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.