I
Clean up EPA:
dump Burford
The Environmental Protection Agency Administrator,
Anne Burford (formerly Anne Gorsuch) should bow to
pressure and resign.
Burford recently said Pres. Reagan’s use of executive
privilege to withhold complete Congressional access to
EPA documents is hurting trust in the President’s ability
to govern. She should consider what all the recent revela
tions of the agency’s inefficiency and mismanagement
are doing to the country’s faith in the EPA.
In 1980 Congress allotted a $1.6 billion emergency
“Superfund” to clean up the worst 418 national toxic
waste sites. It was understood that dumpers would be
prosecuted and fined later.
The solid waste department under the direction of
Rita Lavelle has admitted to holding out on prosecuting
companies to encourage them to clean up the sites
themselves. Obviously this doesn’t work, unless one con
siders five of 418 sites and the matching of $120 million
in private funds to $1.8 million public funds a “success.”
Firing Lavelle is the first step toward ridding the EPA
of those who do not understand the agency’s purpose:
These appointed agency officials who make clean-up
deals with polluters, who take $53 million “dips” into the
Superfund for purposes other than toxic waste clean-up,
who put paper shredders in the solid waste department
hallway and who slam the agency lawyer for wanting to
prosecute dumping violators.
Congress has reason to want those files.
The EPA battle stems from controversies like the
Stringfellow acid pits in Riverside, Calif., where clean-up
has been delayed and debate continues.
Lavelle, since her resignation, has suggested that
funds were withheld to hurt the senatorial race of Gov.
Jerry Brown. Burford claims that funds were withheld
because California should pay half the price of the clean
up. Others at EPA say the clean-up has been delayed for
economic reasons — the dumpers should pay, not the
EPA.
This same sort of mentality pervaded a "successful”
EPA clean-up in Seymour, Ind. The local community com
plained of the state of the drinking water and tests
discovered over 60,000 barrels of toxins, including PCBs,
benzene, and petroleum poisons. In I979 the drums began
bursting into flame. A rainstorm washed much of the
poisons into local rivers and streams causing an
emergency clean-up.
Now, more than three years later, there are still
50,000 barrels sitting in Seymour. The EPA made
“sweetheart deals” with the 24 major dumpers and now
refuses to clean-up further because the dump site is city
owned. Under agency rules, the EPA does not have to con
tinue cleaning-up until the community of 13,000 is able to
match funds.
Burford, obviously battling to keep her position, sug
gested that all the documents go to Congress. Only a few
weeks ago Gorsuch said she would rather die than divulge
the hot documents.
Now Burford realizes that the President may find it
politically expedient to dump her, even if he approves of
her management of the EPA.
If she can’t muster the courage to resign, the Presi
dent should dump the dioxin queen and replace her with
someone who understands the environment’s state of
emergency, not to mention the management of a national
public agency.
opinion
Adolescent invasion
They may dress like budding professionals, but high
school debate team members who descended on the EMU
acted like budding jerks.
The student union was overrun by juveniles with
radios, junk food and high obnoxious voices last Thurs
day, Friday and Saturday.
But this is not to complain so much about their lack
of maturity as the EMU’s decision to allow the little foren
sic urchins to invade the place this weekend. University
students are frantically looking for places to study and
write during these last two weeks of the term. The high
school debators were a disturbance.
Next time they show up to debate, won't someone
confine the loquacious adolescents to one place? The
EMU director or debate director needs to explain to them
that they are guests and that spilling Coke, yelling,
blasting their radios and general rudeness are “inap
proprlate behaviors."
letters
Expansion
We would like to expand on
Rich Burr’s coverage of
OSPIRG’s budget hearing
before the IFC that appeared
in the Feb.23 Emerald.
OSPIRG, the Oregon Stu
dent Public Interest Research
Group, is a statewide student
directed and funded organ
ization. It is a non-profit,
non-partisan corporation
workng to provide a statewide
student voice on public policy
issues. OSPIRG offers
students a chance to affect
decisions on energy, en
vironmental, consumer and
social justice issues.
For example, students
recently became concerned
about utility rates with the
cost over runs of WPPSS and
the impending deregulation of
the phone idustry. After
researching the issue,
students discovered a group
in Wisconsin called the Con
sumer Utility Board. This
group provides ratepayers
with an effective vehicle for
keeping utility bills down.
OSPIRG is now working in the
Legislature to establish a CUB
in Oregon and the prospects
look very good.
OSPIRG offers all students
a chance to become directly
involved in such issues.
Through the process of obser
vation, increased participation
and education, students
develop skills necessary to
bring about change. Working
in conjunction with the ex
perienced OSPIRG staff,
students gain invaluable ex
perlence by applying
classroom knowledge to real
world situations at the state
and local levels.
Olrect involvement through
internships and/or voluntary
r
participation is not necessary,
however, for students to
benefit from OSPIRG. Anyone
can pick up one our local con
sumer surveys, cal! our hotline
with a consumer problem, or
benefit from OSPIRG's
legislation.
In order to provide the pro
fessionalism and the continui
ty that allow OSPIRG to func
tion effectively, we must
establish a stable funding
base. It is for this reason that
OSPIRG is working to
establish our funding at $1 per
student per term.
OSPIRG, located in Suite 1,
EMU, welcomes any questions
or ideas that students may
have as we continue our pro
ject work and our effort to ob
tain a funding upgrade.
Amy Gndltr
OSPIRG
Irate citizen
It surprises me to discover
that every time a group of peo
ple gather together to practice
their Constitutional rights —
social change through the
ballot — some irate citizen of
this free country raises his
voice and labels it subver
sive.
Why in the hell do we have
these rights written down in
the Constitution if we’re going
to cry fault every time they’re
exercised?
I suppose that Randy
Shepard would advocate not
paying taxes to the federal
government. Because with his
understanding of the func
tions of public servants, they
are ail robbers.
You should be given your
money back, Mr Shepard, and
then thrown out into the real
world alone and unre
presented. You soon
would be crying for equality,
representation, not to mention
paying someone to do it for
you.
Well Mr. Shepard, student
body government is your
representation in the world
related to the University.
Students in student programs
spend many more hours than
they can ever receive payment
for working their butts off try
ing to see that students get
their share of that thing called
representation.
Students for a Nuclear Free
Future and all the ASUO pro
grams are your guarantees
that you will be considered
and informed by the higher
forms of government as much
as any other group of people in
the "free” country.
Sure, you should be allowed
to decide about what your
money is spent for, but sitting
and complaining about it
won’t solve the discrepancy.
Get your tail down to the
ASUO and get involved. Some
day you will have a part in mak
ing those decisions which you
know so little about now.
Bill Snyder
sophomore, sociology
Hitlerian
I noticed that there is a pic
ture of Ronald Reagan ad
dressing a synagogue in the
EMU display case. The caption
of the picture reads, ‘‘Working
for the masters.”
We would like to note that
religious and racial harass
ment is a misdemeanor in the
state of Oregon, and I suggest
that the party responsible for
this piece of Hitlerian pro
paganda remove it imme
diately.
John Barton
representative,
Jewish Student Union
Oregon daily
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