthquakes in the Cascadia subduction zone, which extends from the ocean off Northern California to Canada’s Vancouver Island, have an average magnitude of around 9.0, making them among the world’s biggest.
A quake in that zone has a 37% probability of happening off Oregon’s coast in the next 50 years, according to Chris Goldfinger, an Oregon State University professor and earthquake geologist.
Just last week, an earthquake early-warning system was launched in Oregon, operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. As in California, the system sends alerts to smartphones. Washington state is expected to join the ShakeAlert system, which operates on an array of seismic sensors, in May.
“When a Cascadia event happens, the critical seconds of notice ShakeAlert warnings provide will save lives and reduce damage to important lifeline systems,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said last week, when the system was launched.
Lawmakers are also trying to prepare Oregon for a major earthquake.
In the Legislature, House Bill 3083 mandates that contracts for public works must adhere to seismic safety standards and seismic rehabilitation standards in constructing or renovating public buildings or critical infrastructure in earthquake-prone areas. A House committee has an April 1 work session scheduled for the bill.
Lindsay Baker, an assistant director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, raised concerns about the bill, saying “there is simply not sufficient funding to fully armor the entire transportation system in a reasonable timeframe.”
In 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a seismic-hazard analysis for Detroit Dam, and found the risk to be higher than Corps officials previously thought.
“Structural analysis has shown a possibility of the spillway gates buckling under the force of a full reservoir during a large earthquake,” the Corps said in its statement. “Risk is high enough to warrant immediate actions.”
A breach would send a surge of water shooting down the Santiam Canyon, which was devastated by a wildfire last summer, and onto where it opens up on the eastern edge of the Willamette Valley.
“Because Detroit Dam is located upstream of many communities including the state capital of Salem, Oregon, there is potential for devastating flooding to affect large portions of the narrow North Santiam River canyon and urban areas,” the Corps said in its draft environmental assessment.
Lowering the maximum level is a temporary solution to mitigate the risks and will have little impact, the Corps said. The lake is used for recreation, and most of the boat ramps would be unusable for up to a month.
The Corps said it continues to evaluate the seismic performance of the spillway and other components of the dam to determine if long-term modifications or changes to operations will be necessary. That includes the potential for major reconstruction to address seismic risk.
Oregon Transportation Commission allots $65 million to Improve Freight Mobility and Relieve Congestion
SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) on March 15 announced its approval of an Enhance Highway Discretionary Program that will address congestion and freight mobility issues on state highways, a move the commission says will impact the state’s trade-based economy.
OTC has set aside $65 million in funding for projects that will improve the functionality of the state’s highways, such as auxiliary lanes and passing lanes, truck climbing lanes, freight improvements, intelligent transportation systems and other technology, and more.
While projects will be focused on congestion relief and improving freight mobility, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will factor in safety, equity, climate and multimodal accessibility as it selects projects.
ODOT will engage area commissions on transportation and metropolitan planning organizations to get input on priority projects. These groups will be asked to provide feedback on the proposed projects before bringing the final list before the OTC for approval in the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
The OTC plans to distribute project across the state, with a minimum of 30% of the total funding going to rural areas.
Once the OTC approves the basic outlines of the program, ODOT will begin gathering potential projects later this year.
Major Fire at Ethanol Fuel Facility in Cornelius
Emergency crews and law enforcement were responding to a major fire at an ethanol fuel facility in Cornelius, Ore., Tuesday.
The Cornelius Fire Department posted a photo of the fire, located on North 4th Avenue, and thick black smoke to Twitter. In addition, the department issued a separate tweet of a map of the surrounding area.
About 50 homes have been evacuated as well as a nearby Walmart. Those evacuated are urged to go to Forest Grove High School for assistance.
In a tweet at 5:39 p.m., firefighters said the incident was a three-alarm fire, and that crews were formulating a plan to attack the flames as safely as possible. “This will be a long duration event and expect delays on local roadways,” the department added.
Investigators said one of the ethanol fuel storage tanks exploded at Summit Natural Energy. First responders had to withdraw due to subsequent explosions. A Cornelius Fire Department spokesperson said that because crews were unable to attack the fire, it spread to nearby buildings. Crews were reportedly letting it burn, while waiting for a foam truck to arrive from Portland International Airport.
Natural gas to 4th Avenue has been turned off to assist with safe operations and a temporary flight restriction has been put in place for 1 nautical mile around the incident and up to 5,000 feet. Individuals who own drones are urged not to use them.
Hillsboro Police noted Southwest TV Highway is closed going into Cornelius, citing “an active fire involving fuel tanks.” Police said the highway will remain closed until the situation can be made safe. As of 5 p.m., there was no estimated time for when the roadway will be reopened.
The Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue said that the Cornelius Fire Department is being assisted by the Oregon State Fire Marshall hazmat team.
Also assisting is the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, who are urging people to avoid the area. North Adair between North 10th Avenue and North Yew Street is also closed.
There have been no immediate reports of injuries or missing people, but a search of the area is planned once the fire is brought under control. Metro West Ambulance is on standby with 4 ambulances and command personnel to provide medical care as needed. The cause of the initial explosion will be investigated when it is safe to do so.