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CapitalPress.com
January 22, 2016
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approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
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the opinions of the authors but
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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