EDITORIAL Trojan’s closure gives hope for energy future When Portland General Electric Co. announced on Jan. 5 that it was dosing its Trojan nuc lear power plant, the definition of hypocrisy was rewritten. Nearly two months to the day of the announce ment, PGK convinced voters to defeat two ballot meas ures that would have c losed the plant on either Jan. 2 or March 2. PGE spent $5 million to defeat the two measure's, and offerer! its own alternative that would have closer! the plant by 199ti Six days after the election, the plant shut down and has not been restarted since. |*GK says the c losure was an ec onomic decision The plant had become too expensive to c ontinue oper ating, said PGK c hairman Ken Harrison. Harrison .-.ays closing i ro|f»n win save $•10 million In .$?>() mil lion. The cost of (incom missioning is $-100 million to $500 million One of the driving questions in this case is "why now?” What does [Hi hi know now that it didn’t know two months ago? To the people of Rain er. whose er onomir life blood was the Trojan plant, the sudden closure comes as something of a near-fatal blow. At least 700 people in the town of 1.700 Will lost! inoir ions by the end of the year. In November, many of these workers ex pet ted to have three years to look for new work. POE could have better used the $5 million spoilt fighting the t Insure initiatives to provide job retraining and rolcx ation assistance to the soon to bo unemployed workers. Locally, the closure could result in a short-term in crease in electro rates. The Eugene Water and bb'< trii Hoard, at one time a .to pen ent owner of Trojan, has already begun looking into building new power plants locally. inr hiding a geothermal well and a wind farm EWEH is also disi ussing selling power to l’(ih until replacement power lor Trojan can be found. i*OE also intends on expanding into alternative power plants, in cluding wind and geothermal, but will generate most of its replai emeu! power using natural gas Whatever the future. Oregonians t ail at leas! put the nuclear power controversy to rest. Oregon law pro hibits the operation of any nuc leer power plant except Trojan. Now. Oregon’s challenge will be to find alter native sources of power without further damaging the environment PGE could have better used the $5 million spent fighting the closure initiatives to provide job retraining and relocation assistance to the soon to be unemployed workers. , ■**Emerald P O 00* J1S«. CUOf Nf. OREGON §7403 Thr •*. 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BaimMi K4»*-v C^rtxv'f* N.,j*r . *• " J JyCcV " • > Production if740* J/ 12 346*4543 ..,\€tM WEW * SWM*EMBW7 ■ Mn4i Pen pals Our fourthgrade class is col lating inforination aliout the t Inited Status We would like I niiTnld readers to send us post* ards or letters telling us about the lustorv and places of interest m your slate Also in clude any interesting |>ersonal experieni.es 1 hank you fur helping us learn about our i ountry Ms. Palmer's class Garden Hills Grade School 2001 Garden Hills Dr Champaign, III. 61820 Foreign gyp I am interested to know whether the newly proposed student survey will real h out to all the Chinese l ^immunity Kd ui ation students who an- lieing suhsidi/ed by the state univer sity system to study here at the University lor a Irartion ol the The ('.onimunity Ldui atom I’rogr.im was set up to allow I.ugene -Springfield residents to participate in University class es at affordable rates Why is CHI’ available to foreign nation als as a way to enter the I lilted States under quasi student slat us with tees per i redit hour less than regular in state tuition? The University 's student dire< • lory liears witness to the num ber of foreigners enrolled in CHI’ Sonja Adams Class of 1988 Inaugural hype It seems as d Bobby Lee and Karmen Fore are wasting their time and money for the trip to the inauguration of President elei t Clinton No wonder higher edui ation has no friends these days — w hat w ith the \ it e provost free ly giving airfare for useless and so-called lobbying trips to Washington. IK I hope none ol the Oregon legislators saw this article [OPF, Ian til. whii h really illustrates the hit admin istrators fling around tor ASUO officers. Furthermore, going tc Wash ington on the pretense of lobby ing is outrageous These obvi ously very influential lobbyists from the University will defi nitely have an impact on seno tors and representatives who al ways Inn <• mu h time for visits from siudeiit ImhIv officers I am disappointed that the 1 wim wanting replatement rev enue is Iras cling 1,000 milfs loo far to lobby for higher edu cation. As Oregon's own legis Intive session fa-gins. late and l ore should ruin enirale on the legislative body that has the power to help, and not indulge in the staged drama of inaugu ral hype when there is work to In* done at home Richard Horswell Eugene Unaware I was horrified as I read and contemplated Stephanie Sis son s column fan 11) 1 find it hard to believe that in this "environmentally aware era, someone is spewing dm el like this m a i ollege newspa per It s true, humanity is not powerful enough to destroy the earth |osl everything on it "As the way we live shifts from an agru ultural basis to mechanical, the earth must change with us " This opinion was founded on an extremely weak grip on global issues and ideologies, and it is this kind of uninformed, anthropoc entru thinking that is solelv responsi ble for the mess our generation and those that follow fat e today Tiffany Isham Fine Arts Sing a song A group of Eugene tolks, more than a dozen strong, add ed a spontaneous note to the swearing-in ceremonies for our new mayor. Ruth Base om, and our three new (,‘ity Council members. Nancy Nathanson. Kevin Hornbuc kle and Barbara Keller We wanted to put those as sembled (and you. the reader, as well) on notice that strong, positive- involvement by many residents will occur vis-a-vis our new ouiu.il Ac live-partic i pation and. if necessary, grass roots initiatives will be on our agenda We believe dec enc v to ward. and justice for all. is the only basis for a truly prosper ous c ity What yve did was — when the University c horus com lud ed singing "America the Beau tiful" — stand and sing a new verse, written in the 1080s by Pamela Haines. It goes “O beautiful, for working folk, wito forged the wealth we see. In farm and mill, in home and school — unsung in histo ry. America' America! Mas rat e nor sex nor creed. No more divide, hut side by side, all rise united, freed." Our demonstrative rendition svas well ret eived We invite all to join with us in energizing the now council to go where none have gone to date, to begin to make Eugene a truls livable home for all residents. Your partic ipation is invited. As a start, attend the first meeting of our renewed City Council See Tln> KifgistiT Cuaril tor the date and time of the meeting, which is at the council chambers in ( its Hall l ast Hth Avenue lietsveen High and Pearl streets Paul Prensky Eugene Vet respect No doubt Martin l.uther King |r s birthday merits attention The holiday commemorates the birth ot a man whose principles are of profound importance to mans college students I question, however, sshs such attention is devoted to this holiday at the University, sshere 1 saw almost no mention ot Veterans I las ()n Nos II sse honor Attieru an veterans and i elehrate the armistii e end ing World War I Both deserve solemn respei t Aaron Ramsey English Goo goo Stephanie Sisson's column [()[)£. Ian 11) is teel-good froth when she reassures people that "business as usual" won't ss rei k our