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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW University of Oregon Dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers. Feds running out of half measures Does Oregon really OTHER VIEWS During the decade that U.S. steps are all worthwhile. District Court Judge James Redden These efforts, sometimes coupled rejected Paciic Northwest salmon- with favorable ocean conditions, restoration plans, detractors quietly have produced some decent pushed the view that he had become salmon runs in recent years. But a an “activist” judge, blinded by run considered excellent in these personal opinions. times would have been viewed as disastrous in the pre-dam era. This Last week, a judge new to year’s predicted dismal coho returns the case — Michael H. Simon demonstrate of Portland the fragility of — ruled any recovery in on the U.S. current salmon government’s populations. latest Northwest Taking out salmon plan. the Snake River If anything, dams — or Simon was lesser actions even less like bypassing impressed with one or more, arguments or drastically by NOAA AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Fisheries, the Two sockeye salmon swim in the Colum- increasing the Army Corps of bia River with a Chinook salmon, mid- quantity of Engineers and dle, at the Bonneville Dam ish-count- water spilled from them to the Bureau of ing window near North Bonneville. mimic natural- Reclamation, which claim they are doing enough low conditions — is politically to stave off extinction for 13 iconic dificult. Even environmentally minded Democratic politicians are endangered and threatened salmon loath to offend powerful economic and steelhead runs. Fishing groups and conservation interests lined up to defend dams. But the judge is right to suggest organizations say the government dam breaching as perhaps the is contorting the plain meaning of only way to actually obey the the Endangered Species Act and clear mandates of the Endangered the National Environmental Policy Species Act. Act, doing all they can to avoid Salmon face mounting existential confronting the “original sin” of erecting four major dams across the challenges. The judge ruled the agencies’ plan fails to acknowledge Snake River, the major tributary of catastrophic impacts they may face the Columbia. from climate change. Oficials The agencies have undertaken valuable habitat-restoration projects are on thin ice legally when they assert salmon are “trending toward here in the Columbia Basin and recovery” when actual salmon downriver — basically trying to returns fail to show a sustainable do all they can for salmon, short of recovery, the judge said. major modiications to the hydro Simon’s ruling — though system. The Columbia is healthier stopping short of imposing an thanks to the agencies, taxpayers action plan — is one more in a and electric ratepayers. Restoring long series of repudiations of and protecting tidal wetlands, half-measures. Federal agencies and controlling pollution, dramatically Congress are fast-approaching a increasing research and the level time of reckoning when it comes to of monitoring of river conditions, ensuring salmon survival. controlling predation and other 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. Be heard! Comment online at www.eastoregonian.com value affordability? The Oregonian, May 7 are those who have the least. The phenomenon repeated itself during the 2016 legislative session with the passage of the collection of legislative, business and so-called “coal to clean” bill, which will raise environmental leaders met for the rates for Oregonians without doing much for the irst time on Wednesday to discuss environment. When state utility commissioners transportation, The (Bend) Bulletin reported. tried to point this out, the governor muzzled The goal of the group, assembled by Gov. Kate them. Clearly, preserving affordability for Brown, is to generate support for a funding lower- and middle-income Oregonians mattered package to be considered during the 2017 legislative session. Looming in the background, less than securing a win for utilities and environmental groups. meanwhile, are the Legislature’s failure to Even this year’s minimum-wage hike raises pass a funding package in 2015 and the reason worrisome questions about affordability, which, for that failure: the extension of an expensive naturally, went virtually unexamined during low-carbon fuel standard, which Republicans the Legislature’s rush to passage. The hike will refused to follow up with a hike in the gas tax. help some lower-income Their constituents, they Oregonians, to be sure. reasoned, could take only The reluctance of But it will hurt others so much. employers shed jobs. The governor’s lawmakers and interest as Rising labor costs will timing couldn’t be better. Brainstorming on some- groups to consider the have other effects as well, among them higher thing as signiicant as road costs of well-intended expenses for public univer- funding can’t start early sities, which are likely to enough. Let’s hope, too, policies is all too respond by either raising that the discussions will tuition or cutting the hours encourage public debate common, and those of working students. on two fronts. The irst So badly did lawmakers who are affected most involves transportation not want to hear about funding and the trade-offs are those who such costs that the lawmakers will have to minimum-wage legislation consider to that end. The have the least. bypassed the Ways and second, long overdue, Means Committee, where involves Oregon’s values. iscal impacts are considered. Speciically, is affordability a core Oregon Bad intentions are not the problem, and value? Do Oregon’s elected leaders — and Oregonians themselves — believe it’s important policymakers do respond spasmodically to cost crises involving the most vulnerable. to consider the cumulative costs of state and Legislation protecting renters received plenty of local mandates, fees and so forth on lower- and attention during this year’s session, for instance. middle-income people? It’s about time, however, that policymakers The question is worth asking at a time when seek to prevent costs from rising with as much many Oregonians struggle to make ends meet, whether because the cost of housing has soared, determination as they pursue measures designed as it has in and around Portland, Bend and a few to mitigate costs that have swelled, in part, as a result of past policy choices. other places, or because lucrative employment You’ll know affordability has become a is scarce, as is the case in many rural areas. core Oregon value when this begins to happen Affordability is something everyone seems to regularly. be talking about these days, but there’s little You’ll also know it when lawmakers exhibit evidence it matters to policymakers and interest the courage to aggressively update institutions groups nearly as much as, say, environmental such as the state’s restrictive land-use system, protection or the preservation of farmland and which pushes housing prices upward by forestland. restricting land supply. Start with the transportation-funding debate. You’ll know it, too, when they’re willing Lawmakers supported a fuel mandate with to reconsider outdated institutions such as a minuscule environmental beneit that is Oregon’s bottle bill, for which per-container expected to raise fuel costs by up to 19 cents deposits are likely to double, to a dime, in per gallon. They did this knowing that the 2017. If the bottle bill didn’t exist today, when mandate’s passage would erode legislative curbside recycling is nearly ubiquitous, the state support for a gas tax increase, which would surely wouldn’t adopt it. Why, then, do we cling have been at the heart of a transportation to it despite the disproportionate burden it places package. The episode was, and remains, an on those with modest incomes? instructive display of relative values: Envi- Oregon isn’t there yet. Affordability is not ronmental protection (largely symbolic here) a core value no matter how frequently elected mattered more than the maintenance of core oficials may emote about the struggles of infrastructure and the price of fuel, which is not people with moderate incomes. Inevitably, it a trivial matter to many. seems, something else just matters more. Particularly telling is the stock response of If Oregonians want this to change, they need the fuel standard’s supporters to the double-tax- ation problem (a gas tax on top of the mandate’s to start demanding that their representatives cost). The low-carbon fuel standard has nothing acknowledge the costs of proposed policies and weigh them honestly against their likely to do with road funding, they insist, and should beneits. They also need to push their represen- be considered separately. This is a convenient tatives to look honestly at the costs and beneits iction, as anyone illing his or her tank 10 of existing policies — and, when the former years from now will attest. Unfortunately, the outweigh the latter, do something about it. reluctance of lawmakers and interest groups to The coming transportation-funding debate is consider the costs of well-intended policies is all as good a place as any to start. too common, and those who are affected most A YOUR VIEWS Pendleton citizens must do their part LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public is- sues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about indi- vidual services 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. During the public comment section of the discussion about Resolution 2637 (the irehouse bond) on May 3, one comment stuck with me. A gentleman spoke in opposition to Resolution 2637, and he referred to the “MacKenzie Report” as some sort of “secret” document. Also, the time frame he used for the amount of time it was public was a week. He went on to be unreasonable and completely illogical, and I do not feel that he contributed one iota to the productivity of the discussion. However, he illustrates a point that I now wish to make (and I thank the East Oregonian for providing the platform to do so): I had the MacKenzie Report a month ago. How did I get it? Simple: First, I read a newspaper article that caught my interest, then I went to Fire Station #1 unannounced and asked the secretary if there was anyone available who could give me more information. Within 10 minutes I was on a tour of the station and having the MacKenzie Report explained to me in minute detail. I asked for a copy of the report and was given a link from the city website. This was one month ago. Pendleton citizens are lazy. They can’t be bothered to ask questions about, or contribute to, the well-being of their town. The best mayor, city council, and city manager won’t be able to save the town if the townspeople don’t also do their part. The current regime may need some changing around, but if it’s not the citizens who bring said change, then it will last about as long as reverse parking on Court Street. James Tibbets Pendleton