Northwest Energy Education Institute • Eugene Water and Electric Board • Oregon Department of Energy
present the Third Annual
Breaking Three
Hearts
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
SPEAKER SERIES
Part I: Democracy
“Solar Architecture on the Rise”
Steven Strong
Solar Design Associates
Wednesday, July 14 7:00-9:00 PM
E
ugene City Councilor Bonny Bettman re-
cently told me, “I ran for council four
years ago to address environmental is-
sues facing my ward. Now, I realize my main work
is to retain democracy.”
After 22 years in environmental advocacy, I am
realizing the same thing. So are millions of other
Americans. The heart of democracy is being attacked
by the Bush administration. The ultimate source of this
problem is an ancient human tendency of those in power in social organizations,
whether a community, religion, political organization, or government: The ten-
dency to limit alternatives, which are seen as threats to their retention of power.
The crucial distinction between a dictatorship and a democracy is the absence
or presence of processes that allow alternatives to enter public discourse.
Authoritarian regimes don’t like alternatives. Independent courts are avoided, be-
cause alternative perspectives on law and evidence will surface. Journalists who
report evidence or ideas that contradict the regime’s messages are reined in.
Dictatorships dissolve legislatures that are independent or can’t be purchased, be-
cause legislators may discuss or enact policies that are alternative to the regime’s.
Democracies, on the other hand, acknowledge the importance of alternatives,
and install laws, processes, and support systems through which people can bring
alternatives to the decisionmaking table. The Bush administration’s major attack
on democracy is its systematic elimination of processes by which those whose
ideas differ from theirs can bring ideas to the table.
One example is the Bush administration’s attack on the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), which was signed by Richard Nixon on Jan. 1, 1970. NEPA re-
quires federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for
“major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environ-
ment.” Such actions might include renewing a dam’s permit, cleaning up a haz-
ardous waste site, building a highway in wetlands, or logging a steep watershed.
In a move that counters the human tendency to consolidate power and sup-
press alternatives, NEPA requires that every EIS include “all reasonable alterna-
tives to the proposed action.” This is the heart of an EIS. Equally crucially, NEPA
requires that the development of all these alternatives take place in coordination
with the public, who can submit complete alternatives for comparison with the
agency’s alternatives.
NEPA doesn’t sit well with the Bush administration. For example, with the os-
tensible goal of restoring natural fire regimes to logged, fire-suppressed forests,
and protecting communities adjacent to such forests, President Bush signed the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. This legislation excuses the Forest
Service from considering “all reasonable alternatives.” Free from the constraints
of logic or alternatives that would actually help restore forest health, the agency
simply announces plans to log large, old, fire-resistant trees in remote, roadless lo-
cations, far from communities at risk.
In a move to shield agencies from the public and their ideas, the Department of
Homeland Security is proposing to prepare certain EISs in secret, for example re-
garding cleanup standards following a nuclear power accident.
The Bush Forest Service is drafting regulations that would entirely eliminate
EISs from the development of national forest plans. No EIS means no considera-
tion of alternatives or analysis of environmental impacts. The regulations would
also relieve the Forest Service from the responsibility of even trying to retain na-
tive species on any of the nation’s 177 national forests and grasslands. In sum, the
regulations would prevent citizens from standing up for their national forests and
the species that live there.
T
his pattern of strangling democratic, public consideration of alternatives
is endemic throughout the Bush administration. For instance, the adminis-
tration has argued that Guantanamo Bay prisoners should not have ac-
cess to courts and lawyers. Our nation’s energy policy was decided behind closed
doors, by unidentified people who appear to have been less than innovative about
alternatives to oil.
You can look at instances of eliminating consideration of alternatives one by
one, or you can acknowledge their collective significance: the destruction of
democracy. Americans depend on democratic processes in order to stand up ef-
fectively for the vulnerable, the silenced, the wild. The Bush administration daily
works to eliminate those processes.
Our main work right now is to restore democracy.
Coming in August: The Breaking of Three Hearts, Part 2: The Natural World.
Lillis Business Complex, University of Oregon, Room 182
“Social Imperatives of Renewable Energy ”
Donald Aitken, PhD
Donald Aitken Associates
Thursday, July 15 7:00-9:00 PM
Lillis Business Complex, University of Oregon, Room 182
Donald Aitken
“Oil and War: Fighting to Feed Our Addiction”
Richard Heinberg
New College of California
Wednesday, July 21 7:00-10:00 PM
Lillis Business Complex, University of Oregon, Room 182
Followed by a showing of “The End of Suburbia”
and group discussion.
“Innovations in Facility Management”
Jim Lloyd, Facility Manager
Oregon State University
Thursday, July 22 7:00-9:00 PM
EWEB Headquarters Training Center
500 East 4th Street, Eugene
OREGON DEPARTMENT
OF ENERGY
These educational seminars are presented free of charge by the
Northwest Energy Education Institute (NEEI) at Lane Community College.
Sponsorship includes Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB)
and the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE).
Pre-Registration is not required.
For more information go to www.nweei.org
THE KIVA
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125 W. 11th A ve, DOWNTOWN EUGENE •
342-8666
JULY 8, 2004 7