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things
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Biz Buzz - page 3
Letters - page 4
Klickitat Canyon Days - page 7
week's
Sentinel
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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.
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