4A
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019
The Observer
OUR VIEW
A voice for
fairness
In an era of bare-knuckled politics, the career of William
Ruckelshaus provides valuable lessons. He was the first
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
He died in Seattle in late November at age 87, leaving
behind an unblemished career as a voice for environ-
mental reason.
Ruckelshaus was no stranger to pitched political
battles. His career in President Richard Nixon’s admin-
istration abruptly ended when he resigned his job at the
U.S. Department of Justice instead of firing the Water-
gate special prosecutor.
After two turns as EPA administrator — as the agen-
cy’s first chief under Nixon and again under President
Ronald Reagan — Ruckelshaus probably knew more
about how the EPA and statutes such as the Endan-
gered Species Act work than anyone else.
In 2011, Capital Press interviewed Ruckelshaus about
the EPA, the Endangered Species Act and more. Edited
for space, here are some of his thoughts:
On the Endangered Species Act: If the law is working
properly, the “how to” is an agreement by the people who
will be impacted by the necessary changes. It doesn’t
work as well as it ought to, because a lot of times the gov-
ernment comes in and imposes habitat requirements the
manager of the land doesn’t find completely reasonable.
On the Clean Air Act: After a couple of years of admin-
istering it, I knew it needed change. ... What has proven
really hard is to get these laws changed ... I think, the
people who lobbied the laws through were primarily out-
side the government, and the government agencies that
administered these laws and the staffs on committees re-
main in place for a long time — they get a vested interest
in the law and fight furiously against any changes.
The scope of the Endangered Species Act: It encompass-
es a lot more than Congress probably originally intended.
Changes needed in the Endangered Species Act: If I’m
forced to put buffers alongside streams that run through
my land to protect salmon, sometimes those buffers take
a significant amount of land, and I think they should be
compensated for that. ... If that’s a public good being as-
serted against a private property owner, why shouldn’t the
public pay for it the same way they do with a highway?
On environmental regulations: Some guy writing the
regulation in Olympia or in Salem, and not being on the
actual land itself, can’t possibly draft a regulation that
makes sense on every piece of land. So the landowner
has the regulator from the government coming on their
land, starting to tell him how to manage it. He’s been
managing for five generations and this guy’s maybe six
months out of school.
(Let) the individual landowner have a lot more author-
ity about what he should do to manage the land in such
a way that it doesn’t adversely impact the environment.
And compensating them where significant costs are
involved.
On collaboration: If they’d see themselves as part of
a family, they’d begin to make progress. But if they see
themselves as adversaries, as enemies, then you don’t
make any progress. ... My experience of listening to
farmers and environmentalists when they finally let
their guard down, they are not nearly as far apart as
they think they are. I’ve heard farmers say, “Well, if that’s
what you want us to do, that’s not so hard.” And here the
environmentalists would say, “Well, I guess that’s not
really the problem, is it?”.
These words offer wisdom to all sides of many issues,
whether they involve the environment or other topics.
Maybe the world needs more voices for reason like Wil-
liam Ruckelshaus. We’ve seen plenty of the alternative.
These words, spoken from experience, offer wisdom
to all sides of many issues, whether they involve the
environment or other topics.
MY VOICE
Observer should end running
out-of-area columns
A
recent run of syndicated colum-
nists appearing under “Other
Views” in The Observer was disturbing.
Monday, Dec. 2: “Animals have an
ally in the Trump administration” by
Ryan Moore congratulates the EPA
for encouraging research labs to de-
crease use of lab animals. While this
is certainly commendable, the EPA
under Trump has been undermined
and shackled in attempts to protect
our air, water and soil from deadly
pollution.
Ryan Moore has been banned from
Facebook for his infl ammatory mes-
saging. His primary job is social media
strategist. He has managed numerous
high-profi le accounts and has spent
over $700,000 running social media ads
for conservative causes and campaigns.
This sort of “columnist” likely pays
papers to run messages as editorials.
Wednesday, Dec. 4: “Trump was right
to stand up for vet” by Christine Flow-
ers, an outspoken voice for conservative
women, refers to Trump’s pardon of
Chief Petty Offi cer Eddie Gallagher.
She contends Gallagher’s offense was
a simple “breach of etiquette.” While
SEALS almost never testify against
one of their own, Gallagher was an
exception. They accused him of kill-
ing an unarmed elderly man, shooting
into crowds of civilians, bragging about
shooting women, claiming Muslims
should be eliminated and intimidating
soldiers under his command. Ultimate-
ly Gallagher was convicted of being
pictured with the body of the young
ISIS boy he was accused of stabbing to
death after medics had stabilized him
for a leg wound.
Friday, Dec. 6: “Trump should veto
greedy Green Act” by Phil Kerpen. Tax
credits toward promoting electric cars
and government money for environ-
mental justice education obviously
infuriate Kerpen. No mention of giant
tax credits supporting fossil fuels. No
acknowledgment of global warming
and its expected impacts on the poorest
world populations.
Kerpen is president of American
Commitment dedicated to restoring
and protecting free markets, economic
growth, constitutionally limited govern-
ment, property rights and individual
freedoms. He is also a conservative
lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
The Founding Fathers made strict
laws to protect our democracy from the
avarice inherent in capitalism/corpora-
tions. These initial safeguards were
gradually undermined by corporate
money. Corporate practices created the
economic divide seen in America today.
The Dec. 6 cartoon disgracefully
characterized Alexandia Octavio-Cortez
riding a fat unicorn labeled as Green
New Deal farting the Rainbow Coali-
tion emblem.
These opinions and cartoon are avail-
able online.
Credible columnists write from
across the political spectrum. If Ob-
server fi nances limit them to writers re-
ceiving primary compensation through
exposure to their political messages,
President Donald
Trump: The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-
456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to
send comments, go to www.
whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley:
D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington,
D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Fax: 202-228-3997.
Website: merkley.senate.
gov/. Email: merkley.senate.
gov/contact/. Portland offi ce:
One World Trade Center,
121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite
1250, Portland, OR 97204;
503-326-3386; fax 503-326-
2900. Pendleton offi ce: 310
S.E. Second St. Suite 105,
Pendleton 97801; 541-
278-1129; email elizabeth_
scheeler@merkley.senate.gov.
Subscription rates per month:
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A division of
The Observer should end out-of-area
columnists altogether. Editorial com-
ment is readily available in all fl avors
without The Observer. The space could
be repurposed for non-divisive subjects
such as the “Farmers Almanac.” Edito-
rial money could go toward local report-
ing. As Observer editor Phil Wright
noted in a recent column, local news is
his primary concern. Let’s leave it at
that. Under his guidance local news is
being well covered.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C.
offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington,
D.C. 20510-3703; phone: 202-
224-5244; fax 202-228-2717.
Website: wyden.senate.gov.
Email: wyden.senate.gov/
contact/. La Grande offi ce: 105
Fir St., No. 210, La Grande,
OR 97850; 541-962-7691; fax,
541-963-0885; email kathleen_
cathey@wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden
(2nd District): D.C. offi ce:
2185 Rayburn House Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C.
20515-0001, 202-225-6730;
fax 202-225-5774. Website:
walden.house.gov/. Email:
walden.house.gov/e-mail-
greg. La Grande offi ce: 1211
Washington Ave., La Grande,
OR 97850; 541-624-2400, email
jorden.noyes@mail.house.gov.
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for sustainable,
fl ourishing
and diverse
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