OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
EO Media Group
Outside the path of totality
President Donald Trump has moved to impose a tariff on softwood lum-
ber imported from Canada, which could benefit U.S. timber interests.
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Trump right
O
on tariffs for
Canadian lumber
I
t isn’t often that an international argument has a direct
impact on a local industry, but such may be the case with
President Donald Trump’s move to impose a tariff of
between 3 and 24.1 percent on softwood lumber imported from
Canada.
In effect a tax, tariffs are intended to provide a competitive
advantage for U.S. goods or to counteract an unfair disadvantage
such as might result from a foreign government subsidizing its
own industries. Efforts to level the playing field in this way are
common but hazardous, in the sense that they can incite foreign
governments to retaliate against U.S. products.
Canada currently controls about one-third of the U.S. market
share for softwood lumber, which is used for framing houses and
some other purposes, such as building mattress box springs.
This particular fight has gone on since at least the early 1980s,
and even farther back in other forms. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, the
Oregon Democrat, recently called it the “longest-running battle
since the Trojan War.”
As explained by the business journal BloombergPolitics,
“Most of the softwood in Canada is owned by provincial gov-
ernments, which set prices to cut trees on their land, while in
the U.S. it’s generally harvested from private property. The fees
charged by Canadian governments are below market rates, cre-
ating an unfair advantage, U.S. producers say. Canada disputes
that.” The U.S. Department of Commerce alleges the Canadian
government provides up to 32 additional types of subsidies to
keep its lumber artificially cheap.
Logging and lumber production represent a significant eco-
nomic sector in our region, most notably on the part of Hampton
Lumber Mills in Warrenton and Weyerhaeuser in Raymond,
Washington. Along with smaller outfits, they generate payrolls in
the millions, plus additional
benefits in the form of pay-
ments to contractors, sup-
In this case
pliers and others. Though
the Trump
nowhere near as dominant as
they were a century ago, for-
administration
estry-related firms remain
may have
key to rural economies such
chosen the
as ours, and most in the
industry will be grateful for
right tool for
federal help in this fight, so
the right job.
long as it is effective and
long-lasting.
Andrew Miller, CEO for
Oregon-based Stimson Lumber Co., told National Public Radio
last week that particularly when homebuilding is on a down
cycle, the Canadian subsidies in effect act like a grocer holding
his thumb on the scale as produce is being weighed. Over time,
this inequity has discouraged investment and made it harder for
U.S. companies to compete.
“People are less inclined to hire, and meanwhile the Canadian
mills are humming away at full employment,” Miller said. He
and others in the U.S. industry say that increasing their share of
the domestic market will directly translate into more American
jobs at mills like those in our area.
The Trump tariffs were actually a good deal less than some
expected — not wildly out of line with those the two govern-
ments have agreed to in the past. Miller said he estimates they
would only add about $200 to the cost of a new $250,000 house,
though U.S. homebuilders — who oppose the tariff — have a
higher figure.
Long experience with tariffs suggests they are usually not the
best way to achieve goals that instead require careful and ratio-
nal negotiations. However, in this case the Trump administration
may have chosen the right tool for the right job.
n the morning of Aug. 21,
parts of Oregon will witness
a total eclipse of the sun,
the first since Feb. 26, 1979. While
Cannon Beach residents are close to
the 70-mile wide “path of totality,”
we’re still slightly outside its veil. So
if you absolutely, positively want to
see a total solar eclipse, start planning
now.
Cannon Beach Chamber of Com-
merce Executive Director Court Car-
rier says purists will find it “really
tough” to get down
to Newport, Depoe
Bay or Lincoln
City the day of the
eclipse.
To get down
there and have
any chance of seeing it, visitors are
going to need to leave at 2 or 3 a.m.
in the morning, before people even
wake up, he said. “Even then, it will
probably be cloudy and have morn-
ing fog.”
During a total solar eclipse, the
sun, the moon and the earth align
in such a way that the moon com-
pletely blocks out the sun, briefly
turning daytime into twilight for
nearly two minutes.
Touching down just north of
Depoe Bay at 10:15 a.m., the
moon’s shadow will race east at
2,955 mph passing through cities in
the Willamette Valley, central Ore-
gon and Eastern Oregon in just nine
minutes. It then traverses the country
1 hour, 33 minutes and 16.8 seconds
later. The eclipse will spend two
minutes and 40 seconds in St. Clair,
Missouri. Portland, Tennessee, will
receive two minutes and 37 seconds
of totality. McClellanville, South
Carolina, will be the last U.S. city to
see the eclipse, at 2:49 p.m. EDT.
Dark sky
How far will sky-watchers go for
totality?
In Newport, the Hallmark Resort,
Travelodge and Inn at Nye Beach
are all sold out, however Trip Advi-
sor shows rooms from $499 a night
at the Best Western Agate Inn and
$599 and $699 a night at the Holi-
day Inn Express and La Quinta Inn.
Expedia lists three rooms left at
$800 a night in Lincoln City, and 60
vacation rentals are no longer avail-
able between Aug. 19 and Aug. 21.
Rooms in Salem, McMinnville,
Newberg and other locations along
the “totality path” are also com-
pletely booked.
According to Jay Anderson and
Jennifer West of eclipsophile.com, a
site “dedicated to the global traveler
who appreciates and seeks out the
spectacles that nature offers to afi-
cionados of the day and night sky,”
the Willamette Valley offers a very
good chance of sunshine on eclipse
day and an even better forecast for
sunshine in the Deschutes River Val-
ley in the vicinity of Madras.
All 28 hotels and motels in the
Madras vicinity listed on Expedia
were booked by mid-April.
An extra 1,018 state park camp-
sites made available by the state’s
Parks and Recreation department
offer South Jetty at South Beach,
Fogarty Creek, Driftwood Beach
and Governor Patterson Memorial,
all in the path of totality. They were
available online at 8 a.m., April 19
and reserved one hour later.
Cannon Beach is definitely a sec-
ond choice for those seeking this
astronomical wonder — outside
of the veil of totality, problematic
weather-wise and subject to long
travel delays.
AP Photo/Ben Margot
The annular solar eclipse produces flare through a lens in Alameda,
Calif., in 2012. Destinations are hosting festivals, hotels are selling
out and travelers are planning trips for the total solar eclipse that
will be visible coast-to-coast on Aug. 21, 2017. A narrow path of the
United States 60 to 70 miles wide from Oregon to South Carolina will
experience total darkness, also known as totality.
Our latitude is 45 degrees 89
minutes north; Lincoln City, within
the path, is charted at 44 degrees 96
minutes north. Close, but no cigar.
Getting from here to there, close
as it may be, could be a difficult feat.
Motorists are discouraged.
“Transportation planners predict
unprecedented traffic and crowds
during the eclipse weekend, and we
are planning accordingly,” Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department
Chris Havel said in an April state-
ment. “We ask that campers plan
to stay off the roads on the morn-
ing of Aug. 21 and respect any fire
restrictions.”
There’s the added difficulty of
weather.
“The coast-hugging regions of
Oregon are not especially favored
for eclipse watching,” Anderson and
West advise.
Meteorologist Michael Zeiler
advises eclipse-watchers to avoid
the Oregon Coast and its summer
marine layer “unless the short-term
weather forecast confidently predicts
the absence of morning fog or cloud
cover.”
The outlook through June tells
that there is a one-third chance of
“above-normal,” “one-third chance
of normal” and “one-third chance
of below-normal” precipitation in
our region. The National Weather
Service says there is a “50 per-
cent chance” of El Nino develop-
ing in the July, August and Septem-
ber timeline, which could add to the
change of precipitation later in the
summer.
The weather on the North Coast
on Feb. 26, 1979, the date of the last
total eclipse? Rain.
Once in a lifetime
The Cannon Beach Chamber of
Commerce and Visitor Center have
received only sporadic eclipse inqui-
ries, Carrier said.
“I had one call this last week,” he
said in mid-April. “A lady had made
reservation for a family reunion,
she wanted to bring them down and
have a chance to see the eclipse.
“I don’t think she really real-
ized we’re 2 1/2 hours or so away in
being able to get down there — and
that’s in normal traffic,” Carrier said.
“The three days that’s going on, I’m
expecting there’s going to be insane
traffic.”
Carrier said visitors should avoid
major roads to Depoe Bay or Lin-
coln Beach. “You go around a little
bit and catch it from the back side,”
he said.
For Cannon Beach, the impact
will probably be “minimal,” Carrier
said. “If people are doing their home-
work, they understand and realize
they have to be in the 20-mile total-
ity area for them to be able to get
that perfect view. Though there will
be bits of view from other locations,
I don’t think people are coming for
that.”
Why does it matter?
“The total solar eclipse is a once-
in-a-lifetime occurrence,” Carrier
said. “Some people feel insanely
passionate about it and they want to
get a peek of it.”
Is anything planned in Cannon
Beach? Souvenir glasses, parade,
group gatherings, howling at the
moon?
“No we don’t plan anything
then,” Carrier said. “I do believe it
will be quite the spectacle and a lot
of folks will enjoy it,” Carrier said.
Between high costs, chance of
clouds, high crowds, you might just
want to shelter in place and satisfy
yourself with 90 percent totality.
And there’s always the next total
solar eclipse — July 2, 2019. You’ll
have to go to South America for that
one.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astori-
an’s South County reporter and edi-
tor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon
Beach Gazette.