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Oregon in line for $5 billion via health bill

Irrigation districts say it conserves water and money, but as century-old waterways are enclosed in pipe, some landowners are doing all they can to prevent it. This, in turn, doesn’t sit too well with their farming neighbors.

Controversy surfaces as canals are buried

By Cindy Powers The Bulletin

Oregon stands to receive $5 billion in federal dollars over the next decade to extend health care coverage to low-income residents under a massive health care reform bill passed by the U.S. House Sunday and expected to be signed by President Barack Obama as soon as today. State officials say the money will be a boon to a movement HEALTH already unCARE der way to REFORM institute universal health care coverage in Oregon. A bill passed by the Legislature in 2009 mirrors many of the requirements of the federal health care reform law, so the efforts to insure all Oregonians are already in the works, said Dr. Bruce Goldberg, director of the Oregon Department of Human Services. The state law created the Oregon Health Authority, which consolidates many state health care programs including the Oregon Health Plan — the state’s version of Medicaid. The federal money will allow OHP, which currently operates the program using a lottery system for enrollment, to increase the number of people it insures from about 500,000 to an estimated 650,000. “Our initial analysis of the bill is that it will provide affordable health care for about 80 percent of the uninsured,” Goldberg said. The Oregon Health Plan covers people below the poverty level and others with an income of up to 133 percent above the federal poverty level. See Health / A5

By Kate Ramsayer The Bulletin

SISTERS — Driving up a dusty road toward her McKenzie Canyon property last week, Jan Daggett pointed out where irrigation water created a waterfall before winding down the valley between Sisters and Terrebonne. “This was the stream over here, where this pile of dirt is,” she said. The Three Sisters Irrigation District has been replacing its irrigation canal down McKenzie Canyon with a buried pipe, and has completed all but a half-mile of the 12.5-mile project. That half-mile includes Daggett’s property — and earlier this month she sued the district to prevent it from putting the pipe through that stretch. The district is currently preparing a response to the lawsuit. Aided by millions in federal stimulus dollars, several irrigation districts in Central Oregon have had a busy winter, replacing open canals with pipes. But the controversy over enclosing the century-old canals is still ongoing. Replacing canal ditches with pipes prevents irrigation water from leaking into the ground, and allows irrigation districts to leave more water flowing in the area’s streams and rivers. The McKenzie Canyon project, which started in 2005, is designed to conserve water and create a pressurized system that would save downstream farmers money, said Marc Thalacker, Three Sisters Irrigation District manager. It will cost $7 million, including about $465,000 of stimulus funds. The district is also working on a project to pipe 40,000 feet of its main canal and construct a small hydropower facility at the end, which is partially funded with about $2.8 million in stimulus funds. Three Sisters Irrigation District has already piped about half of its 60 miles of canals, Thalacker said — and hopes to raise funds to complete the rest in the coming years. See Canals / A4

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin

A federal student aid bill that was a part of the health care legislation passed on Sunday is expected to overhaul the industry and save the government as much as $61 billion over the next 10 years, but local colleges and students will see minimal changes in the way loans are administered. Currently, various private lenders loan funds to college students, then are reimbursed and subsidized by the federal government for public loans, like Stafford loans. The new bill cuts out the private lenders on federal loans, meaning students will now receive those loans directly from the federal government instead of through an intermediary. That move is expected to free up about $61 billion over the next 10 years, most of which will go to federal Pell grants for students. For Central Oregon Community College and Oregon State University-Cascades Campus employees and students, not much is likely to change. COCC Financial Aid Director Kevin Multop said the college had expected this type of legislation and last fall made the decision to switch to direct loans. Because student loans are mostly administered electronically, schools must set up new software systems and communicate with students. See Loans / A4

What’s in it for you, the consumer? What’ll it cost?

Jan Daggett, who owns property in McKenzie Canyon between Sisters and Terrebonne, sits in the channel where the Three Sisters Irrigation District is replacing an open canal with a pipe. Daggett has filed a lawsuit to stop the pipe from coming through her property.

New York Times News Service

On the reefs in the Florida Keys, plenty of snorkelers and scuba divers take in the sights, and others fish with spear guns for sport. But a small third group collects blue-legged hermit crabs and peppermint shrimp for the aquarium trade. There are an estimated 700,000 saltwater home aquariums in the U.S., and tropical fish with a bit of rock and a plastic Diver Dan are no longer enough to satisfy the keepers of many of these miniature

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• Already insured? Not insured? See how you’ll be affected, Page A5 • What does the bill’s passage mean for Republican strategy? Page A5

By Henry Fountain

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By Sheila G. Miller

Inside

Are aquariums getting too lifelike?

We use recycled newsprint

Changes for students, too, though likely few here

oceans. Aquariums are now often smallscale ecosystems, with living coral brimming with anemones, crabs and snails. The result has been a growing market for these and other reef invertebrates, many supplied by about 165 licensed collectors in Florida. Those involved in the Florida fishery say it is sustainable and more closely managed than many others. But scientists argue that the collecting poses a threat to the very ecosystems aquarium hobbyists aim to replicate. See Aquariums / A4

Vol. 107, No. 82, 38 pages, 7 sections

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON — As skeptical Americans delve into the health care blueprint approved by Congress on Sunday, they will confront a bargain not unlike those faced by earlier generations of Americans — with Social Security and Medicare. Much as Franklin D. Roosevelt did for old age assistance and Lyndon B. Johnson for health care for the elderly, President Barack Obama will ask people to accept new costs and govern-

The living coral at Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, N.Y., has inspired many home aquariums, though maintenance can be difficult. Todd Heisler New York Times News Service

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By Noam N. Levey and Kim Geiger