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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Wednesday, January 31, 2018 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW A powerful council Even before Ted Ferrioli and Richard Devlin officially joined the Northwest Power and Conservation Council this month, they were talking by phone several times a week about their upcoming work. Two decades in the Oregon Legislature forged those connections. Ferrioli, of John Day, was the longtime Republican Senate leader. Devlin, of Tualatin, was Senate Democratic leader and later co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee. Said Devlin: “We’ve always had a pretty good working relationship.” That relationship will be key as the pair move from the 90-member Legislature to the eight-member, four- state council. It comprises two members each from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The council influences billions of dollars in public and private spending on power generation, fish protection and restoration, water use and other areas. “The job is an intersection with every single public policy issue that affects the quality of life in the upper Columbia River Basin,” Ferrioli said. “The future of the sustainability of communities really depends on our continued access to low-cost, highly renewable hydroelectric power — and increasingly on alternative energy sources, including wind, geothermal and solar. If you look at the epicenter of all those issues, they all intersect in the upper Columbia River Basin.” Gov. Kate Brown appointed Ferrioli and Devlin to succeed Pendleton lawyer and rancher Henry Lorenzen and former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury as Oregon’s representatives. They have their work cut out for them. Congress authorized the council in 1980 as an independent agency to assess the Northwest’s electricity needs — planning both for electricity and for protection of fish and wildlife. Congress acted in response to the multi-billion- dollar fiasco of the Washington Public Power Supply System, better known as WPPSS, in which public officials grossly overestimated the region’s future demand for electricity and the viability of nuclear power. Five nuclear plants were started, one was completed and currently operates, and WPPSS now is called Energy Northwest. The region’s ratepayers still pay the price for those past bad EO file photo An overhead crane is used to remove a piece of main unit power generator in 2014, at the McNary Dam on the Columbia River outside of Umatilla. decisions made by good people. As Lorenzen left the Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Jan. 16, he warned that state legislators and other policymakers once again were making decisions about renewable energy and other resources on the basis of politics, not the state-of-the-art methodologies developed by the council. “Our challenge, I believe, is to make certain in the future, to the best we can, that the methodologies that we have developed also are taken into consideration by those entities, those persons who are making those decisions, whether it be the traditional utility managers or the legislators,” Lorenzen said. As veteran legislators with statewide perspectives, Ferrioli and Devlin should be the right people for that task. OTHER VIEWS On immigration, Trump goes for it all ack in 2015, before the August 31, 2016 policy speech in presidential primaries began, Phoenix, he laid out 10 immigration a voter asked candidate priorities for his administration. Donald Trump if he believed Number one was the wall. Number compromise should be part of two was an end to the catch-and- politics. release policy. Number three was “Compromise is not a bad word zero tolerance for criminal aliens. to me,” Trump answered. “But if After that came sanctuary cities, an you are going to compromise, ask entry-exit visa tracking system and Byron for about three times more than you more. York want. You understand? So when Reforming legal immigration Comment you compromise, you get what you was number 10, at the bottom of want.” Trump’s list. He didn’t talk much Now, President Trump is engaged in about it, at least not in any detail. Mostly, delicate negotiations with Congress over Trump made just a brief nod to legal immigration. And he has immigration, saying he come up with a deal. On wanted to include a “big, one hand, he’s making a fat, beautiful door” in big offer to Democrats: the border wall through legal status for 1.8 million which legal immigrants people in the country would be welcomed. illegally, which is more But now, limiting than the 800,000 or so chain migration and covered by President ending the visa lottery are Obama’s old Deferred key parts of the Trump Action for Childhood immigration package. Arrivals program, or And the president has DACA — plus a path to leverage; Democrats citizenship for all of them. desperately want In return, Trump is DACA legalization. making a big ask: a fully They’re prepared to give funded border wall, something away to get it. strong limits on chain migration and an end In addition, some polls suggest Trump’s to the visa lottery. positions — making immigration more The questions for Democrats: Is Trump merit-based and doing away with the visa asking for three times more than he wants? lottery — enjoy majority support. Can his position be negotiated down? Or is By making a maximalist offer, Trump this the deal they should take? has things to give away in negotiation. In The president’s critics on both right the end, there is probably just one thing he and left are “wrong in viewing this as an absolutely has to have, and that is the thing opening bid,” said a source familiar with he promised voters over and over and over White House discussions. “The president again: the wall. views this as a best and final offer.” The White House has come up with We’ll see if that remains the case. a demand for $25 billion for the wall What’s stunning about the negotiations — enough to cover its construction and is how much Trump has expanded their various support systems. And not some sort scope. Originally, some Democrats thought of Washington make-believe $25 billion. they could win a clean legalization for Trump wants Congress to put the money DACA recipients — in other words, for the in a trust fund that the president could use president to just give Democrats what they to pay for building the wall. (That doesn’t wanted and be done with it. mean opponents won’t try to stop the But Trump and his Republican allies project by other means, like a barrage of saw an opportunity to go big, moving lawsuits, but for the White House, it’s first beyond even the immigration positions he things first.) advocated most frequently in the campaign. It’s important to say that everything In the presidential race, Trump talked could still fall apart, but at the moment, about “extreme vetting” of people coming Trump’s goal is within reach. Democrats from terror-plagued countries. He talked acknowledge that they’re going to have to about protecting the wages of American give something big to get Trump’s equally citizens. He talked about cracking down on big offer on DACA legalization. sanctuary cities. But more than anything, In the end, a Trump victory on the wall Trump talked about building a wall along would be absolutely remarkable. Just think roughly 1,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico back to all those Democrats and activists border. and other Trump opponents who virtually pledged to throw their bodies in front of any The wall was a staple of Trump’s effort to build a wall. The ones who pledged campaign speeches. It was the backbone that Congress would never approve a wall. of his pledge to protect Americans from That it would never, ever, ever be built. the threats posed by illegal immigration Now, the president might be on the verge — from crime, drugs, low-wage job of proving them wrong. How? It’s simple. competition. And it remains the backbone You just ask for about three times more than of his current immigration proposal. you want, so when you compromise, you At the same time, issues of legal immigration — specifically chain migration get what you want. ■ and the visa lottery — played far smaller Byron York is a political correspondent roles in the campaign. For example, in Trump’s much-discussed for The Washington Examiner. B YOUR VIEWS Eastern Oregon deserves same protection as coast Cost of living continues to increase in Pendleton Governor Brown: I heard your perfect response to the Trump Administration’s plans for offshore drilling along our Oregon coast: “In what universe would this be okay? Our coastal beaches are really important to Oregonians. They are very important to who we are and very important to our economy.” I knew I had to write to you on behalf of all of us in Eastern Oregon. Eastern Oregon has been fighting for its very life for the past 10 years. Now Idaho Power, a $6 billion out-of-state corporation, has plans to take advantage of Eastern Oregon. They are trying to do it as quickly and quietly as possible. The proposed B2H transmission line from Hemingway, Idaho, to Boardman offers no direct benefit to anyone in Oregon. It will impact prime agricultural land and local landowners, degrade our wild lands, endanger our wildlife. Tourists travel to Eastern Oregon to escape crowds and industrialization. They come to hike or hunt, enjoy our relaxed pace of life, and enjoy our natural scenery. I live in Baker City, where tourists come to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. The B2H, as planned, will cross the trail eight times. Monster 200-foot-tall towers, less than a quarter mile from the Center’s picture windows, will mar the view of the Oregon Trail. With the B2H, visitors will travel along 300 miles of transmission lines supported by steel towers as high as 16-story buildings, just as the people who visit and live on the Oregon coast will see miles and miles of drilling rigs. I appreciate your strong statement on behalf of the residents of western Oregon. As governor for the whole state of Oregon, I would respectfully request that this same statement be made on behalf of the residents of Eastern Oregon. In regards to high water and sewer rates in Pendleton, some people have the wrong answers. First, most of your utility bill is not from water usage. On my $77.20 bill only $3.40 is for water usage. If you cut down on water usage it makes little difference on your total bill. The biggest part of your bill is the charge for sewer, $39.15. This stays the same all year. A lot of this charge is for the improvements to the treatment plant. Next is base water rate, $26.85, another year-round charge. A lot of this charge is for replacing old lines and installing larger lines to the airport. Next is public safety charge, $2.65, for fire equipment and police cars, etc. This is in addition to your property tax for the $10 million fire bond. Last is street utility, $5.15, for street repair. Streets have been a low priority for the city for years, but now they are trying to catch up with our money. When you tie a service to a utility, the city can raise the cost to users at any time, without a vote of residents. And by tying the rates to Portland construction costs, the city council does not even have to vote on these rate increases. Very nice for council members to not have to endorse the rate increases. It is much easier for government to raise fees then to cut parts of their budget. It is up to us, the residents of Pendleton. As long as we put up with ever increasing fees and voting for giant bond issues, Pendleton will never reach its full potential. We will keep bumping along with low growth and ever higher cost of living. Elections are coming in May for city council and higher county taxes. It’s up to you if you like the status quo or want Pendleton to move forward. Rex J. Morehouse Pendleton JoAnn Marlette Baker City Despite take permit, no Pilot Rock turkeys have been killed Like I’ve said before, leave the turkeys alone and put the money towards a dog catcher. We have major problems with loose dogs! — Amanda Litzsinger Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. Trump is making a big ask: A fully funded border wall, strong limits on chain migration and an end to the visa lottery. 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. 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.