{"id":1942,"date":"2022-09-29T11:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:04:47","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:04:47","slug":"state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it was
\nfloods, tainted drinking water or a severe hailstorm, the Oregon Legislature’s
\nEmergency Board recently approved millions of dollars to address the Eastern
\nOregon environmental crises of months past.<\/p>\n

A joint body of
\nHouse and Senate members who meet between legislative sessions to approve
\nemergency funding, the Emergency Board approved $2 million to help Wallowa
\nresidents repair their homes after a hailstorm ripped through their small town
\nen agosto.<\/p>\n

Wallowa Mayor Gary
\nHulse remembers the day hailstones ranging in size from “golf balls”
\nto “softballs” began pouring over the town of 800 people.<\/p>\n

“Every roof,
\nevery window on the west side was destroyed,” he said. “My home – I
\nwas in there – it blew the windows out on the west side and you had glass and
\nhailstones bouncing into your home. It was a pretty frightening experience for
\na lot of the people.”<\/p>\n

As the city’s fire
\nchief, Hulse didn\u2019t have much time to react after the ice stopped falling as he
\nneeded to respond to emergency calls and fill out damage reports. He said about
\n10 people were injured by the storm while others still have mental trauma from
\nthe experience.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the
\nEmergency Board\u2019s meeting on Sept. 23, Gov. Kate Brown publicly backed $2 million in emergency funding
\nfor Wallowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But when the General
\nGovernment Subcommittee met to review the project ahead of the Emergency Board
\nmeeting, the Legislative Fiscal Office recommended only providing half of the
\nrequest. Staff told legislators that they wanted to wait until more damage
\nestimates came in from local authorities.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Bill
\nHansell, R-Athena, objected.<\/p>\n

“The problem is
\nwinter is coming,” he said.<\/p>\n

Nestled in the
\nWallowa Mountains, the city of Wallowa\u2019s winters are cold and snowy. Without
\npermanent repairs, Hulse said, the tarps and plywood used to cover up holes and
\ngaps in people\u2019s homes would be insufficient in the winter.<\/p>\n

With the Emergency
\nBoard not meeting again until December, Hansell urged the subcommittee to match
\nthe governor\u2019s request. The subcommittee ultimately forwarded the request
\nwithout recommendation and the full Emergency Board funded it at the full $2
\nmill\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Hulse said the money
\nwas a welcome sight, especially for the 20 homes that are uninsured. The next
\nchallenge for the community will be finding enough contractors to get the repair
\nwork done ahead of the winter. While Wallowa has been able to find some
\nroofers, window and siding contractors have been in short supply.<\/p>\n

Nitrates and flooding<\/b><\/p>\n

The effort to
\nprovide clean drinking water to Lower Umatilla Basin residents got a shot in
\nthe arm from the Emergency Board as well.<\/p>\n

The body approved
\nmore than $880,000 to the Oregon Health Authority to provide filters, well
\ntesting, educational outreach and staffing costs to address nitrate pollution
\nin the basin, which stretches from northern Morrow County to western Umatilla
\nCondado.<\/p>\n

An excess of
\nnitrates found in groundwater pulled from private wells led Morrow County to
\ndeclare an emergency earlier this year. Primarily caused by agricultural and
\nindustrial sources, nitrates can cause serious health issues if consumed in
\nhigh quantities.<\/p>\n

Condado de Morrow
\nCommissioner Jim Doherty said he hopes the state will grow its role in
\naddressing the issue while allowing the county to coordinate the outreach
\nesfuerzo.<\/p>\n

“I think that\u2019s
\nthe missing piece,” he said.<\/p>\n

According to a cost
\nbreakdown provided by the Oregon Health Authority, about half the money will go
\ntoward tap filters and testing fees for up to 800 wells. The rest will pay to
\nrestore a health authority well analyst position that was cut in 2020, and fund
\npositions in Umatilla and Morrow counties for public health outreach and
\neducaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

OHA intends to
\nfollow up in the 2023 session with a request to permanently fund a domestic
\nwell safety program coordinator and address other nitrate issues in the Lower
\nUmatilla Basin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the
\nstate is continuing to fine operations for nitrate pollution. On Tuesday, the
\nOregon Department of Environmental Quality announced it was levying
\na six-figure fine to a Hermiston French fry plant<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether it was floods, tainted drinking water or a severe hailstorm, the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board recently approved millions of dollars to address the Eastern Oregon environmental crises of months past. A joint body of House and Senate members who meet between legislative sessions to approve emergency funding, the Emergency Board approved $2 million to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nState sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether it was floods, tainted drinking water or a severe hailstorm, the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board recently approved millions of dollars to address the Eastern Oregon environmental crises of months past. A joint body of House and Senate members who meet between legislative sessions to approve emergency funding, the Emergency Board approved $2 million to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"articleSection\":[\"In the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\",\"name\":\"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley","og_description":"Whether it was floods, tainted drinking water or a severe hailstorm, the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board recently approved millions of dollars to address the Eastern Oregon environmental crises of months past. A joint body of House and Senate members who meet between legislative sessions to approve emergency funding, the Emergency Board approved $2 million to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution","datePublished":"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/"},"wordCount":681,"articleSection":["In the News"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/","name":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-09-29T15:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T15:04:47+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/state-sends-millions-to-eastern-oregon-to-deal-with-storm-damage-pollution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State sends millions to Eastern Oregon to deal with storm damage, pollution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11317,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions\/11317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}