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July 13, 2018
Opinion
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the opinions of the authors but
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Editorial Board
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O ur V iew
Perdue offers help for farmers caught up in trade wars
F
armers who are anxious
over growing trade disputes
between the United States
and some of its major trading
partners got some encouraging
words last week from Ag
Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Last week the Trump
administration applied tariffs on
Chinese goods in an attempt to
reduce the number of finished
goods coming into the country.
China promptly made good on its
threat to retaliate, placing tariffs
on pork, poultry, beef, fruits
and vegetables, dairy products,
soybeans and grains.
The administration placed
tariffs on Mexican aluminum and
steel. Mexico is retaliating with
duties on apples, cranberries and
other farm products.
Separately, the U.S. is in the
process of renegotiating the North
American Free Trade Agreement
with Canada and Mexico — our
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue talks with Alan Von Borstel, vice president
of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, and Clint Carlson, secretary-treasurer
of the League, last week. Perdue promised to offset farmers’ losses caused by
trade wars.
second- and third-largest trading
partners. NAFTA is vital to U.S.
agriculture.
Making good on his promise
to drop out of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, President Trump
has not yet negotiated a bilateral
deal with Japan, an important
market for farmers in the Pacific
Northwest.
Agriculture has been generally
supportive of Trump. He’s earned
high praise for rolling back
regulations — particularly Waters
of the U.S. — and for generally
more ag-friendly forest policies.
But, farmers and ranchers
export $135 billion in products
each year. They have a lot riding
on trade and are feeling more
than a little nervous.
So Perdue got an earful when
he toured farms in Washington
and Oregon last week.
Perdue says he’s pushing for
government help for farmers hurt
by the spreading trade wars.
“The president says he won’t
allow ag producers to bear the
brunt of trade disputes,” he said
last week on a tour in Washington
state. “I’m laying down a marker
that we need to resolve it by
Labor Day or we need some sort
of mitigation.”
That’s all encouraging, even
though it’s short on specifics.
While they’ll take the help,
farmers would rather sell to
trading partners than receive
cash assistance checks. And we
would be remiss if we did not
again remind the administration
that this is not what was promised
during the campaign.
But, unfolding events can be
complicated and rarely conspire
with sitting presidents. The plans
that come together so well in
a stump speech don’t always
survive their first contact with
real world politics, foreign or
domestic.
As the president works
to fulfill his promise to
negotiate better trade deals
with our partners, we are
at least encouraged that the
administration says it’s not going
to hang farmers and ranchers out
to dry. We look forward to seeing
the details of the “mitigation”
Perdue alluded to during his tour.
We hope it doesn’t become
necessary. It certainly isn’t a
long-term solution for producers
in the Northwest. Without trade
and the money it generates, many
of them will quickly be doing
something else for a living.
Collaborating on
agricultural and natural
resource research
O ur V iew
By CHUCK STABEN
For the Capital Press
R
The two Scott Pruitts
The first Scott Pruitt was doing a pretty good job of reining in an out-of-control federal agency
The second Scott Pruitt was deaf to warnings everything he did was put under a microscope
U
.S. Environmental
Protection Agency leaders
have a well-earned
reputation for their unique and
sometimes bizarre interpretations
of how a federal agency should
operate.
There was the professed “spy”
who didn’t show up at his EPA job
for more than a year. When his
boss finally got around to asking
him about his absenteeism, he
said he worked for the Central
Intelligence Agency. (He didn’t.)
Then there was the regional
EPA administrator who told a
public meeting in Texas that
he planned to operate like the
Romans. He would crucify the
first companies that crossed his
path to convince the others to stay
in line.
And then there was the EPA
administrator who authorized
federal money to go to a
website attacking Washington
state farmers. The website,
which still exists, alleges
farmers are “degrading our
water, destroying vital habitat
and endangering our fish”
without offering any proof.
The EPA originally became
involved in the website as part of
a letter-writing campaign to lobby
the state legislature to clamp
down on farmers.
Through the past several
administrations, the EPA has been
out of control.
When Scott Pruitt arrived in
Washington, D.C., as the new
EPA administrator, he promised
to “refocus the agency back to
its core mission of protecting
the environment.” He rescinded
the Waters of the U.S. rule that
would have put the EPA and
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
in charge of nearly every body
of water in the nation. He ended
the EPA’s “sue and settle” deals
with environmental groups that
allowed them to write regulations.
He also promised to work with the
states and stakeholder groups and
collaborate with them instead of
attacking them.
It was no surprise that this
common-sense agenda upset
the hard-core environmental
groups that had previously
enjoyed cozy relationships with
the EPA’s rank-and-file and top
administrators. With that in mind,
Pruitt should have known that
the environmental elites and the
Beltway bullies would be out to
get him. Any false steps he made
would be blown out of proportion.
To avoid those attacks, he
should have realized he needed to
make sure all of his actions were
above reproach.
But he didn’t. The problem
wasn’t with how Pruitt steered the
Letters policy
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EPA back toward the center. The
problem was his ethical judgment.
He stayed in a cut-rate
apartment that belonged to the
wife of an energy lobbyist. He
installed a $43,000 sound-proof
phone booth in his office. He flew
first class. He tried to procure a
fast-food franchise for his wife.
He ordered full-time security for
himself. And he demoted or fired
EPA officials who questioned such
actions.
At one time 13 ethics
investigations involving Pruitt
were underway.
One has to wonder whether
there were two Scott Pruitts.
The first Scott Pruitt was doing
a pretty good job of reining in
an out-of-control federal agency.
But a second Scott Pruitt was
completely deaf to warnings that
everything he did would be put
under a microscope.
Pruitt resigned last week,
saying, “... unrelenting attacks
on me personally, my family, are
unprecedented and have taken a
sizable toll on all of us.”
We’re confident President
Trump will find a replacement for
Pruitt who can do the whole job
at EPA — continuing to get the
agency back under control and
at the same time keep himself,
or herself, out of the ethical tall
grass.
for use on the opinion pages. Guest commentary submissions should
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publication. Letters also may be sent to P.O. Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308; or
by fax to 503-370-4383.
ecently in Idaho we
celebrated a number
of important anni-
versaries, among them the
Fourth of July, of course,
and Idaho Day, on July 3,
which commemorated the
anniversary of statehood. A
lesser-known anniversary,
though, occurred on July 2.
That day in 1862, President
Abraham Lincoln signed
the Morrill Act, creating
the land-grant university
system and presaging the
1889 birth of U of I and
our statewide research en-
terprise.
Land-grant universities
like the University of Ida-
ho have a special mission
to work toward “the ben-
efit of agriculture and the
mechanic arts.” Through
the years, a collaborative
relationship between land-
grant schools and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
has helped seed our na-
tion’s robust agricultural
economy with the innova-
tion and discovery that oc-
curs at institutions like U
of I. So, it was a meaning-
ful and gratifying privilege
to have U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Sonny Perdue
visit the Palouse on July 2
and learn more about U of
I’s research mission.
Accompanied by Gov-
ernor Otter, Lieutenant
Governor Little and Idaho
Secretary of Agriculture
Gould, I was proud to show
Secretary Perdue a univer-
sity deeply engaged in im-
pactful research that helps
build a better future for our
state and world. We appre-
ciated the chance to show
him our Moscow campus
and engage in discussions
about university projects
and current work. We spe-
cifically highlighted our
proposed Idaho Center for
Agriculture, Food and the
Environment, as well as
our Idaho Central Credit
Union Arena project.
In the Idaho CAFE
project, U of I intends to
build the nation’s largest
research dairy. Dairy and
food processing are boom-
ing businesses in Idaho
and increasingly in the
West — Idaho is now No.
3 nationwide in milk pro-
duction, and processors
like Glanbia and Choba-
ni, recruited to our state,
have significant presenc-
es. In a western landscape
with some natural resource
constraints, that growth
presents opportunities and
Guest
comment
Chuck Staben
challenges. The University
of Idaho is well-positioned
to do what land-grant in-
stitutions do best: Take on
proactive research projects
at scale where industries
and other stakeholders
cannot, and share those
findings with partners to
promote sustainable eco-
nomic development. The
governor and the legisla-
ture have supported this
project with an initial $10
million commitment, and
we are continuing to make
strong fundraising prog-
ress, with welcome support
from key groups and indi-
viduals.
We also shared with
Secretary Perdue our plans
for the Idaho Central Cred-
it Union Arena, a stand-
alone basketball arena and
events space on a campus
that last built such a facil-
ity in the 1920s. The arena
we envision is built with
mass-timber construction,
on a scale and quality un-
seen so far in the United
States. This arena will be
a home for Vandal excel-
lence and a proudly “Ida-
ho” building — a show-
case for the potential of
mass-timber construction
that makes responsible use
of our sustainable natural
resources. The U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture’s
purview includes the U.S.
Forest Service, and we
were encouraged to have
the interest of Forest Ser-
vice Chief Vicki Christian-
sen when she learned about
the project during a recent
trip to Moscow. There is
great potential for collab-
oration.
A land-grant research
university depends on col-
laboration — with state
and federal agencies, with
industries, and with com-
munities. We have com-
mon goals for promoting
the best possible life and
health of our economy and
citizenry. We appreciate
the opportunity to demon-
strate to Secretary Perdue
how a land-grant institu-
tion delivers results on
such partnerships. There is
a proud research heritage
at land-grant schools, but
at the University of Idaho,
we’re just as interested in
cultivating a bright future.
Chuck Staben is pres-
ident of the University of
Idaho.