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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2016)
6 CapitalPress.com January 22, 2016 Editorials are written by or approved by members of the Capital Press Editorial Board. All other commentary pieces are the opinions of the authors but not necessarily this newspaper. Opinion Editorial Board Publisher Editor Managing Editor Mike O’Brien Joe Beach Carl Sampson opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion O ur V iew Environmental laws primarily benefit lawyers T he environmental law business continues to flourish, if one considers the number of lawsuits filed each year in federal courts. Hundreds of environmental lawsuits are filed each year — more than 800 last year alone — indicating the appetite for courtroom combat continues unabated. In the past decade, 7,935 environmental lawsuits were filed in federal courts. About 2,406 of them, or 30 percent, were filed in the 9th Circuit, which includes Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and the Pacific territories of Guam and the Mariana Islands. Last year alone, the number of environmental lawsuits filed nationwide increased by 60 percent, from 526 to 862. Although such lawsuits fall into a broad category of natural resource-related issues, the overall trend is clear. Litigants, whether they are private parties, environmental nonprofits or government agencies, apparently believe the courtroom is the place to settle disputes over the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act or other federal laws. And they believe the 9th Circuit offers the most friendly judges to hear their cases. Karen Budd-Falen, a natural resources lawyer in Cheyenne, Wyo., has followed the growth in environmental lawsuits for years. Her theory is the current administration is less inclined to battle environmental groups that file suit and instead settle the claims. Environmental groups disagree with that characterization, saying they have found the administration to be tough negotiators. The large number of lawsuits seems to indicate otherwise, Budd- Falen says. “They’re more likely to get a favorable settlement with the Obama administration,” she told the Capital Press. Another aspect of the trend is equally troubling. Law schools are continuing to produce environmental lawyers who, rather than seeking a resolution of disputes, prefer to go to court. “There continues to be an expansion of people coming out of law school who feel litigation is the best tool to advance their environmental views,” Scott Horngren, a natural resources attorney, says. Nonprofits also benefit from the growth industry. The Center for Biological Diversity, for example, is thriving. According to its 2014 Form 990, which is submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, the organization had total revenues of slightly more than $14 million for the year and expenses of $10.2 million. The revenue came from contributions of $12.9 million and “legal refunds” — from the federal O ur V iew Harney County’s economy held hostage R esidents of Oregon’s Harney County have been described as the hostages of the armed protesters who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Jan. 2. By most accounts the protesters, largely out-of-state agitators, have harassed and generally run roughshod over the local community for three weeks and have worn out their welcome. But the government land management policies that at least partially underpin the protest have held the Harney County economy hostage for 40 years. Once upon a time, Harney County’s economy was strong. Thirty-one percent of the jobs, 768 in all, were in the wood products industry. But since 1978, that number has dropped to 6, according to a recent report from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. And while the rest of the state increased jobs 74 percent since the late 1970s, the number of jobs in Harney County dropped by 10 percent. Since 1980, when the population was 8,314 and the job losses began, the county has lost nearly 1,200 people. “Relative to the late 1970s — just before the state went into the severe early ’80s recession and timber industry restructuring — the number of jobs today in Harney County is 10 percent below back then,” Josh Lehner, the analyst who prepared the report, said. “Clearly, that is a really long time with essentially no growth.” A lot of things have changed since the 1970s. The timber industry has restructured, and there’s more automation in the mills. So, not all of the wood product job losses can be attributed to federal logging policies. Rik Dalvit/For the Capital Press But local community leaders and residents say that in a county where more than 70 percent of the land is controlled by the federal government, those policy changes, along with more strict grazing restrictions, increased regulation and the ever-present threat of environmental lawsuits that attend any dealing with government agencies have huge impacts. “It’s continued rules and regulations that do everything to make it more difficult to make a living, to pay your bills educate your kids, pay your mortgage and lead a good life,” retired rancher Bill Wilber said. County Judge Steven Grasty said the job losses in the community have led to a general feeling of despair. His friends, neighbors and their families can no longer depend on the natural resource jobs that once sustained the county. Many of those jobs have been replaced by lower paying service sector jobs supporting tourists and the large contingent of government workers who manage the public lands. Government employment now accounts for 40 percent of the jobs in the county. Those jobs are welcomed, and are vital to the community. In many cases, those employees are long-time residents with deep local ties. Still, there is a sense that something has been lost. “We believe the wealth of a nation is based on its natural resources,” Grasty said. “We’ve lost access to natural resources, in particular, timber.” The partner that once encouraged these enterprises has grown distant and unresponsive. Sooner or later the protesters will decamp the refuge and life in Harney County will return to normal. But there and in a hundred places across the West, they will still wait for the federal government to loosen its grip. Collaborative efforts needed to save Central Valley’s salmon By JACOB KATZ and JOHN BRENNAN For the Capital Press Guest comment Guest comment T Jacob Katz John Brennan hese drought years have been tough on Central Valley salmon. While struggling winter-run Chinook salmon dominate the head- lines, the fall-run Chinook that support California’s ocean and inland fisheries have also been hit hard. We know that all fish need water. But more water alone will not save endangered pop- ulations, nor will an over-reli- ance on hatcheries or the pro- posed effort to truck fish above Shasta Dam. To save California’s salm- on, we need broader solutions that foster self-sustaining populations and address the entire salmon life cycle. Trap- and-haul and other approaches that rely on taking fish out of the river and putting them in trucks are extremely expen- sive and cannot, by definition, be self-sustaining. Real solutions will require fishermen and farmers, water suppliers, urban users, gov- ernment agencies and envi- ronmentalists to take a clear- eyed look at California’s water systems, roll up our collective sleeves and implement prac- tical actions to protect vital salmon runs for the long haul. We may live in the Internet age, but we still rely on water infrastructure that dates from before the invention of the telephone. California’s water system was built more than a hundred years ago, when riv- ers and fish were poorly under- stood. Fortunately, new research is showing that endangered fish species are not an inevi- table consequence of devel- opment. To the contrary, the evidence clearly demonstrates that updating our water system with modern scientific tools will help fish and people. The old ways separated species from the environment. The new way inte- grates fish, wildlife and natural process into design and opera- tion, and will create sustainable water solutions. Research has revealed that the food to support Central Val- ley river ecosystems is made on floodplains. Juvenile salmon and other native fish benefit tre- mendously when given access to these food-rich wetlands. Recent breakthroughs have also shown that farm fields can be managed to feed fish and bird populations during winter and still be profitably farmed in the summer. Unfortunately, more than 95 percent of Central Valley flood- plains remain inaccessible to fish, cut off from river channels by outdated levees. Now a collaborative effort among government agencies, conservationists, water suppliers and farmers is working to recon- nect the Sacramento River to its largest intact floodplain: the Yolo Bypass. The effort will get juvenile fish onto floodplain farm fields in winter, allowing them to find abundant food and get stronger on their journey to the sea. This win-win approach will reduce water conflict by enhancing habitat for a suite of endangered species — including endangered salmon and smelt — while sus- taining agriculture and improv- ing flood safety for people in and around Sacramento. Another win-win retrofit is taking place near Knights Land- ing, where adult winter-run Chi- nook often take a fatal wrong turn into a maze of drainage ditches on their way upstream. Farm groups, conservation or- ganizations and government agencies have banded together to make repairs that will pre- vent fish from straying. Similar projects are planned for the Yolo Bypass next year. There are also efforts to re- store spawning habitat in Bat- tle Creek, near Red Bluff, by investing in stream gauges to monitor conditions and remov- ing several dams so that win- ter-run Chinook get access to portions of this cold, spring-fed creek. Reintroducing winter-run salmon to Battle Creek is the best opportunity to re-establish a self-sustaining population with- in its native spawning range. Real solutions for Central Valley salmon depend on our ability to collaborate and inte- grate current science into the way we manage California’s water. Only when we work to- gether to build smart, multi-ben- efit projects that improve river conditions for salmon at every stage of their life cycles will we see real water solutions that sup- port fish and people. Jacob Katz is Central California director of California Trout, a native fish and watershed advocacy organization. John Brennan farms in Yolo, Colusa and Sutter counties and is an owner of Robbins Rice Co. government and elsewhere for expenses — of $1.2 million. Any business executive would be pleased to have that sort of balance sheet. The bottom line, however, is not that lawyers like to sue the government. Rather, it’s that the laws are so flawed that they open the door to litigation as the preferred way to resolve disputes — and provide a generous economic incentive. It is no secret the Endangered Species Act and accompanying laws are long overdue for revision, for the good of the species needing protections and for farmers, timber operators, ranchers and other landowners. Until then, lawyers will continue to be their main beneficiaries. Readers’ views Walden torpedoes ed in the Federalist Papers that the federal govern- Klamath deal ment is limited in power to Greg Walden, in his only those powers which opinion piece “Speaking out are expressly enumerated for Rural Oregon,” laments in the Constitution. At the heart of the Bun- the federal government’s overreach into eastern Ore- dy standoff is the clash be- gon ranchers’ lives. He talks tween strict construction- about “decades of frustration, ism and implied powers. The federal government arrogance and betrayal that has contributed to the mistrust granted itself implied pow- of the federal government.” ers. For centuries, implied He talks about decades of his powers have been used to own frustration with the fed- justify the ever increasing eral government’s treatment regulation of the people. A strict constructionist of rural Oregonians, and he talks of finding solutions to believes that only the peo- these issues. I would contend ple have the authority to bestow power upon a gov- that it is all talk. Why, Mr. Walden, did ernment. When government be- you torpedo the Klamath Ba- sin agreement, a perfect ex- stows power upon itself, ample of local control with- as in the case of implied out federal intervention. This powers, then such power agreement was illegitimate At the heart is because developed over it is not 10 difficult years, of the Bundy sanctioned by solved many of the people. standoff is the area’s water The ballot allocation issues, box and the leg- the clash and was a great islative process example of local between strict cannot act as people working a check upon out local issues constructionism implied powers to everyone’s the pol- and implied because benefit. Here was iticians are de- your chance as a pendent on the powers. congressman to party and not enact legislation that would dependent on the people. In affect positive change for short, a government that is your constituents. But no, not dependent on the peo- your fellow Republicans ple has been degraded from didn’t want to set a precedent its republican form and is for dam removal even when therefore operating outside the dams on the Klamath are of the rule of law. antiquated, environmental- After belittling Bundy, ly disastrous and privately the Capital Press tells the owned, and when nearly reader that the courts are every constituency would the proper venue for dis- benefit from their removal. agreements with the gov- Instead you allowed politics ernment. to rule the day and undercut As an example, the pa- the agreement by introducing per cites the Hage fami- a last-minute bill omitting ly’s legal battles with the dam removal and adding an federal government. After unrelated provision to turn decades and millions of over 200,000 acres of federal dollars in legal fees, the timberland to two counties. Hage family has still not Now you are using the seen justice. takeover of a federal facility The Capital Press also by armed thugs to enhance uses the Hammond family your political position as the as an example of how the savior of the wild West from courts work. The editorial the feds. Your support for staff’s endorsement of the these militants’ ideals only legal system is appalling helps negate the rule of law in light of the court’s ap- and breed insurrection and plication of cruel and un- division across the region. usual punishment in the These thugs aren’t even from Hammond case. Oregon. Politics as usual It should also be noted wins out, and you are at the that the courts search peo- helm. ple without probable cause. Gary Wade One cannot physically get Wade & Rufener into court without having Orchards Co. their rights violated by the The Dalles, Ore. entity that is supposed to uphold individual rights. Is it any wonder that Bundy is foregoing the legal system and appealing directly to the people? To be fair and to serve The Capital Press’ re- porting and commentary the reader, it should be of the Ammon Bundy stated that the Constitution standoff is unfair and a does not grant the federal disservice to the newspa- government the power to per’s readership. own wildlife areas, rec- On Jan. 8, the paper reation areas, parks, or referred to the strict con- forests. Territories were structionist view of the coerced into accepting Constitution as a specious federal ownership of these theory. That really got my lands as a condition of goat. After all, it was the statehood. Father of the Constitution, Roger Whitten James Madison, who stat- Deer Park, Wash. Constructionism at heart of standoff