KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAy, JANUARy 27, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Will new
climate
policy
create bad
incentives?
T
he story is that, in colonial India,
the British governor wanted to get
rid of the cobras in Delhi. He set
a bounty. It was high enough that people
started raising cobras to make money.
It’s what people call the cobra effect
or perverse incentives. The best plans
motivated by the best of intentions can go
awry.
One of the best plans with the best of
intentions in Oregon is arguably from
Gov. Kate Brown.
If Oregon gets it right, the new climate
friendly housing and transportation poli-
cies Brown ordered for the state will lead
to a much changed state.
More dense housing. More mixed-use
development. Taller buildings. More use
of bikes, walking and transit. Less park-
ing.
More focus on looking at policies
through an equity lens.
State committees are writing the rules
and regulations to require those kinds of
changes right now.
That may not be the kind of place you
dream of living in. But the motivation is
to transform the state into something that
reduces the impact on climate change, is
more equitable and is just a smarter way
for people to live and get to and from
where they need to go.
A challenge the proposed changes
face is creating perverse incentives. For
instance, by compelling larger communi-
ties in Oregon, such as the greater Bend
area, to adhere to the new policies, will
it drive people, businesses and develop-
ment into areas that don’t face the most
demanding requirements?
Think about an example. The proposed
rules will require larger areas to focus
development in what are called climate
friendly areas. That is where 30% of
needed housing will need to be built. In
Bend, maybe that would be in the city’s
core.
Requirements for housing might
become more dense than they are now.
Rules would discourage the use of cars
and encourage the use of bikes, walking
and transit.
If Bend wanted to expand its urban
growth boundary under the proposed
rules, it would need to identify a new
climate friendly area within the city’s
current limits to meet half of the housing
needed. The other half would be allowed
in the expansion.
Will people want to live in more
concentrated development? Some will.
Others may look to move where the limits
don’t apply.
Developers may find it easier to
build where the requirements may be
less stringent. Businesses may want to
locate there, too. Smaller communities
in Oregon below 10,000 in population
or 5,000 in population where the rules
will be more flexible may see an influx
of growth. That wouldn’t exactly be what
Brown intended.
Maybe it will never happen like that.
But how will policymakers design the
rules to avoid it?
Who really has their head in the sand?
TAMMY
MALGESINI
INSIDE MY SHOES
I
’m afraid Pendleton Chamber of
Commerce President Velda Arnaud
is going to suffocate if she remains
steadfast to her recent statement in a
letter to chamber members.
“I will be sticking my head in the
sand until some sense of sanity returns
to the world,” she wrote.
I joked with one of my friends that
there goes her Supreme Court nomina-
tion, but it’s no laughing matter. I am
amazed in this day and age that Arnaud
would think it’s perfectly fine to refuse
to use a person’s preferred pronoun,
saying she “worked too hard to learn
English grammar to just willy-nilly
make changes.”
The English language is constantly
changing. I still recall the first time
I heard alternate usage of the word
“sick.” My husband and I were in a
ski shop in Colorado and the clerk
said John’s shirt was sick. Initially,
I thought the dude didn’t like it, but
when he asked where I bought it, he
went on about how awesome it was.
And just like “The Times They Are
A-Changin’,” written by Bob Dylan in
the early 1960s, the times continue to
change. If my 82-year-old conserva-
tive Christian mom can have an open
mind, I would think that 60-something
Arnaud could retrain herself.
In her philosophy of education,
available via a link from her instructor
page on the Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College website, Arnaud states,
“It’s the instructor’s job to encourage
and help students grow, not to put them
down.”
And she further states, “Another
thing that is important to teach our
students is that each one of them has
value. While we cannot necessarily
eliminate low self-esteem, I feel that
we can increase self-confidence.”
It seems Arnaud has made a connec-
tion with students, being recognized
in the May 2021 Staff Spotlight by the
BMCC Associated Student Govern-
ment. Maybe it’s time for Arnaud’s
students to become her teachers.
My parents, who live in Coos Bay,
don’t have internet access. However,
they watch the news and when they
don’t understand something, they ask.
I have explained such things as Uber
and social media platforms, as well as
nonbinary and pangender.
A few years ago when a former
high school football player came out
as a transgender woman a couple of
months prior to my 40-year high school
reunion, I talked about Marcia with my
mom. We recently discussed having no
real understanding of what it must have
been like for Marcia growing up and
living the majority of her adult life as
a male.
We discussed that the least we can
do is honor people’s wishes by address-
ing them by their preferred pronouns.
Somewhat surprised by my mom’s
response, I said, “Well, aren’t you
progressive?”
I’m proud of my mom. While she
may not understand, she’s willing to
accept people for who they are.
Marcia died due to complications
from gallbladder surgery in Novem-
ber 2020. I’m glad she was able to live
her last few years as her authentic self
and felt love and acceptance from her
family, friends and former classmates
— including being addressed with her
preferred pronouns.
———
Tammy Malgesini, the East Orego-
nian community writer, enjoys spending
time with her husband and two German
shepherds, as well as entertaining
herself with random musings.
because he can’t blame “The Donald.”
I do hope for his sake that he can put
his hatred for Trump aside and get on
with his life.
Walt Jarvie
Pendleton
public knew BPA was withdrawing
from ownership of the B2H in 2019
when Idaho Power informed the state
utility commissions. In 2021 the Oregon
Public Utility Commission told Idaho
Power to recalculate B2H’s budget to
show PacifiCorp 54% ownership and
Idaho Power’s 45% ownership, adjusted
for inflation. The budget of $1.2 billon
was developed in 2016. It is signifi-
cantly outdated. In Idaho Power’s most
recent filing to the Oregon Public Util-
ity Commission in December, there is
still no budget documentation. Idaho
Power says it will provide a transmis-
sion supplement with a detailed anal-
ysis in the first quarter of 2022. The
company must still be crunching the
numbers, attempting to justify its ability
to finance almost half the B2H trans-
mission line.
Idaho Power expects us to accept that
doubling its financial obligations will
still be the least cost/least risk scenario
for customers. Meanwhile they continue
plans to pillage the landscape of East-
ern Oregon while serving landowners
pre-condemnation papers for a project
that is still years from approval. I don’t
trust them and neither should you.
Jim Kreider
La Grande
YOUR VIEWS
Put your hatred
of Trump aside
This is in reference to Mr. Bob
Shippentower’s letter in the Jan. 18
edition of the East Oregonian (“Charge
former President Trump with criminal
conduct”) in which he suggested that
Donald Trump should be charged with
felony manslaughter for his role in the
Jan. 6 riots during which seven people
died.
As in most of his rants against Trump
in the last five years, he offers no facts
or proof that Trump was responsible for
any of what happened on Jan. 6.
He references the fact that President
Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General
Merrick Garland place the blame on
Trump as his proof.
Of the seven deaths, Shippentower
references only one directly related to
the violence, and that was an unarmed
female protestor shot by an armed
government employee. The rest were of
natural causes, according to most news
sources.
I wonder where his outrage is over the
riots following George Floyd’s death and
the failure of officials to charge people
for the deaths, destruction and devasta-
tion caused by these thugs? I guess it’s
Idaho Power
avoids the full story
The headline in the East Oregonian
on Jan. 19, 2022: “Power Companies
announce deal on B2H” doesn’t tell the
full story. It should read: “BPA pulls
out of ownership of the B2H; enters into
transmission agreement.”
After 16 years of analysis, the
Bonneville Power Administration
decided that owning a portion of the
Boardman to Hemingway transmission
line was not financially viable for them.
Instead, in order to serve their custom-
ers in southeast Idaho, the BPA will give
some unneeded equipment and trans-
mission rights in return for lower wheel-
ing charges (the fee to move energy on
other companies’ transmission lines).
In return, Idaho Power must absorb
BPA’s share of 24%, bringing Idaho
Power’s total share from 21% to 45%,
more than doubling their cost. The