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
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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