Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
EO MEDIA GROUP
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MIKE FORRESTER
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
STEVE FORRESTER
Astoria
President
TOM BROWN
Bigfork, Mont.
Director
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
JEFF ROGERS
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
Sins of
transmission
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to build a transmission line from
do that is by building huge towers
Boardman to Hemingway, Idaho,
stringing transmission lines across
that would transfer energy between
the landscape, private property and
the Columbia Basin and the
some of Eastern Oregon’s most
intermountain west.
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Currently, that transmission line
cutting edge, but it’s the best
would cut across prime farmlands
affordable technology we’ve got.
and wildlands in Eastern Oregon and
In general, we think the narrower
western Idaho, as well as the not-
we can make our footprint the
so-prime lands in
better, and we’re in
between.
favor of protecting
In one sense
The initial
valuable areas
pushback that
(private property
we’ve done
happens when any
and forest ecology)
looks-good-on-
the damaging when we have the
paper project is
opportunity. An
part: we’ve
grafted onto the real
interstate energy
world is already
corridor that runs
build dams
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along the same
and coal plants strip of land we’ve
routes as currently
drawn would blast
already pulverized
and erected
through some of
and paved into an
thousands of
the most productive
interstate makes
agricultural land
sense on paper. But
windmills.
in the region while
of course, there
others would run
are drawbacks to
directly over homes
that, too. Hundreds
or through some of the natural
of miles of bright, blinking lights
landscapes of the Blue Mountains.
can wear on drivers and cause a
Some of those “micro-siting
safety hazard. Many of our great
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Eastern Oregon vistas — although
here and there can change the
we’d argue you have to get off
trajectory of the line, allowing it to
the freeway to see anything worth
bend around bedposts and houses.
seeing — would be detrimentally
And just putting towers on a non-
impacted.
irrigated side of the road compared
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to an irrigated side can help save
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some of our most productive ag
the American West, we think the
land. That isn’t always possible,
future will eventually bring buried
however, and like any multi-million
power lines to our country, as has
dollar, hundreds-of-miles-long
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energy project, there will be plenty
abroad for generations.
of missteps, complaints and power
But that’s far in the future.
plays ahead of us.
And last we’ve heard, there is no
In one sense, we’ve done the
magic energy source that has no
damaging part: we’ve built dams and ill effects and is able to power the
coal plants and erected thousands
world’s engines and automobiles
of windmills. In the grand scheme,
and electrical outlets. Until then, we
these have a larger impact than a tall, have to burn damaging fuels and
narrow line cutting from horizon to
string ugly, buzzing lines across our
horizon.
beautiful world.
And at the very least, we
Whether the Boardman-
should get relatively cheap and
to-Hemingway line is an
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environmental, aesthetic and
the line.
economic sin we’re willing to pay
That’s the pro-argument to be
— that remains to be seen.
made: we’re creating energy here
But we need to think ahead and
right now, relatively green when
think big when it comes to energy.
compared to the rest of the world,
Being too NIMBY might save a
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backyard, but we’ve got a whole
share that energy across the grid.
world to worry about.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
The cost of union decline
L
ike many Americans, I’ve been
Many Americans think unions
wary of labor unions.
drag down the economy overall, but
Full-time union stagehands
scholars disagree. American auto
at Carnegie Hall earning more than
unions are often mentioned, but
$400,000 a year? A union hailing its
Germany’s car workers have a strong
defense of a New York teacher who
union, and so do Toyota’s in Japan and
smelled of alcohol and passed out in
Kia’s in South Korea.
class, with even the principal unable to
In Germany, the average
rouse her? A police union in New York Nicholas autoworker earns about $67 per hour
City that has a tantrum and goes on
Kristof LQVDODU\DQGEHQH¿WVFRPSDUHG
virtual strike?
with $34 in the United States. Yet
Comment
More broadly, I disdained unions
Germany’s car companies in 2010
as bringing corruption, nepotism and
produced more than twice as many
rigid work rules to the labor market, impeding vehicles as American companies did, and they
the economic growth that ultimately makes a
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country strong.
the problem in the U.S. sector was just unions.
I was wrong.
Or look at American history. The peak
The abuses are real. But, as unions wane in years for unions were the 1940s and ’50s,
American life, it’s also increasingly clear that
which were also some of the fastest-growing
they were doing a lot of good in sustaining
years for the United States ever — and with
middle class life — especially the private-
broadly shared prosperity. Historically,
sector unions that are now
the periods when union
dwindling.
membership were highest
Most studies suggest
were those when inequality
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was least.
the increase in economic
Richard B. Freeman, a
inequality in America
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among men in recent
that unions sometimes
decades is the result of the
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decline in unions. It may
industry: They can improve
be more: A study in the
morale, reduce turnover and
American Sociological
provide a channel to suggest
Review, using the broadest
productivity improvements.
methodology, estimates that
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the decline of unions may
how this all balances out,
account for one-third of the
but it’s clear that it’s not a
rise of inequality among men.
major drag.
“To understand the rising inequality, you
“If you’re looking for big negatives,
have to understand the devastation in the labor HYHU\ERG\NQRZVWKH\GRQ¶WH[LVW´)UHHPDQ
movement,” says Jake Rosenfeld, a labor
said.
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Joseph Stiglitz notes in his book “The
author of “What Unions No Longer Do.”
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Take construction workers. A full-time
strong in America, productivity and real
construction worker earns about $10,000
hourly compensation moved together in
less per year now than in 1973, in today’s
manufacturing. But after 1980 (and especially
dollars, according to Rosenfeld. One reason
after 2000) the link seemed to break and real
is probably that the proportion who are
wages stagnated.
unionized has fallen in that period from more
It may be that as unions weakened,
than 40 percent to just 14 percent.
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³$OOWKHIRFXVRQODERU¶VÀDZVFDQGLVWUDFW SURGXFWLYLW\3HUKDSVWKDWKHOSVH[SODLQZK\
us from the bigger picture,” Rosenfeld writes.
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“For generations now the labor movement
on average, 20 times as much as the typical
has stood as the most prominent and effective
worker in 1965, and 296 times as much in
voice for economic justice.”
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I’m as appalled as anyone by silly work
Institute.
rules and $400,000 stagehands, or teachers’
Lawrence F. Katz, a Harvard labor
unions shielding the incompetent. But unions
economist, raises concerns about some aspects
also lobby for programs like universal
of public-sector unions, but he says that in
prekindergarten that help create broad-based
the private sector (where only 7 percent of
prosperity. They are pushing for a higher
workers are now unionized): “I think we’ve
national minimum wage, even though that
gone too far in de-unionization.”
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He’s right. This isn’t something you often
workers.
hear a columnist say, but I’ll say it again: I
I’ve also changed my mind because,
was wrong. At least in the private sector, we
in recent years, the worst abuses by far
should strengthen unions, not try to eviscerate
haven’t been in the union shop but in the
them.
corporate suite. One of the things you
Ŷ
learn as a journalist is that when there’s no
Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and
accountability, we humans are capable of
cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. Kristof, a
tremendous avarice and venality. That’s true
columnist for The New York Times since 2001,
of union bosses — and of corporate tycoons.
writes op-ed columns that appear twice a
8QLRQVHYHQÀDZHGRQHVFDQSURYLGHFKHFNV week. He won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in
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1990 and 2006.
As unions wane
in American
life, it’s also
increasingly
clear that they
were doing a lot
of good.
YOUR VIEWS
Ore. senators favor
immigrants over Americans
Stand by decision to locate
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Both Oregon senators, Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, are eager to force Americans
to pay the costs of the president’s illegal
amnesty. This despite the fact federal judge
Andrew Hanen just agreed that Obama’s
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Congress can most easily block
the amnesty by refusing to pay for the
bureaucratic processing of millions of new
applicants. But both Wyden and Merkley
have repeatedly voted against bringing up
HR 240, the amnesty defunding bill that
recently passed the House. Both of them
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to be able to legally compete against entry-
level citizens while Obama adds another 30
million work permits in increments.
At that point, we won’t have a
recognizable country anymore. Americans
will have lost our voice in favor of a chaotic
avalanche of low-skilled Third World poor.
How will that improve the lives of the
Americans Wyden and Merkley pretend to
represent?
The placement of the Requa bronze
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appropriate since the artist sized it for that
space.
Lyneil Vandermolen
Tualatin
Carol Schacher Petteys
Parkdale, Ore.
Every effort was made and every
procedural step was taken to ensure that
the statue was placed in the optimum
location. This included approval by the Arts
Commission and 100 percent approval by
the city council.
I have personal qualms about the location,
but believe the site was set and the money
raised based on prior agreement. At this
point, I believe we should embrace this
generous gift of public art and change our
debate to how future art and sites should be
funded and placed.
Terry Andersen
Pendleton
Requa helped me get a scholarship from
Stanford and he did the same for hundreds
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They may no longer live here but they have
written about how Requa inspired them.
Let’s compare this loyalty to Requa with
“the beloved” Stella Darby who inspired
young women to become prostitutes so that
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Jerry Cronin
Pendleton
Let me urge that the terms of the original
agreement stand and that the memorializing
of a special man who made a long-standing
and lasting contribution to generations of
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the community in general go forward.
Fred vonAppen
Missoula, Montana
I am writing this letter in support of
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has gotten blown out of proportion by a few
people that don’t like the placement.
What it comes down to is this: The city
council was presented with the proposed
location, which was agreed upon by the city
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organizers of the fundraising efforts have
lived up to their end of the deal. It’s now
time for the city to live up to their end, and
place the state in the approved location.
Kelly Dietz
Pendleton
Editor’s note: These letters have been ed-
ited for space considerations and to remove
duplicity. They are published in their entirety
at eastoregonian.com.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspa-
per reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual ser-
vices and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted
letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime
phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be
published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.