emerara
Vol. 82, No. 89
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Thursday, January 29, 1981
Photo by Steve Dykes
Local jelly belly
It's only fair.
If Pres. Ronald Reagan gets to
munch jelly beans on the job, then
University Acting Pres. Paul Olum
should also be able to, says the
University Mothers Club.
Besides presenting Olum with the
glass of candies Wednesday, the club
also gave $150 to the library and don
ated a mirror to the athletic depart
ment for the Autzen Stadium weight
training room
It isn't known if they made Olum
brush his teeth.
Law clinic
Legislators sign support;
lumberman may keep gift
By BILL MANNY
Of the Emerald
Controversy continued to envelop the
University Law School's beleaguered
Environmental Law Clinic Wednesday.
In a surprising show of legislative sup
port, 44 state legislators sent a letter to
Acting Pres. Paul Olum expressing "our
continued positive support" for the clin
ic.
However, Irv Fletcher of the Lane
County Labor Council says a Eugene
attorney for lumberman Aaron Jones
maintains Jones will withhold $250,000
in donations to the University if the clinic
isn’t dismantled.
Louis Hoffman, Jones’ attorney, said
at a meeting of business and labor
leaders last week that Jones will not
donate funds he has promised for the
proposed University domed basketball
arena if the clinic isn't closed, according
to Fletcher
The Environmental Law Clinic is one of
several University law programs where
students get practical legal experience in
areas such as "natural-resources law
and administrative questions."
The clinic has angered timber interests
for its representation of environmen
talists and environmental issues.
In their letter, the legislators wrote "we
are firm in our belief that the structure
and scope of the Environmental Law
Clinic should not be changed, altered or
diminished."
Olum said he was "heartened" at the
support the clinic has received from
“both inside and outside the academic
community.”
The University, Olum said, “will resist
all efforts to dismantle the clinic or to
render ineffective its important training
activities."
However, Olum said, he wanted to
make clear that the University "is not
taking sides in a social or political issue.”
Olum said the University would take
steps to avoid appearing committed to
public policy positions.
The Environmental Law Clinic has filed
three lawsuits in its five years. The most
recent is a pending attempt to halt
timber-cutting and road-building in an
Idaho erosion area. The suit requests
aerial cutting methods to eliminate the
need for roads that would increase ero
sion and threaten salmon spawning
areas.
Law school Dean Derrick Bell said the
letter “was very, very encouraging. It was
a very worthwhile expression.”
Bell said well-represented interests are
often angered when someone "repre
sents the side of the otherwise unrepre
sented.” But law school students are
active in a variety of legal programs,
including defense, civil-legal, and pro
secution clinics.
Bell has said industry officials are
invited to propose a clinic that would
represent big business issues.
"It would be possible to make a dis
connection" of the law clinic from the
University, Bell said. But moving the
clinic off campus would only inconven
ience students.
Bell likened an Environmental Law
Clinic in the heart of timber country to a
civil-rights law clinic in the Deep South
Lawyers represent clients but don't
necessarily support the clients' views,
Bell said. There are a number of similar
experience-earning clinics nationwide.
Bell said the clinic's structure will be
examined and changed, if necessary, to
"avoid the appearance of partiality.” But
he said the purpose of the clinic will not
be altered
In their letter to Olum, the legislators
said "the adversary process is one of the
pillars of freedom in our society.
"We offer our assistance in maintain
ing the high standard of excellence es
tablished by the University, its School of
Law and the Environmental Law Clinic."
The 44 signers included Margie Hen
driksen, Ed Fadeley, House Speaker
Grattan Kerans, all D-Eugene; Ted
Kulongoski, D-Junction City; Mary
McCauley Burrows, R-Eugene; and
House Speaker Hardy Myers, D-Klamath
Falls.
Voracious industries get power rate break
By GREG WASSON
Of ttM Emerald
SALEM — The more power they used, the cheaper
it got.
That’s how it was in the days of plentiful electricity,
when energy-intensive industries such as aluminum
plants along the Columbia Gorge and the nickel mine in
Riddle contracted directly with the Bonneville Power
Administration and were rewarded for their gregarious
appetites.
Supplies are no longer abundant, however. And as
the contracts between the businesses, known as Direct
Service Industries, and the BPA expire, rates should
increase dramatically.
In fact, the rates are supposed to rise so much that
industry money would be used to keep residential rates
down.
But at a Capitol press conference Wednesday,
Public Utility Director John Lobdell said he has heard
rumors that industry has convinced the BPA not to raise
the rates as dramatically as the public was assured
during the Northwest Power Bill debate.
"The DSIs have brought all their legal talent,
lobbying talent and other sources of influence out of the
woodwork and have brought it fully to bear on Bon
neville,” Lobdell said. He blamed lack of BPA leader
ship, noting that current director Sterling Munro will
almost assuredly be replaced.
During the void in leadership, “the industries may
be overly influencing the staff,” Lobdell said.
"(I am) incensed that BPA would continue to look at
the DSIs as favorite sons. This means that energy-in
tensive industries, such as the aluminum industry, end
up with a rate that is lower than the rate at which power
will be sold to other industries,” he said
"A subsidy exists and that subsidy has to be paid by
either surplus sales or sales to residential customers, or
both.”
Lobdell's announcement is only the latest
revelation of the confusion in subsidies created by the
passage of the Northwest Power Bill. The bill, fought by
Rep. Jim Weaver, D-Ore., requires rate payers to pay
the construction and operating costs of power plants.
But it also says state law will be supreme.
Oregon voters in 1978 approved a measure
prohibiting utilities from charging rate payers for plants
that weren't yet producing electricity.
During a briefing to the House Energy Committee
two weeks ago, BPA representative Mike Kapz was
asked which part of the bill rules.
"I don’t know,” he replied.
At the same meeting, the state’s three regional
power-bill experts were asked if the DSIs would be
eligible for conservation credits contained in the
legislation.
The first reponded “No,” the second, “Yes.” And
the third?
“It’s ambiguous.”