Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Now’s the time to limit
the Antiquities Act
It’s probably not high on the list
process. At least, they don’t in 48
of priorities, but we’d like to see
states.
Congress revise the Antiquities Act
The creation of the Jackson Hole
to give legislative oversight to the
National Monument by FDR in the
creation of national monuments.
1940s so rankled Wyoming pols that
The Antiquities Act of 1906 has
when legislation was proposed to
been used by presidents starting with
merge most of it with Grand Teton
Teddy Roosevelt
National Park the
The restrictions that Congress amended
to create national
monuments.
the Antiquities Act to
can be placed on
The authority comes
the president
ranchers and timber- prohibit
with few restrictions.
from establishing
men throughout the monuments in that
The president, “in
his discretion,” can
West by these declara- state without its
designate almost any
tions require oversight. approval.
piece of federally
After President
owned land a national
Jimmy Carter created
monument for “the protection of
56 million acres of monuments in
objects of historic and scientific
Alaska, Congress amended the act
interest.”
to require it also approve Alaskan
Although the act makes mention
monuments of 5,000 acres or more.
of protecting historic and prehistoric
We would not argue that the
structures, there is no statutory
Antiquities Act has not preserved
legitimate cultural treasures. We might
definition or limit on what may be
not have the Grand Canyon in its
found to be of historic or scientific
current state had TR not protected it by
interest. Presidents have used the act
making it first a national monument.
to preserve wild areas.
But that was a different time. The
It’s easier than establishing a
restrictions that can be placed on
wilderness area, or a national park —
ranchers and timbermen throughout
both of which require congressional
the West by these declarations require
approval — but can impose similar
oversight.
restrictions on how the land can be
They should have at least the same
used.
consideration afforded the people of
Local residents and their elected
Wyoming and Alaska.
representatives have no say in the
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.
Culture Corner
n his career, journalist Ted Conover has
ridden the rails with hobos (“Rolling
Nowhere”), crossed the U.S.-Mexico
border with illegal migrants (“Coyotes”)
and worked as a
correctional officer at Sing
Sing prison in New York
(“Newjack”).
For each assignment,
Conover fully immersed
himself in the world of his
subjects. Writers looking
to engage in this kind of
storytelling can take a
page — literally — from
Conover in his latest book,
“Immersion: A Writer’s
Guide to Going Deep,”
which offers tips and
instruction from brain-
storming to publishing.
“Immersion has
a huge potential for
sowing empathy in the world,” Conover
writes. “It’s a way to introduce readers to
strangers and to make them care, a way to
shine a light into places that need it.”
The book is divided into six sections,
I
covering different ways a writer can gain
access and what to look for once inside. It
discusses the ethics and potential pitfalls
of undercover reporting, and narrative
techniques to consider
when writing.
Conover’s advice is
practical, and perhaps
more importantly,
accessible. While an
associate professor of
journalism at New York
University, Conover
resists coming across as
a teacher lecturing his
students. He also draws
plenty on the work of
other well-known writers,
including Sebastian
Junger, Susan Orlean and
George Plimpton.
Conover does not
claim to know everything.
“Immersion” is not a field manual, nor is it
a map, he writes. Rather, it is a headlamp
to help writers light their own way.
— George Plaven, reporter for the East
Oregonian
OTHER VIEWS
Why don’t all jobs matter?
resident Donald Trump is still
extent to which the long decline of small
promising to bring back coal jobs.
newspapers has eroded the sense of
But the underlying reasons for coal
local identity.
employment’s decline — automation,
A different, less creditable reason
falling electricity demand, cheap natural
mining and manufacturing have become
gas, technological progress in wind and
political footballs, while services
haven’t, involves the need for villains.
solar — won’t go away.
Demagogues can tell coal miners
Meanwhile, last week the Treasury
that liberals took away their jobs with
Department officially (and correctly)
Paul
declined to name China as a currency
Krugman environmental regulations. They can
tell industrial workers that their jobs
manipulator, making nonsense of
Comment
were taken away by nasty foreigners.
everything Trump has said about
And they can promise to bring the jobs
reviving manufacturing.
back by making America polluted again, by
So will the Trump administration ever do
getting tough on trade, and so on. These are
anything substantive to bring back mining and
false promises, but they play well with some
manufacturing jobs? Probably not.
audiences.
But let me ask a different question: Why
By contrast, it’s really hard to blame either
does public discussion of job loss focus so
liberals or foreigners for, say, the decline
intensely on mining and manufacturing, while
of Sears. (The chain’s asset-stripping, Ayn
virtually ignoring the big declines in some
service sectors?
Rand-loving owner is another story, but one that
Over the weekend The Times Magazine
probably doesn’t resonate in the heartland.)
published a photographic essay on the decline
Finally, it’s hard to escape the sense that
of traditional retailers in the face of internet
manufacturing and especially mining get special
competition. The pictures, contrasting “zombie
consideration because, as Slate’s Jamelle Bouie
malls” largely emptied of tenants with giant
points out, their workers are a lot more likely
warehouses holding inventory for online sellers, to be male and significantly whiter than the
were striking. The economic reality is pretty
workforce as a whole.
striking too.
Anyway, whatever the reasons political
Consider what has happened to department
narratives tend to privilege some jobs and some
stores. Even as Trump was boasting about
industries over others, it’s a tendency we should
saving a few hundred jobs in manufacturing
fight. Laid-off retail workers and local reporters
here and there, Macy’s announced plans to
are just as much victims of economic change as
close 68 stores and lay off 10,000 workers.
laid-off coal miners.
Sears, another iconic institution, has expressed
But, you ask, what can we do to stop
“substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in
service-sector job cuts? Not much — but that’s
business.
also true for mining and manufacturing, as
Overall, department stores employ a third
working-class Trump voters will soon learn.
fewer people now than they did in 2001. That’s
In an ever-changing economy, jobs are always
half a million traditional jobs gone — about
being lost: 75,000 Americans are fired or laid
eighteen times as many jobs as were lost in coal off every working day. And sometimes whole
mining over the same period.
sectors go away as tastes or technology changes.
And retailing isn’t the only service industry
While we can’t stop job losses from
that has been hit hard by changing technology.
happening, however, we can limit the human
Another prime example is newspaper
damage when they do happen. We can
publishing, where employment has declined by
guarantee health care and adequate retirement
270,000, almost two-thirds of the workforce,
income for all. We can provide aid to the newly
since 2000.
unemployed. And we can act to keep the overall
So why aren’t promises to save service
economy strong — which means doing things
jobs as much a staple of political posturing as
like investing in infrastructure and education,
promises to save mining and manufacturing
not cutting taxes on rich people and hoping the
jobs?
benefits trickle down.
One answer might be that mines and
I don’t want to sound unsympathetic to
factories sometimes act as anchors of local
miners and industrial workers. Yes, their jobs
economies, so their closing can devastate a
matter. But all jobs matter. And while we can’t
community in a way shutting a retail outlet
ensure that any particular job endures, we can
won’t. And there’s something to that argument.
and should ensure that a decent life endures
But it’s not the whole truth. Closing a
even when a job doesn’t.
factory is just one way to undermine a local
■
community. Competition from superstores and
Paul Krugman joined The New York Times
shopping malls also devastated many small-city in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page and
downtowns; now many small-town malls are
continues as professor of Economics and Inter-
failing too. And we shouldn’t minimize the
national Affairs at Princeton University.
P
OTHER VIEWS
YOUR VIEWS
A GOP promise to rural families
W
hen Donald Trump ran
economic stagnation. Nine-
the tables on Hillary
ty-seven percent of U.S. fuel is
Clinton in middle
now blended with some amount
America, many coastal pundits
of homegrown ethanol, holding
were caught flatfooted. They
down prices and protecting
never saw it coming. But those
against manipulation by hostile
of us in the vast areas of Oregon
oil exporters, like Venezuela and
dominated by rural communities,
Russia.
ranches, farms, and forestry
Biofuels also replace some
Andy
operations understand exactly
of the most toxic additives
Bentz
how the GOP carved out a new
in gasoline, like methyl
Comment
majority.
tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE).
President Trump spoke
MTBE was a gasoline additive
unapologetically to rural voters about
notorious for contaminating groundwater
his support for agriculture, promising to
supplies until ethanol offered a cleaner,
roll back needless regulatory limits on
more affordable way to increase octane
productivity, while strengthening Amer-
for better performance. Moreover, the
ica’s commitment to programs like the
U.S. Department of Agriculture reports
Renewable Fuel Standard, which allows
that carbon emissions are slashed by
U.S. farmers to compete against foreign
43 percent when biofuels displace
oil producers. It’s a bipartisan program
petroleum-based fuel — a number that
that has worked for over 11 years to
continues to rise as farmers learn to grow
create a stable market for biofuels, and it more crops on less land year after year.
will only grow in importance to Oregon
Thanks to these innovations under
as new innovations allow us to create
the renewable fuel standards, biofuel
more and more homegrown energy from production now supports nearly 16,000
existing biomass, including wood scraps Oregon jobs, including those at one of
from lumber operations.
the West Coast’s premier biorefineries
The fuel standards ensures that oil
in Morrow County. These facilities not
companies can’t lock rural biofuel
only deliver homegrown energy, they
producers out of the market, giving
generate a steady stream of high-protein,
consumers more affordable options at
low-cost feedstock for ranchers because
the pump. It’s a perfect example of a
only the starch portion of grain is
policy that works for American energy
fermented for fuel production.
security, for our environment, and for
No matter how you look at it, the fuel
rural communities struggling with
standard is a clear winner, and it remains
one of the few untarnished pillars of
economic growth in rural communities
at a time when U.S. farm incomes are
expected to fall for a fourth straight year
due to a global crop surplus.
These rural families are struggling,
and policymakers — Republican or
Democrat — who fail to recognize the
importance of supporting America’s
agricultural economy can expect the
same response from voters that shocked
pundits in 2016. It’s not about partisan
politics; it’s about delivering on a
promise to protect homegrown fuels
and revitalize rural growth, as President
Trump vowed to do.
Senior leaders in Congress, like our
own Congressman Greg Walden, who
chairs the House committee responsible
for domestic energy, should keep these
families in mind as lawmakers look to
craft the next farm bill and oil companies
ramp up efforts to dismantle the fuel
standards. Democrats learned their
lesson in 2016, and they are reaching
out to rural voters. The success of those
efforts will depend largely on how well
GOP leaders stay on track to restore
growth outside of city limits.
■
Andy Bentz is part of the third
generation of a southeastern Oregon
ranching family. He spent time in the
timber industry of western Oregon and
now is the managing member of Bentz
Solutions, LLC.
Support your firefighters,
vote yes on fire station bond
Citizens of Pendleton, I am asking for your
support in passing the new fire station bond. The
site was chosen and confirmed through a third
party study, through public input, and through
input from the firefighters themselves.
The Old St. Anthony’s site was chosen after that
lengthy process. In response to a recent letter the
PGG site would not be cheaper. The building would
have to be torn down and a new station built in its
place. This is because the building does not meet
the standards that are set for a fire station. Other
sites had many issues as well. The Old St. Antho-
ny’s site also provides room for onsite training.
Another concern I have heard is the cost. Please
remember this building has to be built to withstand
the needs of the future, not just our current needs
as a city, and the current station has been in service
for over 57 years. I know of a very small district
on the Oregon coast that passed a $7 million bond
for a new station, and Albany is building a new
headquarters station for $10 million as well. This
is not an uncommon price tag. As for cost to you if
you own a $200k house it will cost you about the
same as two cups of coffee a month ($10.33/mo).
Please support your firefighters; they are
asking for help in their time of need. The
current station has a leaky roof, inadequate
exhaust removal, not enough space for on-duty
personnel, and very limited training space. These
affect not only our firefighters but their ability to
help you when you need it. Ineffective training,
high health risks to firefighters, and limited
staffing can affect you directly. One of the steps
needed to address this is proper facilities. Please
vote yes on the fire station bond!
Adam Wilkinson
Pilot Rock