Saturday, October 30, 2021
VIEWPOINTS
East Oregonian
A5
Sticking with the facts despite changes
ANDREW
CUTLER
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
O
ften I hear about the death of jour-
nalism or, at the very least, that the
business has changed.
I agree journalism has changed. As far
as its death, I think the naysayers are more
than a bit premature.
That’s because no matter what happens
going forward in our world, people always
will want an independent news source that
can give them the clearest roadway to the
truth as possible. Anymore, though, there is
even controversy over what is the truth, or
what is true. In our business we stick to the
facts. Facts are the basic building block on
the way to finding the underlaying truth in
any issue. If a reporter can gather the facts,
then a story can be built that — hopefully
— presents the truth.
Newspapers — in whatever form
— and at their best provide people in a
community with an unbiased review of
a specific subject. If done correctly, a
story will deliver a set of facts that add
up to a fundamental truth. It’s not fancy,
and really isn’t all that complicated, but it
can be difficult. That’s because facts can
sometimes be hard to find. Or those facts
are shrouded inside a bureaucracy where
transparency isn’t a normal course.
That’s why what our reporters do is
often difficult. Not only do they have a
boss who is asking — demanding — for a
story to be complete, but they must get the
facts straight. In a good newsroom, facts
and being factual are a big deal. Because
when everything is said and done, all we
must stand on is our reporting and our facts.
We can’t fall back on excuses or blame the
government if we make a mistake. We must
own that mistake — take responsibility —
then painstakingly discover how a fact was
missed or was wrong.
We built our entire structure on facts.
Sometimes finding those facts is easy. The
facts of a car crash, for example, are initially
clear. There was a crash. Someone was
hurt or not hurt. Yet, when you are trying
to wade through reams of public records to
find a significant fact, the task can be daunt-
ing. Either way, though, our reporters must
strive always to find those facts and report
them accurately.
We have only our reputations as accurate
and fair producers of news to fall back on,
and that is why we must always strive to be
precise in our reporting.
———
Andrew Cutler is the publisher/editor of
the East Oregonian and the regional editorial
director for the EO Media Group, overseeing
the East Oregonian and five more newspapers
in Eastern Oregon.
Climate efforts need robust push
buildings are upgraded to perform better
by wasting less energy.
These improvements will save Orego-
BRAD
nians
money on utilities and fuel bills,
REED
and protect our health from air pollution,
OTHER VIEWS
which means fewer trips to the doctor
with ailments such as asthma, fewer
n any given year, some Oregonians
missed days of work and school, fewer
thrive while others struggle. Lately
expensive medicines to buy, and longer
though, no one is untouched by
lives.
society-wide crises, one after the next,
The Climate Protection Program has a
breaking on us like waves in a relentless
lot
of potential to help Oregon hold large
tide.
polluters
accountable. Yet, the draft rules
People all express similar feelings:
DEQ
has
put forward are only a half-
overwhelmed, tired, and at a loss.
step toward fulfilling what Oregonians
The global pandemic continues to
deserve and demand.
disrupt our lives. The dangerous heat-
For more than a year, Oregonians
ing of the globe has erased hope and
from
business and labor, public health
doubt — hope we would be spared from
and environmental action, tribes, youth,
the climate crisis in the
and people of faith
Northwest and doubt
about the existential
MOST OF US DO and communities
on the front line of
threat from disap-
OUR PART. IT’S
the climate crisis
pearing water, raging
wildfires, and fatal heat
have joined together
TIME FOR BIG
waves.
to demand a bolder
These global crises
from DEQ.
CORPORATIONS, program
overwhelm us as indi-
Hundreds of
viduals, making us feel
SUCH AS OIL
Oregonians have
powerless. Yet we have
public
COMPANIES, TO submitted
a chance to do our part
comments to demand
if we raise our voices
significant
SHOW THE SAME three
together.
changes to strengthen
Oregon is not
the program before
LEVEL OF
taking responsibil-
it becomes final this
ity for its share of the
RESPONSIBILITY year:
climate crisis. Despite
No. 1: Follow the
FOR CUTTING
important strides over
science. DEQ must
the last decade or
adopt stronger targets
POLLUTION.
more, climate pollu-
that will cut climate
tion continues to rise,
pollution in half by
primarily from burning fossil fuels and
2030,
as
scientific
consensus
says we
primarily at the hands of the state’s larg-
must.
est corporate polluters.
No. 2: Hold industrial polluters
Often we hear about reducing
accountable.
While the program covers
personal waste to save the planet. Drive
many
major
polluters,
many others
less, recycle more. We witnessed the
convinced DEQ to give them loopholes
limits of changing personal habits when
and excuse them from the pollution cap.
the pandemic forced us into it, at least
These major industrial polluters must
for a time.
also be required to reduce emissions.
Our constrained lifestyles barely
No. 3: Invest to reduce pollution and
made a dent in global warming pollution.
benefit frontline communities. DEQ
Our collective individual actions briefly
dropped climate pollution by roughly
has designed an alternative for large
7%, about the amount scientists say we
polluters in the program to pay for clean
have to achieve every year to stave off
energy projects in Oregon communi-
the worst global upheaval. It turns out
ties, rather than reduce their own pollu-
the “personal carbon footprint” was an
tion. The rules for these investments are
invention of the fossil fuel industry to
too vague. They must include stronger
keep us from demanding better behavior language to guarantee both real pollution
from them. Not anymore.
reductions and investment in commu-
Most of us do our part. It’s time for
nities hit hardest by climate change and
big corporations, such as oil companies,
fossil fuel pollution — low-income,
to show the same level of responsibil-
rural, Black, Indigenous and communi-
ity for cutting pollution. The Oregon
ties of color.
Department of Environmental Quality
After a thorough process with a
is close to wrapping up a year-plus long
lot of input, these protections must be
process to create a program to hold these
huge fossil fuel polluters accountable for strengthened and adopted without delay.
Oregonians simply cannot afford to lock
what they put into our air and water. It’s
in another year of pollution as usual.
called the Climate Protection Program.
It’s time for Gov. Kate Brown and the
Oregon will require some of the
Oregon Environmental Quality Commis-
state’s largest polluters to transition off
sion, both of whom oversee DEQ, to
of fossil fuels in the coming decades by
answer the call for a Climate Protection
adopting clean, energy efficient technol-
Program that lives up to its name.
ogies — a necessary change to protect
———
our health and create economic oppor-
Brad Reed is the campaign manager
tunity to build back better than before.
for Renew Oregon, a statewide coali-
Each year, less pollution will be allowed
tion working to move the state to a clean
as clean power, such as wind and solar,
energy economy with good jobs and
come online, more zero-emissions
healthier, more equitable communities.
vehicles hit the road and our homes and
I
Who does the proposed River
Democracy Act really benefit?
LYNN FINDLEY
MARK OWENS
OTHER VIEWS
S
en. Ron Wyden has proposed adding
more than 4,700 miles of waterways
to the federal Wild & Scenic Rivers
System in Oregon. With half-mile no-touch
buffers, the River Democracy Act will
apply access and management restrictions
to 3 million acres of federal land, much
of it in our communities in Northeastern
Oregon.
There are significant issues still unad-
dressed and important questions still unan-
swered for such a consequential bill that is
now moving through the U.S. Senate.
For starters, there are no detailed maps
available from federal agencies that allow
Oregonians to see where these designations
are, and how these designations would
affect private property, public access and
other traditional uses such as ranching. The
only available map on the internet appears
to be produced by a Portland environmen-
tal group that helped write the bill.
Secondly, the original Wild & Scenic
Rivers Act was intended to preserve certain
rivers with outstanding natural, cultural
and recreational values in a free-flowing
condition. From a list provided by the bill’s
supporters, we know 85% of the bill’s Wild
& Scenic designations would be applied to
small creeks, gulches, draws and unnamed
tributaries — many of which are not
free-flowing and do not even carry water
throughout the year.
If these small creeks, gulches, draws
and unnamed tributaries are worthy of such
a designation, why does this bill subvert
the careful administrative study and review
process under the original act? And why
does this bill impose half-mile buffers in
these areas, when the Wild & Scenic Rivers
Act only calls for quarter-mile buffers?
Federal lands are at high risk of wild-
fire and need active management, thin-
ning and fuels reduction work. Wildfires
in recent years have scorched watersheds
and degraded water quality as sediment
and ash is deposited into our river systems.
In 2020, more than 76% of acres burned in
Oregon occurred on lands managed by the
U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management.
Management already is restricted in
riparian areas. Would imposing even more
restrictions through Wild & Scenic desig-
nations and half-mile buffers really make it
easier to reduce wildfire risks?
Oregonians are right to ask why the
River Democracy Act will add more
restrictions to 3 million acres at a time
when land management agencies are strug-
gling to implement proven and proactive
forest management activities to reduce the
risks of wildfires to forests and watersheds.
The reasons for agency inaction include
a lack of funding and personnel, and
the cost and time it takes them to satisfy
exhaustive analysis and regulatory require-
ments. In addition to the half-mile buffers,
the River Democracy Act will require
agencies to prepare exhaustive river
management plans that will take years to
complete, drain agency resources and open
the door to ongoing and additional litiga-
tion.
Proponents of the bill claim the River
Democracy Act will support wildfire
prevention efforts and protect private
property rights. Yet history shows Wild
& Scenic River designations only encour-
age more lawsuits and analysis paralysis,
especially where they intersect with private
property and other public land uses.
As this bill advances through Congress,
citizens should be asking: What does the
bill actually do, why is it necessary and
does it really benefit rural and frontier
Oregon?
———
Sen. Lynn Findley (Senate District 30)
and Rep. Mark Owens (House District 60),
both Republicans, represent Eastern Oregon
in the state Legislature.
It’s a scary thing when ghostbusting hits home
TAMMY
MALGESINI
INSIDE MY SHOES
I
recently started watching a hilarious
new comedy on CBS. “Ghosts” is about
a young urban couple who are excited
about the prospects of inheriting an old
country estate.
The fact the structure is in great disrepair
is the least of Samantha and Jay’s worries
— it’s inhabited by the spirits of numerous
of its past residents. And after a blow to the
head, Samantha is able to see and communi-
cate with them.
I was always a bit of a skeptic when it
came to ghosts and things that go bump in
the night. I wanted to believe there’s a ratio-
nal explanation for eerie things.
I’ve worked on several stories, follow-
ing teams of paranormal investigators. I
remember one time at Pendleton Center for
the Arts, a team member was all wide-eyed
while speculating what it was they were
seeing through the darkened window. Peer-
ing in, I rolled my eyes, thinking they had
an incredibly wild imagination.
When people would share about their
supposed ghostly encounters, I found
myself questioning their sanity — maybe
even rolling my eyes. Then I experienced a
weird and unexplainable phenomenon. And
it didn’t just happen once, it occurred three
times.
My husband and I received a set of
glasses as a wedding gift. We were pretty
excited because John and I seemed to be
hard on glasses, always breaking them —
and they were a matching set with three
different sizes!
As far as glass goes, they were incred-
ibly sturdy. After more than three years
and two moves, they had survived without
a single one of them getting broken. And
then, within a period of several hours three
of them were destroyed.
The morning after moving into a house
in Hermiston, I went into the bedroom to
get a glass off the nightstand. I stopped
in my tracks — the whole top of the glass
was missing. I carried its remains into the
kitchen to show John.
While we stood there pondering what
could possibly have happened leading to the
glass’s demise, we heard an explosion in the
cabinet.
After exchanging bewildered looks, I
cautiously opened the cabinet. The glass in
the very center had exploded, leaving shards
of glass throughout the shelf. A bit freaked
out, I removed all of them and began rinsing
them off.
To ward off bad juju and to add levity
to the situation, I started repeating, “Devil
glasses, I’m not afraid. Devil glasses, I’m
not afraid.” And then, one of them exploded
in my hand. I bolted out the front door into
the yard.
Despite only sleeping in the house for
one night, I was ready to move. With the
promise of a dog and getting rid of the
rest of the glasses, John convinced me to
return inside. I have no idea what caused
the strange phenomenon, but we lived in the
house for six years with no further strange
occurrences.
To quote a phrase from the movie
“Ghostbusters, “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts”
— well, maybe just a little.
———
Tammy Malgesini, the East Oregonian
community writer, enjoys spending time with
her husband and two German shepherds, as
well as entertaining herself with random
musings.