Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, September 7, 2017
OTHER VIEWS
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
AP Photo/Jackie Johnston
In this 2004 file photo, workers use heavy machinery to remove waste in an
area near two dormant nuclear reactors on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
near Richland, Wash.
Hanford’s waste
spread under secrecy
Citadel of Secrets is one way of
describing Washington, D.C. The
dirty little secret about Washington’s
secrets is that we all might be better
off with fewer of them.
Writing Aug. 27 in The New York
Times Magazine, Beverly Gage
quotes the late U.S. Sen. Daniel
Patrick Moynihan, who believed that
it is easier to keep secrets when you
have fewer of them.
The biggest shroud of secrecy
in the Pacific Northwest lies over
the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Because of its extraordinary moment
of creation, during World War II, and
its mission — to develop material
for the unproven concept of an
atomic bomb — Hanford’s very
existence was a huge secret in the
desert of southeast Washington state.
There is link between secrecy
and the incompetence it hides. Of
our government’s secrecy cult, Gage
writes “This secrecy was a useful
tool, but it became a crutch too — a
way for federal employees to cover
up mistakes or to inflate their own
importance.”
As the dark side of nuclear
secrecy, Exhibit A is Chernobyl, the
Soviet nuclear power plant, which
in 1986 had the most disastrous
accident in history. The Chernobyl
reactor was an old Russian design,
without safety features and deep
backup.
Its accident created a large
disaster zone. Months later,
The New York Times Magazine
published a devastating gallery of
photos from that zone.
Like Chernobyl, Hanford’s
N-Reactor lacked a backup, steel
and concrete containment system. It
was subsequently shut down.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall,
Hanford ceased manufacturing
plutonium. That was also the point
when Hanford’s veil of secrecy was
lifted. Mark Heater of Hanford’s
media relations office confirms that
in February 1986, the Department
of Energy released 19,000 pages of
documents relating to Hanford.
In that decade, our region became
aware that Hanford was a vast and
leaking dump of hazardous nuclear
waste. One of those underground
waste plumes was headed toward the
Columbia River.
It would be comforting to say that
Hanford is a much more open secret
these days. But Anna King cautions
otherwise. As the Richland-based
correspondent of the Northwest
News Network, no journalist is
consistently closer to Hanford than
King. She says: “I don’t know if
the shroud of secrecy has come off
Hanford. Their whole mission is to
not let out information.”
An astounding amount of money
has been spent on cleaning up and
containing Hanford’s poorly stored
waste. It is the drawback of nuclear
energy writ large. What does a
nation do with the waste? Behind
a wall of secrecy, the scientists and
technicians who ran Hanford for
decades gave us a disastrous answer
to that question.
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
Richardson’s audit
alert hits the bullseye
The Bend Bulletin
T
he Oregon Health Authority has
had its share of problems this
year, not the least of which was
an “audit alert” from Secretary of State
Dennis Richardson’s office in May. The
alert came as state auditors discovered
OHA had fallen behind
in checking eligibility
for Oregon Health Plan
(Medicaid) clients. The
governor stepped in and
gave OHA until the end
of August to get the job
done, and, on the last day
of the month, it did so.
It was no easy task.
The federal government
requires that Medicaid
eligibility be redetermined each year.
In Oregon, with just shy of 1 million
Oregon Health Plan recipients, that’s a
task that requires either a fleet of people
or a computer system that’s up to snuff.
OHA had neither.
To make matters worse, beginning in
2013 the federal government allowed the
state to skip annual continuing eligibility
evaluations for several years. The last
waiver expired in June 2016, and the
state began doing the required checking,
though slowly.
The problem came to a head in May
with Richardson’s audit alert. At the
time, nearly 12 months after the waiver
expired, more than 80,000 Oregon
Health Plan clients remained to be
checked. The job was completed Aug.
31, right on time.
The state removed
more than 54,000 people
from the program. The
costs add up.
Oregon pays some
$430 per Oregon Health
Plan client per month,
and finding the money
to do that has become
problematic.
The health plan
is expensive, and its cost will only
grow in the years ahead as federal
payments for Medicaid decline.
Assuring that everyone who is on the
Oregon Health Plan is entitled to be
there is critical. And had it not been
for Secretary of State Richardson
and his audit alert, Oregonians might
never have become aware of how far
away from being able to make that
assurance the OHA really was.
The state
removed more
than 54,000
people from
the program.
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR
97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
After Trump acts, DACA
is now Congress’ problem
A
rkansas Republican Sen. Tom
Sessions said the same Tuesday
Cotton, who after the departure
when he noted, “If we were to keep
of Jeff Sessions has emerged as
the Obama Administration’s executive
the Senate’s leading immigration hawk,
amnesty policy, the likeliest outcome is
says he would support the legalization
that it would be enjoined (by a court).”
of all current DACA recipients —
That was important because
the attorneys general of several
nearly 700,000 of them — if Congress
states threatened to sue the Trump
would at the same time pass measures
administration if the president did not
to protect Americans workers from the
Byron
do away with DACA. Trump’s action,
effects of that legalization.
York
announced by Sessions, makes any
DACA, which stands for Deferred
Comment
such lawsuits beside the point. And
Action for Childhood Arrivals, was
now, it throws the ball straight into
created by President Obama’s unilateral
Congress’ court. What will it do about those
decision to shield from deportation and grant
700,000 soon-to-be-former DACA recipients?
work permits to people who were brought
That is where the negotiating comes in.
illegally to the United States as children.
Will Senate Democrats, not to mention
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Republicans who favored the Gang of
announced that the Trump administration
Eight comprehensive
is rescinding DACA,
immigration reform bill,
effective six months from
actually vote for the
now. That leaves it up to
Congress to decide the
RAISE Act — which some
next step for the nation’s
have already said they
so-called Dreamers.
oppose — in exchange for
“We ought to take
legal status for Dreamers?
care of them,” Cotton
It’s not at all clear. Would
said in a recent telephone
they agree to extending
conversation, noting that
E-verify? Also unclear.
DACA recipients arrived
So far, most of the
in this country illegally,
Republican lawmakers
“through no fault of their
who have spoken out about
—Tom Cotton,
own.”
DACA are supporters
U.S. Senator, (R.-Ark.)
“In any legislative fix,
of comprehensive
I would like to see them
immigration reform —
receive a green card,” Cotton said. At the same Sens. Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, and Jeff
time, he continued, “We ought to recognize
Flake, as well as Reps. Mike Coffman and
that giving them legal status has two problems. Carlos Curbello. And, of course, Speaker Paul
First, it creates a whole new class of people
Ryan, who has called on the president not to
who will then be eligible for a green card and
end DACA, even though Ryan once described
citizenship — namely, the extended family
the program as “blatantly unconstitutional.”
members of those who will receive legal status
But the vast majority of Republican
who can, through chain migration, get legal
lawmakers have not been heard from. Most
status themselves.”
are united in their belief that President Obama
“Second,” Cotton said, “it will encourage
overstepped his authority by instituting
more illegal immigration.”
DACA. They believe the action would not
The first problem can be fixed by passing
survive court scrutiny. They believe they
the RAISE Act, Cotton said — the bill Cotton
have to do something to accommodate
has sponsored with fellow GOP Sen. David
current DACA recipients while not making
Perdue that would strictly limit chain migration the overall immigration problem worse. And
as well as re-balance current immigration
after Trump’s action, it seems unlikely they
policy in favor of skilled immigrants.
would revive and codify the program without
The second problem could be addressed by
also enacting some significant reform of the
extending E-verify across the country, which
immigration system.
Cotton called “the best way to reduce more
DACA, Cotton said, is “a mess of President
illegal immigration.”
Obama’s making.” But now it’s up to
Cotton has conferred with President
Republicans to clean up that mess. “We should
Trump and with White House staff on the
find a way to give (DACA recipients) legal
best way to move beyond DACA. Cotton
status,” Cotton concluded, “but we also have
said the president’s instincts are that DACA,
to mitigate the inevitable consequences of that
imposed by Obama with no action from
action.”
Congress in what many Republicans felt was
■
an unconstitutional overreach, would not have
Byron York is chief political correspondent
been defensible in court.
for The Washington Examiner.
“We ought to take
care of (Dream-
ers... they arrived
here) through no
fault of their own.”
OTHER VIEWS
Collaborative has been good
for forest, local economy
By BRUCE DAUCSAVAGE
Ochoco and Malheur Lumber Companies
O
choco Lumber Company was founded
in 1927 to work the vast ponderosa
pine forests of the Blue Mountains of
Eastern Oregon. In 1983 Ochoco Lumber
owner John Shelk formed Malheur Lumber
Company in John Day. Today, Malheur
Lumber Company draws our raw product
primarily from the Malheur National Forest in
Grant and Harney counties.
Sourcing raw product for our mills has not
always been easy. Tightening timber supplies
forced us to consider closing, and we knew that
if we wanted to remain in the timber business
we would need to do things differently and to
work with people with diverse points of view.
That’s why Malheur Lumber Company has
been a member of the Blue Mountains Forest
Partners since its founding in 2006.
Our company believed then, and is even
more committed now, that collaboration among
timber interests, the conservation community,
local residents, elected government officials
and the Forest Service — which manages
about 72 percent of the land base in Grant and
Harney counties — was our only option if we
wanted to survive into the future. Thankfully
these other stakeholders held a similar view,
even though our opinions of a “healthy forest”
or “responsible forest management” may have
differed at the outset.
Working together, unemployment numbers
in Grant and Harney counties have dropped
from 14 percent and 11.7 percent respectively
to 7.7 percent and 5.5 percent.
Malheur Lumber Ccompany has been able
to maintain our operations, increase employ-
ment and are moving forward with investments
in our facility to more efficiently process raw
logs coming from our stewardship projects.
We have helped develop and implement a
10-year stewardship contract that represents
86 percent of the private employment — and
all existing wood manufacturing infrastructure
— within Grant and Harney counties. Ongoing
research is telling us that the Malheur National
Forest is already more resilient to future wild-
fire and the effects of climate change as a result
of our restoration work.
There are currently 27 collaboratives
operating in Oregon to encourage restoration
of public lands. The aim is to facilitate compro-
mise and consensus. Contrary to the perspec-
tive of someone who has never attended a
partners meeting (“Forest collaboratives need
to welcome all input,” East Oregonian, Aug.
25) in our experience, the partners regularly
solicit the views of all stakeholders who seek
to productively and respectfully advance forest
restoration and community well-being on the
Malheur National Forest. That’s the “Oregon
way,” and it works.
■
Bruce Daucsavage of Bend is president
of Ochoco and Malheur Lumber Companies
headquartered in Prineville and John Day.