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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, June 6, 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 Agriculture copes with a growing labor shortage “Labor is the No. 1 issue in policy so much as economics. The saving grace for agriculture agriculture.” has been the H-2A guestworker Ask a farmer, orchardist, nursery or dairy operator, packer or program. It provides a temporary processor — anyone who hires full- visa to foreign workers. Farmers pay time or seasonal farmworkers, and for round-trip transportation between most will tell you they are worried the workers’ home country and the about labor. farm, housing and good pay. When the job is over they return to their For them, labor is the make-or- homes. break factor of this year — and This year Washington farmers every other year, for that matter. will bring in 15,000 The supply of guestworkers from labor is one of the Mexico and other many factors they It is up to countries, and do not control. Congress, but California will bring Even in areas Farmers where the labor members of that in in 11,000. other states also pool has remained depend on H-2A steady the need august body for farmworkers seem about as workers. The downside of has continued to grow as production eager to fix the the H-2A program: is limited to increases. system as they It temporary workers. For decades the Some sectors of farm labor supply are to lick an agriculture, such has depended on electric fence. as dairy farms and an array of factors, processing plants, including federal need full-time, immigration policy year-round employees. and enforcement. Over the years, Under the Trump administration, many farmworkers have arrived the H-2A program seems to be in the U.S. illegally. Whether that happened 20 years ago or last week, working better than under the previous administration, which it means that getting a job legally seemed bent on slowing down the in the U.S. is problematic. Many farmers are forced to accept workers’ paperwork and causing as much consternation as possible. documentation with the realization Mechanization and automation that it may not be valid. represent another bright spot for That puts farmers between some farmers. They are buying the proverbial rock and a hard picking platforms to increase the place. They need to get their crops speed and efficiency of tree fruit harvested and packed, but they are on the hook if an employee does not harvests, many dairies have installed robotic milkers that reduce the need have adequate documentation. for labor, berry and grape growers Without legal status, those use mechanical harvesters and workers are in limbo. It is up to researchers continue to work on Congress to come up with a way to robotic harvesters for nearly every do that, but members of that august other crop. body seem about as eager to fix the The labor predicament leaves system as they are to lick an electric farmers and others with three fence. Doing that will take political options: Wait for the economy courage, which appears to be an to slow down so unemployment oxymoron these days in the U.S. increases, wait for Congress to get Capitol. cracking on immigration reform, But the unemployment rate or the administration and Congress appears to be the primary driver can further streamline the H-2A that farmers don’t control. When program so farmers can obtain the unemployment rate is low, as it more guestworkers in a timely and is now across the West, the pool of farmworkers is smaller because other affordable manner. None of the three developments jobs are available that pay better, seems particularly likely any time offer benefits and are more stable. soon. This is not a matter of immigration 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 Neither hot nor cold on climate L ike a lot of conservatives who given way to a clearer rise in global write about public policy, my temperatures. views on climate change place If you chart this spike against the me in the ranks of what the British range of climate change projections, writer Matt Ridley once dubbed the it brings the trend up into the middle “lukewarmers.” of climatologists’ scenarios for the Lukewarmers accept that the earth first time in some years. Maybe that is warming and that our civilization’s will be temporary and it will fall back. ample CO2 emissions are a major But the closer the real trend gets to the Ross cause. They doubt, however, that Douthat worst-case projections, the more my climate change represents a crisis lukewarmism will look Pollyannish Comment unique among the varied challenges and require substantial reassessment. we face, or that the global regulatory But this is where the second schemes advanced to deal with it will work objection to lukewarmism comes in, which is as advertised. And they raise an eyebrow that such reassessment might happen on op-ed at the contrast between the apocalyptic, pages but not in actual right-wing politics, absolutist rhetoric with which these schemes because in actual right-wing politics no serious are regularly defended and their actual details, assessment of the science and the risks is taking which seem mostly designed to enable the place to begin with. Instead there’s just a mix of globe’s statesmen to greenwash the pursuit of business-class and blue-collar self-interest and economic and political self-interest. a trollish, “If liberals are for it, we’re against More specifically, lukewarmers look at the it” anti-intellectualism. So while lukewarmers Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s may fancy ourselves serious interlocutors for official projections and see a strong likelihood liberals, we’re actually just running interference that rising temperatures will drag on GDP on behalf of know-nothing and do-nothingism, without leading to catastrophe. They look at attacking flawed policies on behalf of a the record of climatological predictions and see Republican Party that will never, ever advance a pattern in which observed warming hugs the any policies of its own. lower, non-disastrous end of the spectrum of This critique is ... not necessarily wrong. projections. And they look at the substance of A Republican Party that was really shaped by the Paris accord, which papered over a failed lukewarmism would probably still oppose the attempt to set binding emission rules with a Paris deal and shrink from sweeping carbon set of fine-sounding promises, and see little to taxes. But it would be actively debating and justify all the anguish and despair over Donald budgeting for the two arenas — innovation and Trump’s decision to abandon it. mitigation — where the smartest skeptics of The despairing are unlikely to be convinced regulatory solutions tend to place their faith. by this quick description, so for a better sense This is not what the GOP seems inclined to of the lukewarmist case, I recommend two do. Instead it lets lukewarmers poke holes in recent essays by Oren Cass of the Manhattan liberal proposals for climate insurance policies, Institute: First, “The Problem With Climate and then sits back satisfied that no insurance Catastrophizing,” from Foreign Affairs, policy, no extra effort, is necessary at all. and second, “How to Worry About Climate Earlier I recommended reading Oren Cass’ Change,” from National Affairs. essays; now I’ll quote his tweet when Trump But while inviting readers to ease their pain pulled out of the Paris accord. “Hopefully over Paris with the balm of lukewarmism, someday,” he wrote, “we’ll get a reality-based I also want to concede two problems with climate agreement that helps prepare for and this approach. The first is that no less than adapt to whatever climate change brings.” alarmism, lukewarmism can be vulnerable to The problem is that while Paris was not cherry-picking and selection bias, reaching sufficiently rooted in reality, the anti-Paris for any piece of evidence — and when you’re sentiments that moved Trump weren’t entirely dealing with long-term trends, there’s a lot of reality-based either. And a clear Republican evidence to choose from — that supports its plan for how to “prepare for and adapt to non-catastrophic assumptions, even if the bulk whatever climate change brings” does not of the data starts to point the other way. actually exist. This means that every lukewarmer, In its absence, lukewarmism is a critique including especially those in positions of without an affirmative agenda, a theory of the political authority, should be pressed to identify case without a party that’s prepared to ever trends that would push them toward greater act on it. So its claim to offer a fully-credible alarmism and a sharper focus on the issue. policy alternative to climate alarmism awaits a I’ll answer that challenge myself: My different president, and a very different GOP. ■ own alarm over climate change has gone up Ross Douthat joined The New York modestly since the Obama-era cap-and-trade Times as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. debates, as the decade or more in which observed warming was slow or even flat — the Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic. much-contested warming “pause” — has YOUR VIEWS Measure 11 needs reform, not repeal CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES Governor Representatives Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 Senator Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-415 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us Greg Barreto, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-384 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us I wrote a letter to every senator and representative asking why they do not have the courage, after being voted in to make the hard choices and the right ones, to reform Measure 11. I was told that they are “scared” of looking soft on crime. So it goes on we have cowards in the legislature that allow the DAs to have total control over the legal system, allow them to fill the prisons full with totally inappropriate lengths of time for incarceration. Let me be clear, I am NOT soft on crime. I believe that violent and repeat offenders, as M11 was designed for, need to be punished. There are currently 6,129 inmates in under M11, almost half the prison population, at a cost of $211,516,386 per year, not counting medical at $94.55 per day. We need not repeal, at this time, but reform M11 to allow first-time offenders a second look after they have served half their time. If you even took 30 percent of the M11-incarcerated people (1,839), you would possibly save $63,454,916 per year. They should be released on parole, not just let go. One more thing: Do the citizens know that there is no rehab in prison for sex offenders? Do you know that they only get rehab after they get out? Pretty scary, you think? Barbara Dickerson Milton-Freewater Carry a gun, protect yourself from terrorism Have we been paying attention? I’m referring to the warning by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. He said if we knew what he knew about the ISIS threat in the United States, we would not leave home. OK, I believe him. Now I know that many in my family have concealed carry permits, but it’s time for the rest of us to pay attention and make sure our protection is available when we leave the house, but also when are at home. Look, it’s hard for us to take the threat seriously but we have too much to lose by ignoring the warnings. If you don’t have a concealed weapons carry permit, you need to take the necessary classes, use the necessary safeguards and get comfortable with carrying and using a weapon. I’m serious! Frank Vincent Hermiston 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 newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual 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.
