Praying for Those in Authority: Morrow County

Morrow County, Oregon

He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. Daniel 2:22

Described as dry and flat, except for a bit of the Blue Mountains at the southern end, Morrow County is the last county of the Northeast Region of Oregon as we move toward the west. Heppner is the county seat, and Boardman the largest town with a population of 3,828. The entire county has 10,995 people spread over 2, 049 square miles. The Columbia River forms its northern boundary, an important consideration, as it turns out, in Morrow County’s economic development.

In the early days, Morrow was settled by ranchers and farmers, and to a certain extent agriculture and ranching remain the mainstay of the county’s economy, along with food processing, lumber, and recreation. The county was formed in 1885, sectioned off from the western edge of Umatilla County, and named for a state representative, Jackson L. Morrow, who was instrumental in creating the county.

Morrow County, Oregon

The Port of Morrow, located at Boardman on the Columbia River, was established in the mid-twentieth century with a $500 loan. From this humble beginning the Port has grown to become the 2^nd largest port in Oregon after the Port of Portland. The Port began to get industrial tenants in the 1960s and by 1973 a food-processing industrial park had been created. In 1981 a dock for a wood chip reload facility was added and two years later a grain terminal to ship corn from Oregon and the Midwest to Pacific Rim countries was completed. During this time container shipping began and now the Tidewater Terminal is the largest container shipping terminal upriver from the Port of Portland. A new freeway exchange built about that time gave truckers easier access to what had become the Boardman Industrial Park.

Power is provided for the Port and the Industrial Park by two natural gas-fired plants nearby, Coyote Springs I and II, one owned by PGE and the other by Avista Corp.

Now this busy place will get even busier as Amazon builds five commercial data storage centers in Morrow County at the Port of Morrow Industrial Park. Amazon is attracted by reasonable real estate, tax breaks offered by the county, and access to the high-voltage power lines from the Coyote Springs generating plants. The storage centers will not add a lot of jobs to the county, but the project is worth $12 billion and will add to the tax revenue and increase business for contractors and other support services.

There are problems around the Port of Morrow and Morrow County, however. Last year a county commissioner, Jim Doherty, who had been concerned for nearly thirty years about the levels of nitrates released into groundwater in the county by agriculture, feed lots, and food processing plants, set out to test the domestic well water of private homes around Boardman. A DEQ decision to fine the Port of Morrow $2.1 million for violating their wastewater treatment permit and allowing nitrates into the groundwater triggered his concerns about domestic wells. His findings resulted in the county declaring a state of emergency over the level of nitrates in the well water, which was testing as much as five times the federally mandated safe level. That level of nitrates in drinking water can cause bladder, stomach, or intestinal cancer, miscarriages, and other health issues.

This is an ongoing problem in Morrow County and neighboring Umatilla with several agencies involved in seeking a solution. Funds are needed to provide safe drinking water and water filters for homes in the area.

Meanwhile, Jim Doherty and another commissioner, Melissa Lindsay, were subject to a recall election at the end of 2022 and lost. The final commissioner, Don Russell, retired at the end of 2022, so there is an all-new Board in place. Pray for the relationship between the county government and the Port of Morrow leaders.

The current Board of Commissioners is David Sykes, Chair, term 2023 – 2027; Jeff Wenholz, Vice-chair 2023-2027; Roy Drago Jr. 2023 -2025

Justin Nelson is the District Attorney/County Counsel, and Zach Williams is the Deputy District Attorney/County Counsel

Bobbi Childers is Morrow County Clerk overseeing elections and records).

The County Undersheriff is John A. Bowles. The office has recently seen several deputies graduate from the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in Salem, including Deputies Collin Brill, Zachary Kilgore, Jacob Stutzman, Miguel Flores, and Tamara Beardsley.