VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Oil trains in Columbia Gorge
As long as the billionaires own the tried
and true railroads in their portfolios you
won’t see many other viable ways of oil
transportation any time soon.
— Nick Ritzer
Why is everyone trying to make this
about the oil? This was just a train wreck
and the cargo happened to be oil. The reality
is, there are far worse things being hauled
by rail than crude oil.
— Mike Navratil
Rail is probably the safest means of
transportation. However, the towing cars
should probably be double hull for oil trans-
portation along with constant monitoring
of the rails for any signs of deterioration or
obstacles on the rails or anything.
— Davis Luong
Pendleton closes playgrounds
Very sad to see the loss of parks in Pend-
leton. I am curious though on what will be
happening with Kiwanis Park. It has been
closed off for a few months now.
— Danelle Springer
Yeah, those teeter totters and merry-go-
rounds are super dangerous. Well, maybe
not more dangerous then childhood obesity
but apparently that’s not a consideration.
— Josh Clark
One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is
that much can be summed up in just a few words.
Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours
@Tim_Trainor or email editor@eastoregonian.
com, and keep them to 140 characters.
S
ome people may
ask: “Why is the
city giving money
to a developer to build
roads, when they
should be using that
money to replace the
playground equipment
they are taking out of our
Robb
neighborhood parks?”
Corbett
It is no secret to
Comment
many that the city of
Pendleton entered into
an agreement with a developer to build
workforce housing on publicly owned land
off Tutuilla Road, now known as Pendleton
Heights. This project was a result of a
housing study in 2011. We know that a
lack of housing has contributed to a lack
of economic development and growth in
Pendleton.
Without exception, our manufacturing
employers say that housing is a major
obstacle to growing their business. A
conclusion of the study was that in order to
stimulate housing the city may have to ind
ways to offer incentives.
The city rezoned the property and
found a developer. He agreed to construct
72 units as well as construct more than
$1.2 million in public infrastructure,
required by ordinance. As an incentive,
the city agreed to assist him by creating
a local improvement district. An LID is a
mechanism that is sometimes used to make
public improvements.
The city borrows the funds to construct
the infrastructure and property owners who
front the street and beneit are obligated
to pay. During negotiations the point was
made that half of a primary road is fronted
by Olney Cemetery, property owned by
the city. The city determined that it is was
unfair to expect the developer to bear all of
these costs and agreed to pay our part by
contributing the property
rather than cash.
Phase I is now
completed with 32 units
of new duplexes and a
waiting list of people
who want to move in.
These homes are valued
at roughly $3.8 million.
The expense to the city is
the value of the property
— $175,000 — which
represents our share of the
road.
In April, the developer went to the
planning commission and requested
permission to change the remaining
portion of his project — 40 additional
units — to 100 apartments. This proposal
was approved unanimously. The developer
then came to the city council and explained
that more infrastructure needed to be built
and again asked for assistance. The city’s
“fair share” would be an estimated $93,519
plus an additional $83,132 that would
extend the road across a parcel of land
that is 100 percent owned by the city. This
was approved by the council in the June 7
meeting.
Others ask: “Why is the city closing off
playground equipment?”
The city was notiied by our insurance
provider, City County Insurance, that
Keep ranchers on the land,
and the land stays open
I
t turns out that the men and
women who graze cattle on
America’s public lands are largely
a level-headed bunch. No one paying
attention during the 41-day standoff
at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge
in Oregon could have missed the
deafening silence
from about 22,000
public-lands
ranchers when
Bundy and Co.
urged all of them to
tear up their federal
grazing permits and
start demanding
the “return” of
public lands to “the
people.”
Absent any
substantive evidence
that ranchers
are radicalized,
opponents of public-
land grazing are
reprising the argument that ranchers
are subsidized. This is a lesser evil, to
be sure, but still a serious charge. Does
the American taxpayer dole out dollars
so ranchers can graze public lands on
the cheap?
It is a fact that ranchers pay less
for grass on public land. Currently,
they pay $2.11 per AUM, compared
to about $18.40 per AUM for private
leases, where one “animal unit month”
equals the forage necessary to graze
a cow and calf or ive sheep for one
month.
Yet the complaint that public-lands
ranchers get a sweetheart deal ignores
the hidden costs of grazing on public
lands. Economic studies concur that
when other expenses are factored
in — maintaining fencing, water
development and invasive weed
treatment, for example — the cost
of grazing on public land is the same
or possibly greater than grazing on
private land.
Though federal grass itself may be
cheaper, the expenses of running cattle
Page 5A
Rules limit how city can spend money
Quick takes
By ANDY RIEBER
Writers on the Range
East Oregonian
on public lands make it anything but a
bargain.
Yet the federal grazing program
in 2014 operated at a $125 million
shortfall. If taxpayers are annually
sinking that kind of cash into it, what
are they getting for their dollars?
The answer is far more than they
realize. Consider, for example, that
ranchers provide invaluable services
like volunteer
ireighting on
public lands.
Fire is the single
most destructive
force on America’s
public rangelands:
In 2015, range
ires ravaged over
700,000 acres in
the West and cost
the Bureau of Land
Management $131
million for ire
suppression and land
restoration.
The total price
tag for Idaho’s
280,000 acre Soda Fire alone will top
$73.5 million over ive years. Yet few
people are aware that across the Great
Basin, rancher-run Rangeland Fire
Protection Associations mobilize as
irst responders to range ires, often
extinguishing blazes hours before
federal ire crews can arrive on site.
In Idaho alone, 146 rangeland
protection ireighters fought 56 ires
last year. Just by preventing one major
ire, these ranchers provide taxpayers
untold savings. Beyond that, you
can’t put a price on the value of the
watersheds, wildlife, and vital habitat
for sage grouse and other sensitive
species that ranchers protect from
wildire.
And for those of us who would
rather see ranches instead of condo
developments that swallow up
open spaces, a recent study (“The
Disappearing West”) funded by
the left-leaning Washington, D.C.,
nonproit Center for American
Progress, found that between 2001
and 2011, a staggering 4,300 square
Though federal
grass may be
cheaper, the
expenses of
running cattle
on public lands
make it anything
but a bargain.
Be heard!
miles of natural areas in the West
were lost to development. The
study found that “development on
private lands accounted for nearly
three-fourths of all natural areas in the
West that disappeared.” If the study
has a moral, it’s this: To preserve the
natural splendors of the West, we must
ind ways to keep undeveloped private
land from residential, commercial and
industrial development.
How? One way is to support
public-lands ranching. The 250
million acres of federal grazing lands
are integrally tied to the economic
livelihood of individual ranches,
which apart from their federal grazing
allotments comprise 100 million acres
of mostly natural, undeveloped private
lands.
If these ranches are able to stay in
business, that’s 100 million acres of
open space, habitat and ecosystems
spared from the developer’s
bulldozers. Put a price tag on that, if
you can.
Today, many environmental
groups understand the critical role that
ranchers play in the conservation of
the West. The World Wildlife Fund’s
Sustainable Ranching Initiative,
Audubon’s Working Lands effort and
The Nature Conservancy’s numerous
partnerships with ranchers all show
that the custodianship of ranchers
is highly valued. Teamwork and
collaboration have come to deine
21st century conservation on Western
rangelands.
Grazing systems can and should be
ine-tuned. But land, once developed,
is lost forever. If American taxpayers
value landscapes unbroken and
unburned, they should tip their hats to
the ranchers.
These hard-working men and
women aren’t on “welfare.” They
are fundamental to the welfare of
America’s wide-open West.
■
Andy Rieber is a contributor to
Writers on the Range, an opinion
service of High Country News. She
is a writer in Oregon who covers
ranching and rural America.
Comment online at eastoregonian.com
given a recent Oregon Supreme Court
ruling (Johnson v. Gibson), cities needed
to take immediate action to identify
hazards in our parks, and either ix them
or close off the equipment until it can be
repaired or removed. Previously, cities and
their employees were
protected from being sued
as a result of faulty or
hazardous conditions that
may lead to injury.
While cities continue
to have this protection,
because of this court
ruling its employees do
not.
We have always
kept safety as our
primary focus.
However, sometimes it
is a judgment call to take out equipment,
knowing we don’t have the resources to
replace it. With this recent court inding,
cities are being advised to more readily err
on the side of safety, leading to closures of
some playground equipment.
So back to our original question: Why
would the city spend money to build a
road rather than replace old playground
equipment? The money we will use to
pay our share of this road cannot be used
for anything other than that. Government
rules — in this case state rules — often
limit how particular dollars are spent. We
cannot collect money for new roads, water,
or sewer lines and use it for anything other
than that.
■
Robb Corbett is Pendleton city manager.
In order to
stimulate
housing, the city
may have to ind
ways to offer
incentives.
EOU faculty honored
to host governor’s
commencement address
By Eastern Oregon
University faculty
W
e the faculty of Eastern Oregon University want
to thank Governor Kate Brown for taking the time
to speak at EOU’s 2016 commencement. This will
be the irst time a sitting governor has attended Eastern’s
graduation and we are honored that you will be part of our
students’ celebration.
One of the people sharing the podium with you will
be the recipient of this year’s
Presidential Scholar Award, Cassie
Jeffries. Cassie is a double major
in History and Anthropology/
Sociology whose research at
Eastern has earned her numerous
accolades. She plans to go on
to graduate school in historical
archaeology.
Cassie’s award places her in
distinguished company. Over the
past sixteen years, an array of
Eastern students—from Lostine
to the Marianas Islands, from
La Grande to Zimbabwe—have
been recipients of the Presidential
Scholar Award. We know, in most
cases irsthand, how well their
experiences at EOU have served
them in their interesting and
upward professional trajectories.
We are proud of all of our
graduates, and those newly minted will soon be pursuing
paths nurtured by dreams and paved by sustained effort and
determination.
As you may be aware, Eastern has faced and overcome
many dificult challenges in recent history. Throughout
this period we have weathered substantial cuts in faculty
numbers and lost some academic programs. In fact some of
our Presidential Scholars graduated from programs that are
no longer offered. The joy of watching students graduate
has been weighed against the sadness of losing cherished
colleagues in these programs.
Yet the same force that embodies our students’ spirit
has remained constant throughout the many changes and
leadership transitions: faculty’s collective and unwavering
commitment to train the region’s next generation of
thinkers and leaders, and through determined effort
continue to provide the opportunities for students that
change lives.
Our impressive list of Presidential Scholars is testament
to EOU’s kept promise and its future potential. We look
forward to a productive collaboration between the Board of
Trustees, Oregon State Legislature, EOU Administration,
the Governor’s Ofice and the State Higher Education
Coordinating Commission that sustains this institution’s
commitment and capacity to serve Eastern Oregon and
beyond with principle, transparency, mutual respect and
thoughtful vision for at least another 87 years.
■
Signed by 65 faculty members of Eastern Oregon
University. The address by Governor Kate Brown is June
11 at 10 a.m. in Quinn Coliseum in La Grande.
The same
force that
embodies
our
students’
spirit has
remained
constant
throughout
the many
changes.