The Skamania Dispatch

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Latest — 30 Sep 2026

🛢️ Uncovering an Oil Well Mystery - Special Investigation

In 1949 a company drilled for oil just west of Beacon Rock, and it may be still uncapped and leaking. We're using public records and old aerial photos to find it (and other orphaned wells in the Gorge) and we'd love your help.

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🌲 On National Public Lands Day, Stand Up for Public Lands Counties - Letter From the Editor

Today, September 26th, is National Public Lands Day. Four days from now the law behind Secure Rural Schools, a lifeline for our Public Lands Counties, was written to run out. Here's why that deadline matters to anyone who loves public land, and the call I hope you'll make.

⚖️ A Verdict, a Tighter Timber Check, and a Rate Choice - Skamania BOCC & PUD September '26

A community member who sat through the trial says a jury convicted Levi Delena in Candice Malave's killing. DNR trims its timber forecast. The PUD seats Dev Bell and argues over a 2% rate increase. Plus five closed sessions, the roadless rule and a leaky new tank.

🛬 "Runway": Gorge Commission Reopens the Management Plan - Sept '26

The Gorge Commission was briefed on what it takes to rewrite the Gorge Management Plan. Nothing was decided, and the Forest Service said waiting until 2030 would be legal. Here is how the last rewrite worked, what changed the text, and where the public gets a guaranteed say.

✂️ Between Budget Gaps & Data Centers - Klickitat BOCC 8/19-9/15

About 150 people packed a Thursday workshop to ask Klickitat County to pause data centers, Columbia Gorge News reported. The Board took no action. Staff set October 1 as the target for a draft ordinance instead. Plus the 2027 budget, and the levy limit running under both.

🖥 The Data Center Moratorium Next Door - Skamania BOCC August '26

Eight people asked Skamania County's commissioners to pause data centers on August 18, and the Board adopted a moratorium that day. Plus a Sheriff's software upgrade, two Planning Commission appointments, and what the 2027 county contracts say.

🔨 Putting the Old Bridge to the Pile-driving Test - HRWSBA August '26

Federal reviewers cut the bridge project's benefit score nearly in half, and the Authority filed its answer on September 4. Meanwhile a price fight over 18 test piles sent the board into a closed session, and a $404,548 invoice has sat at Federal Highways for 448 days.

🐂 Running of the Bull - Goldendale August '26 Round-up

Goldendale's retail sales tax came in $285,000 under last year, and the council talked out where the money went. It gave two old fire rigs to up-county districts, and heard a resident ask it to keep livestock out of R1.

🗺 Who Actually Plans Stevenson? - August '26 Round-up

Stevenson ended a three-year sewer fight on a quiet voice vote, then hit a harder question. The county planner's study says the city does not need more apartment-zoned land. The Planning Commission recommended more anyway, and Council handed its 2027 housing work to the county.

🎨 A Door Through the Mural - Bingen August '26 Round-Up

Bingen's city attorney is leaving for two judgeships, the city filed a breach-of-contract complaint over a door cut through a community mural, and after four months the flood ledger is closing for some businesses and not others.