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CapitalPress.com
Editorials are written by or
approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
September 15, 2017
All other commentary pieces are
the opinions of the authors but
not necessarily this newspaper.
Opinion
Editorial Board
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O UR V IEW
Congress must act to reform immigration
T
he Trump administration
announced last week that
it was ending the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals
program, and kicking to Congress
the responsibility to straighten
out this and other immigration
issues.
Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, or DACA, was
created by executive order by
then-President Barack Obama
to address issues of illegal
immigrants brought to the
United States as children by their
parents.
The program was open to
illegal immigrants brought to the
United States before their 16th
birthday and prior to June 2007.
Applicants had to either be in
school, a high school graduate
or be honorably discharged from
the military; under the age of 31
as of June 15, 2012; and have a
relatively clean criminal record.
People accepted in the
program were shielded from
Courtesy Department of Homeland Security
The Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry and International Bridge in Tornillo, Texas.
deportation, granted work permits
and could qualify for travel
abroad and re-entry into the
United States.
Some 800,000 have qualifi ed
for the program.
Obama later tried to expand
the program to include as many
as 5 million illegal immigrants
who had been in the country for
fi ve years and who have children
born in the United States, and to
children brought by their parents
prior to Jan. 1, 2010.
We concede that the
president has wide discretion in
prosecuting deportation cases,
even if applying such discretion
so broadly stretches the common
exercise of the authority.
The president does not have
the authority to grant work
permits and temporary legal
status to illegal immigrants,
no matter how compelling the
circumstances.
The Constitution (Article 1,
section 8) gives Congress sole
power to “establish a uniform
rule of naturalization.” Only
Congress can change the law.
And so, because Obama
exceeded the statutory authority
embodied in immigration law,
the Trump administration has
suspended new applications and
allowed current enrollees to apply
for extensions over the next six
months as Congress works to
produce a legislative solution.
Like a fair number of
Americans, we are sympathetic
to the plight of persons brought
illegally to the country as
children, particularly those who
have no kinship to their native
land and know no other place
than the United States.
At least within the bounds
set up under DACA, Congress
should extend to these people a
path to permanent residency.
Readers’ views
Congress
better choice at the gas
pump that can combat
must retain
global warming.
We do not have oil
renewable
refi neries here in Ore-
fuel standard gon. We do have a ro-
O UR V IEW
A wildfi re burns in the Columbia River Gorge near Cascade Locks, Ore.
Tristan Fortsch/KATU-TV via AP
Manage forests,
or watch them burn
F
or those who had not
witnessed the blast-furnace
heat and the eye-stinging
smoke of a wildfi re along with the
mass destruction of timber, homes,
businesses and wildlife, last week
was a learning experience.
Nearly every corner of the
West was on fi re. From Arizona
to Washington state and from
California to Montana, 65 active
fi res were burning 2.83 million acres
as of late last week. Those numbers
include only the fi res that were
10,000 acres or larger. The average
size of those fi res was 43,556 acres.
In some areas, including Portland
and Los Angeles, the fi res got too
close for comfort. Drivers on Los
Angeles expressways could see
fl ames racing up the hillsides, and
Interstate 84 east of Portland was
closed as fi refi ghters valiantly
worked to keep the wind-driven
fl ames at bay.
For many Western city dwellers,
wildfi res just got personal. They
were no longer something they
watched from afar, viewing video
snippets from the safety of their
homes and apartments. The stench
of smoke could be smelled and
the raging fl ames could be seen up
close.
Firefi ghters were forced to
prioritize which blazes to fi ght and
which to let go. They hoped to
save the lodge at Multnomah Falls
in the Columbia Gorge and the
lodge at McDonald Lake in Glacier
National Park. They battled to
keep fi res away from Yosemite and
Yellowstone national parks.
Among politicians, the chatter
was about how to fund fi refi ghters
— talk about fi ddling while the
West burns. They want to make sure
the money for fi reighters doesn’t
come out of the U.S. Forest Service
budget but from the money set aside
for disasters.
This chatter has been going on
for years now, and any effective
member of Congress would have
gotten it passed and signed by
the president. But we haven’t
really seen much in the way
of effectiveness coming out of
Congress recently, have we?
What they need to talk about
— and take action on — is the
absolutely irresponsible and short-
sighted way public lands in the West
are managed.
Let’s start with forests.
At some point the Obama
administration decided nearly all
federal forests were off-limits to
logging, the best and only way to
manage forests. For years, foresters
have been warning that letting
forests go unmanaged will only
mean bigger and badder wildfi res in
the future.
We need federal managers who
are allowed to effectively manage
publicly owned forests. Instead
of taking out roads from national
But, it should not stop there.
There are perhaps 12
million illegal immigrants in
the country. The majority are
economic refugees, drawn here
by the promise of opportunities
unavailable in their home
countries. The agriculture,
construction and hospitality
industries have come to depend
on these workers, despite their
status.
We continue to believe
the answer is to offer illegal
immigrants temporary legal
status and a path to permanent
residency after 10 years if
they meet strict requirements.
We think the border should be
secured. A viable guestworker
program must be established, and
employers must verify the work
status of their employees.
Only Congress can change the
law. Let them stay, or make them
go. Keeping them forever in the
shadows does not serve the rule
of law.
forests, they need to leave them
in place. They need to sell timber
in strategic ways that will make
fi ghting the next wildfi res easier.
In the vast open spaces of the
West they need to allow more cattle
grazing, which has been shown to
be an effective way to keep down
cheatgrass and other weeds that burn
hot and kill the ecosystem. Juniper
trees need to be taken out of all
areas, including wilderness, where
they are destroying the countryside
and hindering the recovery of
the greater sage grouse and other
important species.
The people who know the
West best are those who live there.
Federal managers need to listen
when people tell them that they are
setting up the region for disastrous
fi res. That has happened time and
time again, especially in Oregon and
Washington state.
And don’t listen to critics who
holler that people just want to
clearcut the West. In decades past,
federal land was actively managed
— logged — and the forests are
still a beautiful resource. Those who
say they don’t want one tree cut
down are simply denying the fact
that forests need to be managed, or
they will eventually be destroyed by
wildfi re, bark beetles or disease.
Managing forests and open
spaces will not put an end to
wildfi res, but it will reduce their size
and number.
The devastating im-
pacts of climate change
in our state, country
and world are a stark
reminder that contin-
ued reliance on fossil
fuels is not an option.
Public transportation is
great. Electric vehicles
are fantastic. But those
options are not viable
or affordable for every
individual, business or
family. Those of us who
live in more rural parts
of Washington Coun-
ty, Ore., away from the
MAX and WES, know
this better than most.
Gasoline-powered
cars will continue to
dominate the roads for
the foreseeable future, so
it’s critical that we em-
brace solutions that can
cut emissions from ve-
hicles on the road today.
Thankfully, America
is the world’s top pro-
ducer and exporter of
biofuels. We have vast
renewable resources and
the capacity to replace
millions of gallons of
imported oil with clean,
homegrown
biofuels
like ethanol. That’s the
goal behind America
Renewable Fuel Stan-
dard (RFS), a law that
have been working for
over 11 years to grow the
market for biofuels.
Our Cornelius-based
company, Summit Nat-
ural Energy, has demon-
strated the success of the
RFS, which incentivizes
low-carbon fuels and
innovation. We produce
pure, clean-burning eth-
anol distilled from food
processing and agricul-
tural waste byproducts,
the stuff that is not fi t
for human consumption.
Better yet, once this bio-
mass byproduct has been
distilled, the remaining
fi ber can be used as live-
stock feed.
The ethanol we pro-
duce costs less than
petroleum-based fuel,
promoting competition
at the gas pump, and it is
cleaner — helping to cut
down on cancer-causing
toxins and smog-form-
ing pollutants in our air.
Despite the econom-
ic and environmental
benefi ts of the RFS, oil
companies are pushing
Congress to undercut
the law and remove the
alternative fuel polices
that help businesses like
ours offer consumers a
bust alternative fuels
sector and thousands
of fruit growers, food
processors, farmers and
timber operations who
can contribute to the
next generation of clean
fuels. Congress must
not buckle to oil indus-
try pressure. The result
would be a major step
back for our climate and
for our economy.
Currently, the RFS
remains the single most
successful clean energy
policy working to keep
our air clean. Summit
Energy is proud of the
role we play in helping
develop alternative fu-
els and we are proud of
the role we play in our
local economy. Now is
the time to embrace al-
ternative fuels, not move
away from them, and I
hope that fact is appre-
ciated by our Oregon
leaders.
Mark Smith
Cornelius, Ore.
The language
wolves
understand best
I couldn’t help but
chuckle as I read the
headline of your arti-
cle, “Some wolves may
have become ‘habituat-
ed’ to eating cattle.”
Gee, do you really
think that is possible?
Oh, now I remember,
that is why our ances-
tors eliminated them
from the landscape a
hundred years ago or
so. Back then there was
even more wild game
available for the wolves
to hunt, yet they chose
to attack livestock.
I do believe that
wolves have a place in
the ecosystem, but the
only way that wolves
will come to respect
(fear) people is if we kill
some of them. They are
a top predator by nature,
and only then will they
realize that they are sub-
ordinate to us.
They kill for a living,
and that is the language
they understand best.
By the way, my opin-
ion is not a refl ection on
Eric Mortenson’s writ-
ing, as I enjoy his arti-
cles and believe he is
one of your best.
Denver Johnston
Scott Bar, Calif.