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Newspaper Archive of
The Goldendale Sentinel
Goldendale , Washington
July 22, 2004     The Goldendale Sentinel
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July 22, 2004
 
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SUBJECT TO LICENSE AGREEMENT• REPRODUCTION, DISSEMINATION, STORAGE, DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED• things t0 read in Biz Buzz - page 3 Letters - page 4 Klickitat Canyon Days - page 7 week's Sentinel • .'---:L--_ I |--- Price 50¢ Thursday, July 22, 2004 • Goldendale, Washington 98620-9526 One hundred and twenty-fifth year- No. 30 Photos by Greg Skinner runs BZ Falls inthe second extreem kayak race last ~ht) Richard Smith films the jle to pull free of the final games are expected to air in satelight served homes. Games By GREG SKINNER News Reporter e Games got back to their small-venue, small-sponsor t to extreme sports competition. lower budgets, relying on sponsorship and only volun- the Games did go on with dve events. Gorge Games founder, budget this year was less rst year's games, $90,000. music was regional, rather Maryhill was the wine California label. put a keystone extreme scheduled to take place river, in Klickitat County for s games. Low summer runoff rains caused the extreme )etition site to move to the River, near BZ corner. )etition: An all-out sprint of waterfalls up to 30 feet See GORGE GAMES, page 8 By SAM LOWRY News Reporter In springtime, the Columbia River carries enough water to serve every house, town, vineyard and farm from Canada to the Pacific, with plenty left over for fish to thrive. In late summer, it's a differ- ent story. To the eye, though, even at its lowest the Columbia seems to carry.., a whole lot of water. It is a subject of longstanding controversy whether there's enough there to spare addi- tional water for new crops and homes in the dry eastern part of the state, including Klickitat County. Water is the West's thorni- est issue; the Columbia, its biggest river, is no exception. The local debate's latest round finds the Columbia and Snake River Irrigators' Association (CSRIA), based in Kennewick, upset over find- ings released in March by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). NAS was commis- sioned by the Washington state Department of Ecology to review data for the entire Columbia Basin in Washington, and to make findings on minimum stream flows needed for late-summer fish passage. The NAS study said, in essence, that it is too risky to release even a drop of river water beyond commitments already outstanding - gener- ally referred to as the "no net loss option." "This is just the same old story we've heard year in and year out," said Tom Mackay, CSRIA president, at an April forum held in Pasco following the study's release. "The study was used to justify the same old thing... It's not acceptable." "We need water out of the Columbia, and there's plen- ty," echoed Bud Mercer, co- owner 'and manager of Mercer Ranches, which farms extensive irrigated lands in eastern Klickitat and western Benton counties. A second study that Ecology commissioned from the University of Washington pointed to important eco- nomic benefits that would result from release of addi- tional water. Ecology, however, has said it does not intend to dispute findings from NAS, which it considers to be the most pres- tigious scientific body in the nation. Instead, since the April forum, the agency has moved forward with plans to establish a state water management pro- gram for the Columbia, and to change applicable sections of the Washington Administrative Code ONAC) - called "rule making." See COLUMBIA, page 3 i; up motel tax bump, new gets CAP grant By SAM LOWRY News a recent meeting with Carolyn got the City of Goldendale's (ED) Committee t ways to add visitor-attracting calendar. been on the agenda since was formed last winter. promoting events in area, and the committee from her. conclusion: it might be a hire someone like Garner. start bringing new people ~igfrinius. n On Monday evening, city administrator Larry Bellamy told the city council about options the committee will consider as it works to craft formal recommendations regarding tourism's place in the city's eco- nomic development. Heading the list of priorities are upgrad- ing the city's Web site development, funding the event-promoter position, and develop- ing a tourism strategic plan. One way to fund the position, Bellamy told the council, would be to use the pro- ceeds from a two-percent tax currently charged on hotel and motel rooms in the city. Another would be to add another two percent - the maximum additional amount allowed, never called upon to date. "We want to make the same tourism dol- lars we collect be spent on tourism," See COUNCIL, page 3 New rules to tighten oversight of tire pile By GREG SKINNER News Reporter New standards and regulations governing waste in Washington are predicted to force movement of the immense tire pile on Wing Road, upwind of Goldendale. Starting Aug. 15, Tire Shredders, Inc. will no longer have a permit to operate in Klickitat County or in the state of Washington. "They're in substantial violation of 35o," said Kevin Barry, director of the Klickitat County Health Department (KCHD) WAC 173-35o is the new section of state law governing waste. "We will cease to issue a per- mit after the effective date of that rule," said Barry. What will come after that is not known. KCHD, along with the Klickitat County Planning Commission, issues the permits each year allowing Shredders to do business within Klickitat County. The rules cut the allowable size and width of Some of Tire Shredders' piles file photo the tire piles. The so-called "350 regulations" call for expanded firebreaks and a more sound guarantee that the pile will be cleaned up. Those are three problems expected to dri~,e Shredders into action and to close the pile. Tire Shredders may have piles 20 feet high., Barry said; the new regulations call for a max- imum height of lo feet. "We're hoping that See TIRES, page 2 to donate $20,000 for high school track repair :ate to sue owner and The track is worn at the edges, Hill money would cover the full cost of repair, Goldendale power plant cur- operations at the edge announced a donation of High School for track. said Kay Hill, the about two months." Energy said; based on preliminary bids, repair will cost about $30,000. The school hopes for additional donations, but in any case intends to do the repairs this summer, Hill added. Calpine's plant manager, Steve Roy.all, told The Sentinel of his company s girt m a phone conversation on Tuesday. Royall said Calpine thought at first that the but he is confident that it will serve as seed money and attract additional donations. "It's a very worthwhile project," Royall said, adding that the donation is part of Calpine's continuing effort on behalf of local youth. The company previously donated money for parks, part of which was used to build skateboard equipment at E'kone Park. Cantwell to introduce lee Ag flood bill 8PATZ ntinel state law- this week a national "trail" to the Oregon Cantwell (R-Pasco) Stev Ominiski and Brian Swaren's interpretation of the floods The floods originated from ancient "Lake Missoula" in Montana, which periodically broke through a glacier on the Clark Fork River. At least 50 of the floods occurred. The interpretive trail would acquire no more than about 25 acres from Missoula to the Oregon Coast. "There's no tak- ing of private property, and no restrictions of land use," Hastings said. over nuclear waste sh'pments The state of Washington has announced its intent to sue the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to prevent additional shipments of nuclear waste to the Hanford site in eastern Washington. The announcement came Friday in response to DOE's newly released Environmental Impact Statement on solid waste. In a decision issued June 23, DOE committed to sending up to 62,ooo cubic meters of "low-level" waste and 20,000 cubic meters of mixed waste to Hanford. Mixed waste con- sists of nuclear material also contaminated with toxic chemicals. Management by the desig- that carried boulders from Montana to Central Washington. National Park Service will be four limited to no more than Governor Gary Locke course of drastically The floods, which occurred above Hwy. 14. The floods also $500,000 annually in the pro- said in a prepared state- of the Pacific periodically between about deposited gravel in the posed legislation. It may not rnent, "There's nothing to endofthelat- m,ooo and 17,ooo )ears ago, Petersburg area as they over- even be that high, said keep them from tripling left many visible traces in the flowed the Columbia River Hastings, who noted the effort the amount of waste ship- Park Service Gorge, geologists report. For channel to the south. These has been championed by local merits they want to bring ae trail, which ..... f example, a hanging bar o and other flood features are volunteer organizations in sev- to Hanford - we need rate existing flood-deposited gravel is visi- visible from Earth orbit, and eral Washington and Oregon absolute certainty that the ',sites through ble across from the Gorge have been used by space scien- communities. ~his really is a clean-up work will be com- and infor- Discovery Center in The fists as they study comparable grassroots movement,' pleted before we are will- Dalles several planet Mars. Hastings said. ing to even consider allow- ing more waste to come into the system." Columbia Riverkeeper and a coalition of other public interest organiza- tions filed a suit and received an injunction in federal court last year, temporarily halting ship- ments. The state of Washington joined in the lawsuit and now has announced its intent to expand that suit to include the "low-level" and mixed waste that will come to Hanford if DOE moves ahead with its plans. The state is calling for all shipments to be stoRped until DOE addresses the environmental effects of shipping and storing more radioactive waste at Hanford. The state will argue that DOE has not provided a full accounting of the basis for selecting Hanford as the disposal site for nuclear waste pro- duced elsewhere in the nation. i , ; ! J ,!