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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2019)
East Oregonian A4 Thursday, June 13, 2019 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner ANDREW CUTLER Editor WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor JADE McDOWELL Hermiston Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Debate over wolves a failed enterprise T he debate about wolves in this state is a testament to failed expectations, culture differences and the inability to find a common ground, and it’s gone on far too long. Just recently Gov. Kate Brown stepped into what can only be termed as a political and cultural morass when she raised concerns about the new version of the state’s wolf management plan approved last week. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission OK’d a revised edi- tion of the wolf management blue- print June 7 and, not surprisingly, it faced criticism from conservation groups. Brown entered the fray and indicated the revised plan did not do enough to guarantee a healthy wolf population. In short, Brown told the wildlife commissioners they need to come up with a better plan. Meanwhile, wolf conservationists are particular incensed by a piece of the revised plan that narrowly defines “chronic depredation” in Eastern Oregon. Under the revised plan ranchers could — conceivably ODFW Photo, File Oregon Fish and Wildlife commissioners approved a new management plan June 7 for gray wolves, a long-awaited document that sets protocols for potential hunts and new thresholds for when the agency may kill wolves after attacks on cattle and sheep. — ask that wolves be eliminated after two confirmed kills within nine months. Conservationist have other issues with the revised plan as well and it doesn’t appear there will be a suit- able solution to all parties — con- servationists, the governor, state wildlife officials and ranchers — any time soon. The Oregon Wolf plan is designed to be updated every five years. The last update was in 2010. Then there were 21 wolves in Ore- gon; now there are more than 130. Officials began to work on an update last year but that included a mediator and representatives from conservation, ranching and hunting organizations. But talks fell apart when representatives from conser- vation groups walked away from the negotiation table. Their fear was the plan was predicated on a prede- termined outcome. There fears may be justified, but it is hard to know for sure. The fail- ure of the negotiations, though, sends a message that educated indi- viduals that should be able to find a solution, can’t. It sends the message that this process isn’t really about what is best for the wolves but who gets to win. Negotiation isn’t based on who gets to win. It is based on debate, vigorous — but respectful — dis- cussion and compromise. What is really best for the wolves in Oregon? Good question, and a bunch of different groups — and the governor — think they know. Yet they seem collectively unable to find a compromise and move a complicated and contentious issue forward. The various groups at the wolf management table need to come back together and work out a compromise. Not in six months or two years. Now. OTHER VIEWS Connect the dots to see where Trump’s taking us J ust when you think you’ve seen and But then The Post reported that May heard it all from Donald Trump, he 11 in a town “near the entrance to the sinks to a new low that leaves you Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia, the speechless and wondering: Is he crazy, temperature surged to 84 degrees Fahr- is he evil, is he maniacally committed enheit” — in May! Near the Arctic! And to unwinding every good thing Barack this happened at the same time that “the Obama did, or is he just plain stupid? concentration of carbon dioxide in the I mean, what president would try to atmosphere eclipsed 415 parts per mil- weaken emission standards so Ameri- lion for the first time in human history.” can-made cars could pollute more, so our Now let’s go to Dot No. 2: On May kids could breathe dirtier air in the age 30, the National Weather Service of climate change and when clean energy declared that in the continental U.S. systems are becoming the next great “there’s never been a wetter 12 months global industry and China is focused on than the period that recently ended” — dominating it? since it began keeping records 124 years Seriously, who does that? ago, CNN reported. But this But that’s the initiative global weirding not only dev- Trump has embarked upon of astated Midwestern farmers, late — an industrial policy to requiring huge insurance pay- revive all the dirty industries of outs, it also hammered the U.S. the past and to undermine the military. clean industries of the future. The Air Force had to request It is a policy initiative that $4.9 billion to repair just two is not only perverse on its face, weather-ravaged bases. As NPR but that utterly fails to connect reported, “About one-third of T homas so many dots that are right now Offutt Air Force Base, in east- F riedman harming our national security, ern Nebraska, was underwater COMMENT economy, weather and competi- earlier this month as flooding tion with China. hit large swaths of the Midwest. Think of the dots Trump refuses to And Tyndall Air Force Base in the Flor- connect: ida Panhandle was hit hard by Hurricane Dot No. 1: Get the term “global Michael in October.” warming” out of your head. What’s actu- The then-Air Force secretary, Heather ally happening is better described as Wilson, declared “that 61 projects — “global weirding.” The warming of the consisting largely of operations and atmosphere makes the weather weird. maintenance — at air bases in 18 states First, the hots get hotter. This then leads would not happen if the supplemental to greater evaporation, which means disaster funding does not come through.” there’s more water vapor in clouds for Dot No. 3: So June 6, Trump signed precipitation. So the wets get wetter and a $19.1 billion disaster relief bill, boast- the floods get wider. But the droughts in ing: “Just signed Disaster Aid Bill to dry areas also get drier. help Americans who have been hit by Some of the colds can even get colder, recent catastrophic storms. So important as when a weakened polar vortex, which for our GREAT American farmers and normally keeps cold air trapped in the ranchers.” Arctic, allows more frigid polar air to Dot No. 4: THE VERY SAME DAY, push southward into the U.S. At the The New York Times reported, “The same time, the hurricanes that are fueled world’s largest automakers warned Pres- by warmer ocean temperatures get more ident Trump on Thursday that one of violent. his most sweeping deregulatory efforts That’s why you’re seeing weird — his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution weather extremes in all directions. So, standards — threatens to cut their profits The Washington Post reported that in and produce ‘untenable’ instability in a Montana: “On March 3, the low tem- crucial manufacturing sector. perature tanked to a bone-chilling “In a letter signed by 17 companies minus-32 in Great Falls. Combined with including Ford, General Motors, Toy- a high of minus-8, the day finished a ota and Volvo, the automakers asked Mr. whopping 50 degrees below normal.” Trump to go back to the negotiating table At the time, the city was in its longest on the planned rollback of one of Presi- stretch below freezing on record. dent Barack Obama’s signature policies 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. to fight climate change.” The story explained that Trump’s new rule “would all but eliminate the Obama-era auto pollution regulations, essentially freezing mileage standards at about 37 miles per gallon for cars, down from a target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.” And because California and 13 other states are committed to fulfilling Obama’s or other higher standards, and will go to court to make sure they can, it will split the U.S. auto market into two — a huge problem for the car companies. Personally, I have no sympathy for the automakers. They brought this on themselves. They, and those in Congress who coddle them, have a long history of assisted suicide. They got the GOP to more or less freeze the 1980s mileage improvement standards that grew out of the 1970s oil crisis, claiming it would be too expen- sive for them to keep improving. And what did we get? More pollution in America and therefore more childhood asthma and other health costs, and a bankrupt auto industry that had to be bailed out in 2008 in part because the Japanese out-innovated it in the 1980s and 1990s by holding to higher mileage standards and creating more fuel-effi- cient fleets. And now these same foolish and self- ish Detroit auto executives, in combina- tion with Trump’s coal-lobby-led Envi- ronmental Protection Agency, want to rerun the same play. The companies just wanted Trump to not get as crazy in roll- ing back standards as he did. As any industrial designer will tell you, smart, steadily rising environmen- tal standards spur innovation and inspire companies to race to the top and become global market leaders. Obama’s emission standards spurred the U.S. auto industry to catch up, and now Trump wants the companies to slow down their innovation and pollute more, in order to drive up their short-term profits. It’s like burning your furniture to heat your house. As University of Oregon law profes- sor Greg Dotson, a former senior energy congressional staffer, pointed out in an essay on theconversation.com titled “Why EPA’s U-turn on Auto Efficiency Rules Gives China the Upper Hand”: “Reversing course on the EPA’s tailpipe standards threatens to yield this compet- itive advantage to other nations … Chi- na’s recently adopted goals for plug-in vehicles overtake California’s program by requiring an aggressive deploy- ment of plug-in vehicles beginning in 2019 with a target of seven million new plug-in cars sold per year by 2025. The Chinese government is even openly dis- cussing the appropriate date to discon- tinue sales of internal combustion engine vehicles within China.” Yup, let’s make China great again! If you want to know what a real presi- dent would be doing, just look at Michael Bloomberg’s “Beyond Carbon” initiative, which has committed $500 million for the biggest coordinated campaign ever to promote clean energy. Nine new governors were elected in 2018 on platforms to power their states by 100% clean energy, as California has already committed itself to. Some are small, like New Mexico, and may need technical assistance for their plans. “Beyond Carbon” is designed to sup- port such states. It also offers aid to util- ities, cities and businesses that need help or staffing to adopt innovative programs to clean their air and water and to lower carbon emissions, particularly by shut- ting down coal power plants and replac- ing them with clean energy. Alas, when you actually connect all of the dots they draw a line pointing straight backward: Trump is trying to lower auto emis- sion/mileage standards that were mak- ing our car companies more competitive against efficient Chinese and Japa- nese automakers — and making our air cleaner — while Trump is signing mul- tibillion-dollar bailouts for farmers and Air Force bases ravaged by extreme weather that has been amplified by cli- mate change that is amplified by car- bon pollution, while Trump is having his bureaucrats hide evidence of cli- mate change and while Trump is forc- ing Americans to pay billions in tariffs on Chinese imports to protect against, among other things, future compe- tition from Chinese electric vehicles that have zero emissions and zero oil consumption. This is not strategic. This is not win- ning. This is not patriotic. It’s just fool- ish, destructive and cynical. ——— Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist, was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in Bei- rut and Israel and one for commentary. 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 the editor to editor@eastoregonian.com, or via mail to Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
