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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1992)
EDITORIAL Selling pollutants short term solution No one with a brain in their head can come up with a valid reason not to cut down on air pollution. Even Bush and Co. agree, albeit reluctantly, that some thing must be done to clean up the air we breathe. Problem is. no one can agree on a solution. What results is a hodge-podge of proposals and plans, with more scurrying than results. Take the Clean Air Act. for example. In theory, it’s a heck of an idea. Reduce chemical emissions by 10 million tons a year. Cut back on smog and the omni present specter of sulfur dioxide induced "acid rain." But how? One of the parts of the Cleon Air Act allows corpo rations in the air pollution business to sell the rights for emitting toxics to another company. It sounds cra *y. but in the madness there is a method. Specifically, lost Tuesday Wisconsin Power und Light sold the right to emit 10,000 tons of sulfur diox ide to the Tennessee Val ley Authority for un un disclosed price believed to be between $2,5 and $3 million. This way. the Wisconsin company can keep itself under the fed erally-set emission levels, and TVA gets the time (and cash) to improve its facilities with smokestack Only by cracking down on abusers can we keep the planet from turning Into an unllvable cesspoolL scrubbers and other environmentally oriented equip ment. Economists like the idea, and some environmental ists have adopted u "better than nothing" attitude. Emissions art! scaled back without crippling business es. Both sides come uway with something. As the Wisconsin-TVA deal is the first of its kind, experts are predicting many other companies will go the same route. The market system can save businesses up to 20 percent on the costs of making factories clean er. However, no matter how worthy the project is in the present, it server as a short-term solution. The emission standards requiring scrubbers doesn’t take ef fuct until 1995 — meaning that for three more years, companies cun spew toxics into the air at will. Cleaning up the environment is not something to creep up on. The government and private industry must take a more active role in reducing the toxic spills — accidental and planner! — into our rivers, ground water and air. Only by cracking down on abusers can we keep the planet from turning into an unlivable cess pool. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted. Oregon Daily PO BO* VVi IUGIM ORIGON9M01 Tha Oregon Daily E mar rid • puMahad dairy Monday through Friday during lha achool yari and Tuaaday and Thunday during lha aummar try Via Oragon Daily EmaraU PuMahmg Co Inc. m lha UMvarWy o> Oragon. Fugana. Oragon Tha EmaraM opararaa WMpandanOy at lha UmarMy «ah oflwaa at Sofa J00 d »» Ert> Mamonal Union and ■ a mam bar o» via AatoaaMd Praaa Tha Emaraid a pnvala property Tha unlaarU 'amoral or uaa o* papari • prnaaruaNe br lax Emerald Edftor EdNotwl EdHo> OiapMca EdHo» EMMlMMM EdHot Edaor to CtiM: ChnMOphat Bto» Pa Matoch NawaEdftat Cana Dana* EdMorM E«to JaMPaatoy Sparta Edaor laynalaaaaah In Touch Edaor Might Edaor Cam* Oannan CM* Bound) Don Pdf! JM Barg UmFimiw Iglg EdIUKt Student QovMmnwil’AcItvRiM. Daralyn Trapp* Community: Tim Halt Hlghar Education Administration: Cam* Oannati Feature*: Laa Maagan Ttaporfra: Tammy Balay Mandy Baucun. DthraJ Charoormaau. Jay ton JaooOy Rnart Janaaan. Gam Koappmg. Knan luaaa. Hop* Naaiaon. Coa**n Ponag Copy I door* Dan Tatar. Trad Hagan. Paul Hafcronon. Shatta Mima, Kathy Sherlock Photographers. Sol Meatman. kAchaal Shmtaar Darkroom Technlclana: Smona Bona. Knalm* Granger. Man Monn. Eoc Iktxgkaa Todd Waiarra Advartla'ng Shawn Bwvan. Joan Bradtay. Scott Dana. i**k* Fiat, Oamd Gauntiaa. Janm tar Tom Loach. Catnann* Hoyt*. (Xaim Si ado Vicki ToOm. Sharon Vai Claasdiad Paggy McGmn. Manager Alan Curt* Shade Toronto Buatnaoa: Kathy Carton*. Suporwoor Judy Connody Production: I rye Whta, ProOucton Coorshnmoi Conn* Friar Suaan Head Da* McCoOO. Stacy MHchaa. Jonrwtar Roland. jarvular Smart. Ann* Slaphenaon. Janmtor Vials Oanarsl Managat Judy Rat* Advertising Director Bryan R Coppsdga Production Manager Ucnara Roat Nawaroom___J«*-S»t1 Olaplay Advartlaing -14A-17I2 Bualnaaa Oft lea...MS-SS1 2 Claaadlad Advertising-MA4M1 HE NEVER ACTUALLY Carves aching.. HE JUST KEEPS whittling until THERE’S NO WOOD LETTERS Enumerate The ASUO and Jennifer Dills did exactly the right thing in seeking to inform University students of their legal rights should they be called before the federal grand Jury or indict ed. As one who teaches philos ophy of law, I am all loo aware of how little information most students have about such legal matters, as I am all too uwuro of the possibility that groups like the FBI may exploit such igno rance Even though only a handful of students wore in volved. wo all have an interest in insuring the people’s rights are respected — even if we dis agree with what they did. Moreover, we all have u rea son to be discouraged by the Emerald's criticisms of the ASIJO on this score. Its article ol May 13 contained tot) many factual errors to enumerate hero, its l-'ino Print column of that same day should be as signed to a freshman logic class — us on example of muddlo headodness Let it Just lx; said that the ASUO’s understanding of the legal situation, and its se riousness. is fundamentally ac curate. Cheyney Ryan Professor of Philosophy Just the facts Besides being poorly written, Wednesday’s IODE. May 13) front page article covering the ASUO od threutens tho credi bility of the Emerald as an ob jective news source. The urtlcle attempts to dis credit ASUO President Jennifer Bills' decision on placing the ad. but only discredits the Emerald as we see that report ing the facts objectively is a task too difficult for the report ers to accomplish. Foature articles leave some room for editorializing, and ob viously editoriuls are for that purpose, but straight news is the presentation of the facts without bias and interpretation by the reporter. When Lisa Millegan and Gerrit Koepping made suggestions that Bills "could have saved students money" and "could hove writ ten a letter to tho Emerald for free," they remind me of younger publications that ha ven't yet learned tho rules for unbiased reporting. The issue isn't whether or not I agree with the decision or oppose it. hut that this type of reporting doesn't create a re spectable publication. Malach's article on the samo topic is an editorial, and therefore he has space to express his opinion, be it right or wrong Millegun and Koepping wore writing front page nows coverage and hnvo no purpose but to report the facts. Marty Schmlth Eugene Switcharoo Was the Emerald printed wrong on Wednesday. May 13? IJsuaiiy the opinions are on page 2 and news is on page 1, but not this Wednesday. Instead of simply “reporting” the grand "news" of an ad tak en out by tho ASIJO to explain students' rights over tho recent Federal Building tncldont. Lisa Millogan and Gerrlt Kocpping's article is laden with advice, opinion and criticism. Not only would I consider this "urtlcle" an insult to true journalism, but I also huvu to disagree with their opinions Imagine if a party of about 350 people, many minors, drinking by their own choice, led to a fire causing, say, $27,000 damage. If the police wantod to do an in-depth inves tigation. promising charges would be brought, we would have many scared students who wouldn't know who to turn to. It's the ASUO's responsibility to assist these students, just as it's the ASUO's responsibility to help the students at the Fed eral Building Fat Malnch. whose opinion at least appears on the correct page, says not all students were involved, so It's a waste of stu dent fees It's not the ASUO's responsi bility to benefit all students In everything it does, but it has a responsibility to all individual students. There's a big differ ence. John Tnomas Fine Art* Out of line I am getting sick of hearing about how the FBI is harassing students or denying their right to protest by investigating the vandalism at the Federal Build ing. Unless I missed something, only those who destroyed prop erty will be prosecuted, not those who protested peacefully. The First Amendment men tions "the right of the people to peaceably assemble.” but the last time 1 checked it said noth ing about "the right of those who uro politically correct to protest by expressing their righteous anger however thy want to (and label any attempt to hold them accountable as •harassment’)." If I hud decided to express my anger at the Rodney King verdict by robbing a bank, would the FBI be harassing me by investigating it? Jonnifor Bills was way out of line by spending my student fees for tne ad to help the vandals deal with the consequences of their criminal actions. Eric S(everting Student Slimy green Today I noticed that lamp posts all over campus have been receiving a new coat of paint. Then I realized, much to my chagrin, that ovary last one of them was being painted green. What about all of the other colors? Why don't they paint some of the posts purple? Or yellow? 1 moan. I thought this University claimed to stress di versity. Sure, the color of lamp posts has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but isn't this sort of trivia the very thing one should attack in this politically correct age of ours? After all, if wo waste all of our energy on banal idiocy, it becomes rather simplo to dem onstrate how "open minded” and "enlightened" we are, without actually having to ad dress the bigot that lurks in each and every one of us. Kyle Harris Education
