viewpoint
BY SHEENA MOORE
Smells Fishy
DeFazio’s role in the Columbia Basin
salmon crisis
t gets even more complicated once
they’re smoked.”
President Obama playfully joked
about the mismanagement of salmon in
his January State of the Union address.
Very funny, Mr. President, but not everyone
is laughing, including locals from Lane
County and UO students who reached out
to Congressman Peter DeFazio to help create
better solutions to recover wild salmon in the
Columbia-Snake River Basin.
At only 1 percent of historic populations, the only condition wild salmon
will be in if we don’t change course is extinct — not smoked. Obama’s current
salmon plan is a repackaged version of Bush policies that have already
failed to pass in court.
Unfortunately, DeFazio’s current support for these same policies reveals
that he seems less concerned with the future health of our ecosystems
and communities that rely on Columbia and Snake River salmon than on
maintaining the status quo of hydropower operations.
In a recent Oregonian opinion piece, DeFazio teamed up with Rep. Doc
Hastings (R-WA) to express support for the federal salmon plan awaiting
court approval by Judge James Redden. DeFazio claimed that salmon
policies were just fi ne as is and that it’s “time to get out of the courtroom.”
He’s right; this plan has been in court since it was originally deemed illegal
by Redden during the Bush years. Oregonians, and citizens from Idaho and
Washington, have been desperately waiting for a decision that determines
the future of salmon and steelhead populations as well as the cultural and
economic values affected by salmon.
Rushing to pass bad policy is a mistake. DeFazio’s eagerness to get out
of the courtroom should be directed towards creating the “aggressive
measures” he claims to support in his personal response to local salmon
advocates of Lane County. But the federal plan which he wants to speed
through court has no such “aggressive” measures and has been criticized
by the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society (WDAFS), calling
it “inadequate.” In their assessment, WDAFS concluded that by monitoring
and evaluating declines while continuing programs such as trucking fi sh
around dams, the federal agencies seem more determined to defend the
status quo than secure the viability and survival of wild salmon.
DeFazio should seriously consider the possibility of removing the four
dams of the lower Snake River in eastern Washington. It would be the most
effective solution for wild salmon, returning them to the largest and best-
protected habitat in the lower 48 states — the Snake River basin in central
Idaho and northeast Oregon. Unfortunately, DeFazio refuses to consider
this option. Instead he confuses the breaching of these four dams with
“dismantling our hydropower system,” as if advocates wanted to take out
everything from Grand Coulee to the Bonneville dam. He claims that these
dams are necessary to integrate wind that is coming onto the grid, and
removing them would be a huge economic loss.
Even the mandated spills, which have aided recent increases in Chinook
returns, he views as wasting water that could be used to generate power
and dollars.
Frankly, DeFazio has got it wrong. The four lower Snake River dams
are “run-of-the-river” dams making them relatively poor at storing water,
therefore unreliable for backing up wind energy compared to other larger
dams in the region. The dams satisfy less than 4 percent of our energy and
can largely be replaced by conservation measures.
In fact, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, appointed by
Northwest governors to balance power and wildlife concerns, determined
in their latest plan that the Northwest could meet its increased electricity
needs over the next 20 years, remove the lower Snake River dams and
retire all Northwest coal plants, and we would actually see lower, not higher,
energy bills.
Right now DeFazio seems clouded by old arguments. That’s why I urge
him to join other leaders — Gov. John Kitzhaber, former governors Cecil
Andrus (Idaho) and Mike Lowry (Washington), Sen. Jeff Merkley and Idaho’s
Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch — who have called for a third option to fi nd
solutions that benefi t a diversity of Northwest interests. At the very least,
Congressman DeFazio, we deserve a real opportunity to end government
mismanagement of Northwest salmon. And when the smoke clears from the
courtroom, I hope we’ll see wild salmon thrive again.
“I
Sheena Moore was born in Oregon but spent much of her childhood in Idaho. She is a senior in environmental
studies at the UO and volunteers with Save Our Wild Salmon.
4 APRIL 21, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
letters
TO THE EDITOR
GLAD IT’S OVER
Many people have expressed concern to
me about the lawsuit that was fi led against
me. I’d like to make a few comments, now
that the court has allowed us to talk about
this process.
First, I’d like to say I’m glad that it’s
over. It’s been a huge stress on me, my
health, my family and the community. So,
it’s a good thing that this lawsuit is over. I
agree with Federal Judge Michael Hogan,
who assisted the parties in reaching the
agreement, that we took the “high ground”
in putting this dispute behind us.
Second, many people did not know that
I was facing fi nancial ruin. I could have
faced nearly three quarters of a million
dollars in fi nancial liability, and I faced the
very real possibility of having my property
taken from me. I’d like to reassure the public
that as a result of this settlement I’m not
facing fi nancial ruin. I signed a settlement
agreement and I admitted no wrongdoing
and I will be voluntarily contributing
$20,000 to the county taxpayers to partially
offset the settlement.
Third, I want to make it clear that I am
opposed to the taxpayers paying $350,000
to the people who brought the lawsuit and
the hidden special interests that they were
fronting for. To be clear: I did not vote
to authorize the payment of $350,000 in
taxpayer funds. Because the county would
not appeal the trial court’s decision, I was
left with little practical choice but to settle.
Fourth, this lawsuit accomplished
nothing but harassing duly elected
offi cials. The heart of the lawsuit sought
to prove something that never happened.
In the end, the lawsuit was shown to
be the politically motivated lawsuit it was
and a waste of taxpayer dollars. I’m glad
it’s over.
Pete Sorenson
Lane County Commissioner
BEHIND THOSE EMX SIGNS
Many businesses displaying anti-
EmX sings along West 11th are not
actually against EmX. After publishing
a letter calling for a boycott of West
11th businesses displaying these signs, I
contacted those businesses where I had
been a customer. Remarkably, only one
of nine said they were actually against
EmX! Some businesses said their landlords
were responsible for the signs, others said
the signs were placed there illegally, and
the owner of the parking lot placed the
signs at one shopping center.
So once again we have the wealthy
elite in our community having an
unfair infl uence in decision-making. Real
estate owners are placing signs to make
it look like their tenants are against mass
transit. Signs are being placed illegally
which explains why porn shops and vacant
lots are against EmX.
While there is legitimate grassroots
opposition to EmX, their numbers are
being infl ated by those who do not hesitate
to bend or break the rules. The actual
business opposition is much more limited
than it would appear.
The next time you see an anti-EmX
sign, don’t think about grassroots efforts to
stop big government, but instead recognize
the pretense of a small, elite group who
are trying to diminish democracy in our
community. I implore the citizens and
decision makers to end this charade: Fund
EmX in west Eugene.
Chuck Areford
Eugene
150 YEARS OF BIAS?
Regarding your Slant column April
14: Although the predecessor to the R-G
was founded in 1862, the 1927 photo at
http://wkly.ws/11v well illustrates that
Eugene hardly “sprawled” until sometime
after World War II. In 1930, the west
city limit was Chambers Street and the
airport was at 18th and Chambers, and
south Eugene barely extended to 24th
Avenue in 1927. The area north of the
Ferry Street Bridge was farmland. Urban
growth boundaries were not required until
the statewide land use planning law was
enacted in 1973.
The R-G, like virtually every other
newspaper in the country, no doubt was
in favor of economic development and
“progress” throughout its history, but
this is hardly “150 years of pro-sprawl
bias.” In any event, two wrongs never
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