Opinion
4A
Saturday, July 24, 2021
OUR VIEW
Goal should
always be
to safeguard
democracy
here was not much fanfare, but the offi -
cial reopening of the Oregon’s Capitol
last week should be good news for all
T
voters.
Readers may remember the capitol was shut
down because of the COVID-19 pandemic and,
as usual, the closure kicked off plenty of political
angst between Democrats and Republicans. In the
Senate, GOP lawmakers voted no on many issues
not related to COVID-19 in protest. In the House,
Republicans declined to suspend rules that
require bills to be read completely, which slowed
down the legislative session.
The stance of the Republicans was, at least in
theory, a good one. Their views were the capitol
is the people’s building and should not be closed
off to the public under any circumstances.
But Democratic lawmakers, such as House
Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter
Courtney, said in a joint statement the clo-
sure was necessary to safeguard people from
COVID-19.
They termed the decisions to be “diffi cult” but
they “consulted with infectious disease doctors
and public health offi cials about what changes
were needed to reduce the risk of COVID-19
transmission in the capitol.”
Access to public buildings where lawmakers
do the people’s business is hardwired into the
American psyche, as it should be. We live in a
democracy, and that means lawmakers must be
accessible to voters.
However, on this specifi c issue closing the
capitol building was the right move. Whether it
should have been closed as long as it was seems
to be open for debate. Lawmakers like Kotek and
Courtney did the right thing during a time when
the COVID-19 virus crisis was still very real and
a threat to all.
Yet there is no denying that cutting off access
to the activities of lawmakers hurt democracy.
Anytime the halls where lawmakers roam, or
committee meetings where legislators gather
information to make decisions are blockaded, the
people lose.
The founders created our system as one that
relies on the interplay between voters and law-
makers. Without it, our system does not operate
as effi ciently as it should.
Lawmakers did not have much choice
regarding the closure of the capitol building and,
as a one-time measure to avert a crisis, it was the
right decision. Such decisions, though, should
always be made with careful thought and with the
knowledge that the overall goal is always to safe-
guard democracy.
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
ANNE
MARCH
OTHER VIEWS
oni Mitchell famously wrote
“You don’t know what you’ve
got till it’s gone,” a lyric that
applies in 2021 as much as it did
back in 1969 when “Big Yellow
Taxi” was written.
Though our landscape has
changed since that song came out,
we in Eastern Oregon are fortunate
to live in what is a remarkably beau-
tiful part of the world, surrounded
by forests, abundant wildlife and
mostly pristine views of hills and
rivers.
This is true prosperity.
If you’ve been following the
news, you’ll know that Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley are pro-
posing legislation to expand the
Wild and Scenic river system in
Oregon, which would include 135
miles of river in Union County.
The Wild and Scenic Rivers act of
1968 has the purpose of protecting
stretches of rivers with “outstand-
ingly remarkable scenic, recre-
ational, geologic, fi sh and wildlife,
historic, cultural or other sim-
ilar values” for present and future
generations.
You may also have read that
Union County Commissioners are
against this plan (“Commissioners
oppose River Democracy Act,” The
Observer, July 6). I read, in their
recent letter to Rep. Cliff Bentz, that
they seek to ensure that protection
plans aren’t too strict or limiting for
the county and property owners in
the aff ected areas. This may seem
like a wise move, because who can
J
LETTERS
• The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. We
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predict future county and property
owners’ desires, right?
Not so fast.
I am convinced that there is
something to be learned from
another issue playing out right now
in our county. Idaho Power has
previously and is currently laying
the groundwork and pushing for-
ward to build a 500 kV power
line through 300 miles of Eastern
Oregon. This will require a 250-
foot swath of clear-cut trees and
denuded vegetation through
Eastern Oregon and will contain
transmission towers that are up to
200 feet tall with buzzing overhead
power lines.
This corridor will cut through
the Blue Mountains, go right past
Morgan Lake, through the Ladd
Canyon watershed, along Interstate
84 and into the Baker Valley where
it and its access roads will cut across
the historic Oregon Trail, bringing
what many experts say is unneeded
electricity to our neighboring state.
It will be ugly to look at, drive by
and walk under.
We locals who will be impacted
by this project will reap no ben-
efi t from it, yet will all live with the
aftermath and increased fi re risks as
a result of the lines.
The presiding Administrative
Law Judge in Salem wrote on July
13 in agreement with lawyers from
Portland and the power company
from Boise that “there are no spe-
cifi c scenic views or values asso-
ciated with the Morgan Lake Park
that are regarded as particularly
important for purposes of compli-
ance with the Recreation Standard.“
She also stated that “the entire
Union County/Grande Ronde Valley
viewshed is not identifi ed as a sig-
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nifi cant or important scenic resource
under the Scenic Resources stan-
dard.” This is because former
county commissioners and city
council members didn’t protect
it when they could have. In other
words, there are no laws on the
books to prevent scenic degradation
in most of our county.
Why don’t these laws exist?
Probably because no one ever
thought a project like this would
happen. No one could have pre-
dicted that a large corporation
would fi nd a way to force itself
through pristine property as is
currently happening. Now local
ranchers, recreationalists, wild-
life enthusiasts and property rights
advocates fi nd themselves in a major
fi ght to stop this project from pro-
ceeding (see StopB2H.org). Idaho
Power has an entire team of law-
yers to push this power line though
by capitalizing on our lack of local
protections for the land, waters and
views.
My point is that Wild and Scenic
designations matter. Nobody knows
what kind of industry will want to
move in at some point in the future.
If we don’t have laws on the books,
we will naively pave the way for dis-
tant corporations to fi nd legal loop-
holes the size of road graders and
use them in our county to their own
advantage.
I urge our county commissioners
to recognize the fragility of our sit-
uation here and do everything they
can to protect the wild and scenic
land and rivers around us. You don’t
know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
———
Anne March is a long-time resi-
dent of Union County and an edu-
cator in La Grande.
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