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editor’s note
Garbage is overflowing Lane County landfills
and the University is about to run out of its primary
energy source Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we
could solve both problems at once?
Maybe we can. But maybe we shouldn’t.
When a University consulting engineer sug
gested it would be feasible for the University to
bum garbage processed by Lane County's idle
"resource-recovery facility,” officials from both
sides perked up their ears
Currently, the University’s physical plant
relies on "hog fuel” — a coarse, sawdust by
product of the timber industry — to fire its boilers
and produce electricity for the campus. But after a
depressed economy forced lumber mills to shut
down, hog fuel has been in short supply.
Ray Hawk, University vice president for ad
ministration and finance, predicts we will run out
of the precious source of fuel as early as February
In that event, the University would have to depend
entirely on oil — an expensive option that could
quickly drain the energy budget
Meanwhile, a $2.1-million waste-processing
facility built by Lane County and never really used,
has the potential to provide the University with all
the fuel we need. The next steps seem obvious
But the most obvious solutions often turn out
to be the worst, and this one — as tempting as it
sounds — may cause more environmental damage
than it prevents
• It creates air pollution During the first test
of burning waste-derived fuel at the University
physical plant, Lane County air pollution control
officials measured emissions that were well over
the legal limit. The University would have to spend
about $1 million in anti-pollution devices before
they could legally burn the proposed fuel.
• It acts as a deterrent to conservation and
source separation recycling Once major energy
users, such as the University, become dependent
on waste-derived fuel a continuous supply of
garbage must be available In this case, the
pressure to reduce the solid waste stream is
reduced Instead of recycling paper, which makes
up 50 percent of the total solid waste stream, the
paper is burned Statistics show that paper can be
recycled up to eight times before its fibers become
useless
• It presents a risk of dispersing hazardous
wastes into the atmospere Television screens
monitor the waste that is fed into the Lane County
resource recovery facility, but they may not do an
adequate job of ensuring that disposed toxic
chemicals or plastics do not wind up as fuel
By far the worst way to handle the tremen
dous volume of waste Lane County residents
produce each day is to haul it to the Glenwood
landfill and simply dump it Once there, it slowly
breaks down, producing dangerous methane gas
and poisonous leachates that surface in the local
waterways
The best way to handle it is by source-sepa
ration recycling Metals, glass and paper are sort
ed, transported to local recyclers and used as raw
materials for new products
Burning garbage as an energy source falls
somewhere in between It is one step toward
reducing a very big environmental problem, but it
is a step away from solving it
The bright vision of a waste-free future should
not be blurred by the short term appeal of sending
our solid waste problems up in smoke
letters
Open sneer
In regards to last week's
Sexual revolution?' column:
Oh, my, aren’t you (Cort
Fernald, editorial page editor)
one smug, complacent, ar
rogant asshole, sitting up there
on some editorial throne, openly
sneering at people Somehow,
in your godlike omniscience,
you consign a roomful of people
you’ve never spoken with to the
personal hell of "desperation
Sounds like projection, to me
Some writers, devoid of
original ideas, incapable of
deep perception, fall back on
individual style You, unhappily.
have none Dreary, stereo
typical description results from
your Olympian perspective too
far removed to see people in
dimensions I only finished
reading because I had set it as a
project, to see what the angry
letters were about Now I know
Richard G. Juul
senior, journalism
Concerning your first
statement — you’re only half
right
C.F
Third-rate
Cort Fernald's column "De
classe at D O.A " is a self-con
gratulatory, misguided creed,
and a classic example of the
kind of shoddy, biased jour
nalism I have come to associate
with the Emerald
It seems as though Fernald
wanted to write a review of the
film D.O.A., but couldn't find
anything to say about it, and
wrote instead a third-rate attack
at a scene that barely exists
Fernald is fooling himself
when he says "D O.A was al
legedly intended to debunk the
Sex Pistols' myth " D O.A was
intended to bring cash and fame
to the people who financed and
produced the film That is not to
say that it was a bad movie It
did, in fact make a strong
statement It is nobody's fault
that a few kids interpreted that
statement as being "punk rules
OK'"
No one went to DO. A with
the idea of seeing the Sex Pis
tols myth debunked People
went to D O.A because they
wanted to see movies of the Sex
Pistols
Fernald. however, went to the
Bijou Wednesday not to see a
movie about the Sex Pistols, but
to see a freak show* He saw
what he wanted
Wherever there is an under
ground music scene, one can
find a few "weekend punks ."
Sometimes, regretably. they are
the scene's most visible
element That does not mean
that every punk in town is a
pretentious trendy, nor does it
mean that some of us don't have
something to say, or that we
aren't doing something pro
gressive and constructive
Labeling every punk" in
Eugene a jerk or a poseur is a
strange thing to do Perhaps, in
his haste to express his cooler
than-thou attitude, Fernald for
got that punk is about doing
what you want to, not what
you're told to do I don't need
Cort Fernald to tell me how to
dress and how to act, and I
refuse to worry about how he
dresses and acts
Fernald says of Terry-the
punk "He had no musical talent
at all — and no talent is not
enough ” Johnny Rotten once
said, "Lack of musical talent
presents no barriers: one does
not need to be a good musician
to be a good songwriter or a
good performer Or to have
fun ”
Instead of giggling at punk
rock, Fernald should try think
ing clearly about it Sid Vicious
died a helpless junkie with a
murder rap on him Does that
mean a kid living with his mom
and dad in fairly affluent sur
roundings has no reason to feel
oppressed, has nothing to rebel
against9 There are more impor
tant things to hate than mom
and dad
So what if a few (erks thought
they should dress up and
"act punk' when they went to
see D O.A. 9 They are fools, and
are recognised as such I just
regret that new wave cretins
give punk a bad name, much as
short-sighted, self-righteous
writers give journalism a bad
name
Todd Souvignier
freshman, pre-journalism
Awful mast
Well, I just can't hold back any
longer I've tried to give it time
but, sorry I think the new
masthead you've adopted for
this paper is awful While it at
tempts to be bold and lean, it
comes off as morbid and trite
I'm not necessarily a tradition
alist, but your past masthead
read like the name of a news
paper This one reads like an
advertisement or an obituary
Gene Bressler
associate professor
landscape architecture
staff
Tha Oragon Dally Emaratd la publlshad
Monday through Friday axcapt during
finala waak and vacations by tha Oragor
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