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County makes its landfill energy case at meeting
Burn slated near town
ELECTION 2012
By Duffie Taylor The Bulletin
A multimillion-dollar project to make a viable product out of emitted gases at Knott Landfill drew a crowd of about 30 to a Deschutes County informational meeting Tuesday night. For months, the county has considered partnering with the Irvine, Calif.-based Waste to Energy company on a project to speed up the landfill’s garbage decomposition and sell the resulting gas. Only three residents spoke at the meeting, but county officials and the chief executive officer behind the project still fielded plenty of questions from one of the project’s most vocal skeptics. David Poboisk grilled officials about specifics of the project for nearly an hour of the 2½-hour meeting, primarily because he said he wanted to make sure the county was considering more than the $250,000 in profits it expects to accrue from the deal. Poboisk said he was concerned with the means by which Waste to Energy would use steam to convert the methane emitted from decomposing garbage into natural gas. The steam process, he said, could increase air pollution and pose a threat to nearby groundwater. County Solid Waste Department Director Tim Schimke said the plan to harness the methane gas would not increase the amount in the water or air. “(The project) does not produce more gas than we are flaring. It’s not like turning on a spigot; (the gas) is already there.” See Landfill / A8
• If the weather cooperates, you’ll be seeing smoke By Dylan J. Darling The Bulletin
Photo illustration by Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin; The Associated Press file photos
Romney’s man in Oregon • Greg Walden, an early endorser of Romney, plans to help out here in several ways By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — When reports surfaced last week that former Speaker Newt Gingrich planned to drop out of the Republican presidential primary race, many Republicans hastened to endorse presumptive nominee Mitt Romney, but not Rep. Greg Walden. That’s because the congressman from Hood River had already endorsed the former Massachusetts governor last year, one of the first congressional leaders — if not the first — to do so. “I endorsed him back in September because I thought he had both the ability to govern in a strong and effective way in Washington and had the best ability to win,” Walden said Monday. Earlier this month, the Romney campaign named Walden and former Sen. Gordon Smith honorary chairmen of the campaign’s leadership committee for Oregon. Plans for the state are still being considered by the national campaign, but Walden, the only Republican member of Oregon’s congressional delegation, said he’s
happy to help out however he can. This could mean joint appearances if Romney decides to visit Oregon and introductions to local grass-roots efforts and donors eager to support a Republican challenger to President Obama. “I think Governor Romney is in a perfect position to make the argument about whether or not President Obama’s policies have helped Oregon,” Walden said. “I don’t think the issues will be any different here than they will anywhere else: jobs and the economy.” Although George W. Bush came
close in 2000, no Republican has carried Oregon since Ronald Reagan’s re-election landslide in 1984. Obama carried the state easily in 2008, winning more than 56 percent of the vote. At that point, however, Obama was a relatively new senator from Illinois. This fall, voters in Oregon and elsewhere will respond to his record in the Oval Office. Walden senses a lot of unease about the fragile economy, with many voters worried about the long-term stability of their jobs and whether their homes will recover their lost value. See Walden / A8
TOP NEWS
In his final months, bin Laden worried about al-Qaida image
AFGHANISTAN: Obama signs agreement, A3 MURDOCH: British panel faults media mogul, E4
By Joby Warrick The Washington Post
TODAY’S WEATHER Partly cloudy High 56, Low 41 Page C8
The Associated Press file photo
In the year since Osama bin Laden’s death, U.S. officials have gained a deeper understanding of his plans and struggles.
A few months before Osama bin Laden’s death, websites linked to al-Qaida ran excited commentary about a proposed new killing machine dubbed the
“human lawn mower.” The idea was to attach rotating blades to the front of a pickup truck and drive the contraption into crowds. While some jihadists admired the idea, one graying
veteran of the terrorist movement took a stand against it. That was bin Laden himself, by then living out his twilight years in a Pakistani villa with ample time to think about his legacy. See bin Laden / A2
If conditions are right, a large cloud of smoke will rise over the forest between Bend and Tumalo Falls next week. But not to worry, say officials with the U.S. Forest Service. The fire will be set intentionally to prevent a wildfire from wreaking havoc on the forest and nearby private property. The blaze, to be set by firefighters, is designed to burn just over 100 acres about seven miles west of town on Skyliners Road, said Lisa Clark, spokeswoman with the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville. “It’s about as visible as a burn is going to be,” she said. The fire should burn through the underbrush on 92 acres of Forest Service land and 15 acres of private land in four to six hours, Clark said. While the Deschutes National Forest regularly burns about 3,100 acres per year, the fires are usually away from town. Bend residents will likely see and smell smoke during the fire, said Brant Petersen, deputy district ranger for the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest. “I think this is one of the closet burns we’ve had (to town),” he said. While Skyliners Road and nearby trails will remain open during the fire, there will likely be traffic control near the fire. Petersen said people shouldn’t come up to try to see the fire as it burns. Before torching the forest, firefighters will check the wind, temperature and other conditions. They will pay particular care to avoid a wind from the west, which would blow smoke into Bend. See Burn / A8 reek Rd. alo C Tum k yliners S
BEND
y. Hw kes a L e cad C as 46 r ve Ri DESCHUTES s e t N ATION A L hu sc FOREST De
Planned burn
Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin
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ANIMALS BY THE NUMBERS
No romance in a perfect panda match By Michael E. Ruane The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — In a remote spot on the grounds of the National Zoo, in a lowrise brick office building, research scientist Jon Ballou sits with a computer full of personal data on the world’s 333 captive giant pandas. Birth dates. Locations. Who was born in the wild. Who was born in captivity.
Who begat whom. And, most important, who might be best — or worst — to have more baby pandas. He is the panda matchmaker, if you will. He even has a “stud book,” although now it’s digital. It’s filled with tables, numbers and rankings. Never mind the physical profiles: Heavyset. Black and white fur. Poor posture,
and manners. Favorite food, bamboo. Ballou’s interested in genes. He can tell you which pandas would be most suitable, genetically, to mate with which. This is crucial because the zoo announced Monday that it is again trying to breed its pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, possibly for the last time. See Pandas / A8
Matt McClain / For The Washington Post
Research scientist Jon Ballou has a computer full of personal data on the world’s captive giant pandas. Based on their genes, he can tell you which pandas are best to mate with which.