Oregon daily emerald., January 12, 1981, Image 1

Vol. 82, No. 76
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, January 12, 1981
Environmentalists denounce Reagan’s pick
By LESLIE FARRIS
and MIKE RUST
Of the Emerald
Local environmentalists aren’t mincing words — in
their opinion, James Watt is ‘‘the worst possible
choice” for secretary of the interior.
“Confirmation of Watt is probably the most dan
gerous thing that could happen to our country’s envir
onment and our country's natural resources,” says
Survival Center Director Dave Daikh.
“His appointment by (Pres.-elect Ronald) Reagan
more than confirms the fears of environmentalists
about Reagan's election as president — fears that he
would not see to it that the environment was protected,
that he would compromise our land and our natural
resources to satisfy big business concerns — timber,
oil, coal as well as large agricultural concerns.”
One of the more moderate local assessments of
Watt comes from John Baldwin, a long-time environ
mental activist and professor in the University’s
Department of Urban Planning Baldwin points out that
as of now, most people don't know much more about
Watt than what they have learned in recent weeks from
the media and that the confirmation hearings are still
going on.
However, he laughingly admits to being “very
skeptical” as to the wisdom of the appointment.
As interior secretary, the 42-year old conservative
Denver attorney will oversee management of the na
tion’s public lands and national resources. Watt just
finished two days of testifying before the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee.
Senate committees are expected to complete
confirmation hearings on all of Reagan's cabinet
nominess by Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. Despite wide
spread opposition to both Watt and Secretary of State
designate Alexander Haig, Jr., committee members
indicate that all nominees will be approved.
Prior to the hearings, environmental groups
worked diligently to defeat Watt’s nomination. They
r
chiefly attacked Watt’s past as head of the Mountain
States Legal Foundation, a group funded by ranchers,
miners and developers. The group frequently has
challenged Interior Department land management
policies.
It has also participated in 47 lawsuits opposing
environmental groups on grounds they hinder growth
and development.
Earlier this week during the hearings, Sen Pete
Domenici, R-N.M., described Watt's involvement with
the group as a “phony issue." Domenici told the Senate
that criticism of Watt on this point implied that those
who seek to influence public policy through the courts
are "somehow unfit for public office."
Daikh, however, says that Watt’s work for "this
so-called public interest group" indicates that he would
support special business interests over the interests of
the public.
"He has fought actively against many of the pro
grams that were started by the Interior Department
under Carter, which he is now supposedly going to
run,” Daikh says. "He’s worked actively in supporting
grazing of cattle; owned by private agricultural corpor
ations, on public land.
"He has proven to be a radical opponent to wilder
ness of any kind, he continues. "He doesn’t support
preservation of any more forestland for future genera
tions — he doesn’t even favor maintenance of the
wilderness system that we do have."
During his confirmation hearings, Watt said he
would disqualify himself from any court or administra
tive proceedings involving the Mountain States Legal
Foundation. He told committee members his record
showed he had "the balanced perspective necessary to
manage America’s resources."
However, Steve Kramer of the Survival Center
warns that "Watt thinks the best preservation of natural
resources is to use them. Miners are just ecstatic right
now
"The situation in Oregon is critical now because of
the wilderness review of the BLM (Bureau of Land
Management)," Kramer says. "If Watt is confirmed,
we ll see a lot less land make it into wilderness with no
chance of appeal.”
BLM is the Interior Department's chief agency for
managing public lands. A group of Oregon Republicans
have endorsed Curry County Commissioner Mike Fitz
gerald for BLM director.
“Watt’s appointment as secretary of the interior
would very likely be a big help to Fitzgerald in getting
the BLM job,” Daikh says, "because they’re the same
breed of dog, except that Fitzgerald’s a puppy next to
Watt."
During Fitzgerald's recent campaign for Congress,
he strongly opposed Oregon’s land-use planning pro
gram and federal limitations on lumber industry access
to public forests.
Andy Kerr, associate director of the Oregon
Wilderness Coalition, says Watt is unqualified to be
interior secretary because "he's so biased against the
very principles of what the department was established
for.”
Kerr says Watt’s appointment may have been a
payoff to Reagan supporters, specifically Sen Paul
Laxalt, R-Nev., who was Reagan’s campaign chairman.
“Laxalt, Reagan and Watt are all in favor of taking
publicly owned lands and giving them to the states," he
says. Kerr calls it a “transparent attempt to place lands
in public ownership."
University, faculty can acquire
power in Salem through union
By MARIAN GREEN
Of th« Emerald
University faculty members may find the power
to make their requests heard at the Legislature
by joining organized labor, a California faculty
union president said Friday.
Warren Kessler, president of United California
Professors, told a United Oregon Professors
sponsored forum that unions provide the “best
of two worlds" for faculty members.
“We are completely autonomous in our
policy-making. I’ve never received a letter from
Al Shanker or George Meany ordering us to do
anything,” he said.
“But at the Legislature, they (the AFL-CIO) are
there. And when we want autonomy, it is there."
The UCP, a 4,100-member American Federa
tion of Teachers union made up of faculty
members from California’s 19 state college and
universities, will hold its first collective
bargaining election this spring.
Kessler said faculty members often shy away
from unionization because they fear a loss of
collegiality.
"You can have the most collegial relationship
with the president, dean or department, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean you'll get a nickel
more in Salem," he argued.
UCP advocates a kind of "contractual col
legiality” in which “co-equals work out their
differences in a fair manner," he said.
Kessler said California professors decided to
unionize after two years without pay increases at
a time when inflation increased 14 percent in
one year
“We're organizing because of a committment
to defense of the profession."
Kessler described the AFL-CIO, with which
the AFT is affiliated, as a "progressive organ
ization” in its politics, and he said non-union
ized faculty are "excluding themselves from a
tremendous source of strength."
The AFT provides the UCP with 13 full-time
staff members, according to Kessler.
"The AFT's willingness to provide resources
is partly a reflection of (the Labor group’s) own
commitment," he said.
To receive support from labor organizations
before and after reaching the bargaining table,
faculties must demonstrate "as much solidarity
as possible,” Kessler said.
But he cautioned that an "academic freedom”
clause should be built into every faculty con
tract.
“You don't want the union to be an obstacle to
your academic freedom "
United Oregon Professors President Nat
Teich told the forum University faculty members
must organize and work hand-in-hand with the
administration to counteract the "lack of ag
gressiveness that has characterized the chan
cellor's office in the past.”
"We’re just talking about getting an honest
slice out of the state and getting more clout in
the state, and if we want more clout we’re going
to need a union ”
Irv Fletcher, another forum participant and
secretary-treasurer of the Lane County Labor
Council, cited the creation of the Labor Educa
tion and Research Center during the Legisla
ture’s 1977 biennieum as an example of organ
ized labor’s clout
And in 1979, the LERC was one of only two
University programs that received budget in
creases