Page 4A East Oregonian Saturday, August 18, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW FDA head travels to farm country t must have been the first time a head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ever visited a feedlot in Central Oregon — or anywhere else, for that matter. But there Scott Gottlieb was, at the Barley Beef feedlot near Bend, talking about the Food Safety Modernization Act with farmers, ranchers and others. His message: Implementing the easy part of FSMA is done. “The issues we’re grappling now are hard.” FSMA represents a sea-change in how the FDA handles food safety. Formerly, the agency concentrated on figuring out what went wrong when someone became ill from food. Seven years ago, Congress changed that role to preventing food-borne illnesses. As FDA considered how to do that, the agency’s regulation writers got creative. Among the issues they looked at was treating irrigation water for onions, though there had never been problems in the past. Ultimately, Oregon State University researchers showed that irrigation water did not cause any bacterial contamination problems in onions. In fact, no E. coli was found in onions even after they were irrigated with bacteria-laden water. Researchers also found that switching from wooden to plastic onion bins would have no food safety benefit. The FDA wanted to require the change, which would have I Mateusz Perkowski/EO Media Group Scott Gottlieb, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, speaks with farmers about the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act during a recent stop at a feedlot near Bend. cost millions of dollars and, apparently, accomplish nothing. The issues reached a head, so to speak, when FDA regulators turned their pens to spent grains from breweries. For centuries, leftover grain from making beer has been fed to cattle with no problems. The fact the grain had been steeped in 170-degree water YOUR VIEWS apparently didn’t impress the FDA, which wanted spent grains handled the same as all animal feed, including drying and packaging them. The added cost of doing that meant the spent grains would go to landfills instead. After brewers in Oregon and around the U.S. pointed out those senseless requirements to members of Congress, including Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the rules were dropped. And all that was the easy part of FSMA? The FDA doesn’t want to saddle the fresh produce industry with burdensome unintended consequences, Gottlieb told the group at the feedlot. That sounds good. We can only hope FDA regulation writers stick to science and not extrapolations of their imaginations as they come up with ways to keep the U.S. fresh food supply safe. They should not get extra credit for creating solutions to problems that don’t exist. Gottlieb, who is a doctor and has worked at FDA even before becoming its top administrator last year, also faces a pile of other agriculture-related issues, including the insistence of some food manufacturers on using the term “milk” on their concoctions made from soybeans, nuts, rice and other commodities. Another issue is whether the FDA or USDA should oversee the production of meat grown in petri dishes. Ranchers favor USDA for that job. We’re rooting for the good doctor to continue to simplify FSMA regulations and make sure they prevent food safety problems without preventing farmers, ranchers — and even brewers — from doing their jobs safely and efficiently. OTHER VIEWS The coming green wave RV parking area a downside to new fairgrounds facilities Another county fair is in the books. The nostalgia of animal barns, Ferris wheels, elephant ears, and camping at the fair often lingers in my mind. I was nervous about the change to the new fairgrounds, but sometimes change is necessary. I see great potential in the new location. My kids love the fair, and had a great time as always. I was quite disappointed in the camping area, though. The first year of camping at the new fairgrounds was challenging, but we understood because everything was new, and still being worked on. This year, we really thought that things would be improved. Instead, it was worse. Having no electricity or sewer is very difficult, especially in the heat. Our desire to be a part of the fair is strong enough to endure those difficult conditions, nonetheless. However, the weed infestation covering the camping area was just too much. The weeds left thorns (goatheads) everywhere. It was impossible to take a step anywhere outside the campers without getting a shoeful of thorns. Several pairs of shoes, our new RV hose, and camper carpet will never be the same. Instead of the usual fond memories of the fair, we have flashbacks of needles and tweezers, pulling out painful thorns. It was sad to me that more concern for the general people camping at the fair was not shown. I certainly hope that the county fair I take pride in attending will have an improved facility for camping by next year. Sara Taylor Athena CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES U.S. PRESIDENT Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ U.S. SENATORS Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 La Grande office: 541-962-7691 Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 Pendleton office: 541-278-1129 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Greg Walden 185 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6730 La Grande office: 541-624-2400 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. f emotions were water, and you took all the again, they’ll have to come through me,” says Xochitl heartbreak felt by the millions who followed the Torres Small, a Democrat with an even chance of plight of a starving orca whale grieving over her taking a longtime Republican seat in New Mexico, in dead calf, you’d have a river the size of the mighty an ad showing off her political chops. Columbia. The revolt started after Trump shrunk several If anger were a volcano, and you let loose all the national monuments in the West last year — the rage felt by people over the daily assaults on public largest rollback of public land protection in our land by the Trump administration, you’d have an history. Outdoor retailer Patagonia responded with a Timothy blank screen on their webpage with the words: “The eruption with the fury of Mount St. Helens. Egan And if just one unorganized voting segment, the President Stole Your Land.” It was the first shot in a Comment 60 million bird-watchers of America, sent a unified battle that has been raging all summer. political message this fall, you’d have a political block At the big, boisterous outdoor industry’s national with more than 10 times the membership of the National Rifle trade show in Denver last month, retailers who sell to the 144 Association. million Americans who participated in an outdoor activity A Green Wave is coming this November, the pent-up last year, or the 344 million overall visitors to national force of the most overlooked constituency in America. These parks, vowed to flex some muscle in the upcoming midterm independents, Teddy Roosevelt Republicans and Democrats elections. on the sideline have been largely silent as the Trump They scoffed at the absurdity of propping up coal when administration has tried to destroy a century of bipartisan love there are more yoga instructors in the United States than of the land. people who work to produce a filthy fuel source. They were But no more. Politics, like Newton’s third law of physics, appalled that the increasingly strange interior secretary, is about action and Ryan Zinke, blamed everything but climate reaction. While change for a summer President Donald of epic wildfires. And Trump tries to prop they promised to be up the dying and dirty heard this fall. coal industry with “We hunt and fish,” taxpayer subsidies, said Land Tawney, a the outdoor recreation Montanan who leads industry has been the fast-growing roaring along. It is Backcountry Hunters a $374-billion-a- and Anglers. “And we year economy, by the vote public lands and government’s own water.” calculation, and more Only 1 in 10 voters than twice that size by think Americans private estimates. should use more That’s more than coal. And more mining, oil, gas and than 80 percent of logging combined. millennials, soon to And yet, the centerpiece of a clean and growing industry is under attack by be the largest cohort of voters (if they ever turn out), believe there’s solid evidence behind these freakish manifestations of a president with a robber baron view of the natural world. an overheated earth. I write from the smoke-choked West, where the air quality Science, a huge majority believes, is not a conspiracy. And in major cities has been worse than Beijing this month. While yet, this huge majority has been ignored. These people are Trump spends his days comparing women to dogs, and tweets now ready to “put aside our differences and stand together nonsense about rivers flowing to the sea, the biggest wildfire for the places we love,” as Tawney and Yvon Chouinard, the in California history blazes away. founder of Patagonia, wrote in The Denver Post. After the four warmest years ever recorded, scientists have You will see it in Minnesota, where the 140,000 people now warned that the next five will be “anomalously warm.” who work in outdoor recreation are furious at Trump’s But Trump doesn’t even understand time zones, let alone attempt to open a sulfide-ore copper mine near Boundary atmospheric upheaval. Waters Wilderness. You will see it in a half-dozen tossup In face of these life-altering changes, Trump is drafting congressional races in California, where the administration rules to make it easier for major polluters to drive up the is mounting the biggest assault yet on public health, with its earth’s temperature. While the orcas of Puget Sound are attack on emission rules. starving, Trump is trying to weaken the law that protects If it’s self-interest powering the wave, such is the nature endangered species. And while lovers of the outdoors break of politics. At a time of real peril for the things that most visitation records at national parks and forests, Trump is Americans love, the silent green majority has had enough. removing land from protection. ■ This is not green goo-goo or fantasy projection. You can Timothy Egan worked for 18 years as a writer for The New see and feel the energy in places ignored by the national York Times, first as the Pacific Northwest correspondent, then as political press. a national enterprise reporter. “If D.C. comes for our public land, water or monuments I 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.