4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| AUGUST 15, 2018
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
C
The First Amendment
ongress shall make no law respecting an es-
tablishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800)
Lessons learned from the Dutch fl ood wall
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal to encourage
community discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
O
n Jan. 31, 1953, severe winds over
the North Sea sent a storm surge
flooding the Dutch province of
Zeeland. 1,836 people died, 30,000 farm
animals drowned and property damage
was wide spread.
While unusual in 1953, today unprec-
edented events of low-lying lands flood-
ing is a near certainty. Computer models
show the inexorable melting of Artic sea
ice and Greenland and Antartic ice sheets
and expansion of water as it warms, rais-
ing the oceans to inundating levels that
today are threatening Pacific atolls such
as the Marshall Islands and Indian Ocean
islands such as the Maldives (www.cli-
mate.nasa.gov/evidence).
Scientists have correlated the rising
oceans with the increase of carbon di-
oxide in the atmosphere. Their studies
of this historical correlation have estab-
lished the inescapable fact — fact, not the-
ory — of a direct cause and effect and its
inter-connectedness with human activity.
(See: Decoding the Weather Machine
Guest Viewpoint
By Arnold Buchman
Florence and Scottsdale, Ariz.
www.pbs.org/video/decoding-the-weath-
er-machine-vgqhot)
Rising sea levels are only the most omi-
nous threat to the ecolgical system. Hope
of mitigting these threats lies in reducing
the continuing introduction of carbon di-
oxide into the atmosphere.
But, instead of leading this effort, our
government has moved backwards, en-
couraging the production of fossil fuels
and, significantly, being the only nation
to not sign the Paris Accords.
In response to the 1953 Zeeland flood-
ing, the Dutch built an engineering mar-
vel; an 18.5 mile wall of dikes, sliding
gates and pontoons whose arms can be
filled with water to make them sink and
form a solid barrier to protect the densely
populated area behind it from the sea.
It took 50 years to complete at a cost
of $7 billion. We have neither the time
nor money to protect our 95,471 miles of
shoreline or the 125 million people liv-
ing in coastal cities and areas. But, rath-
er than ignore the virtual imminence of
this flooding threat in the hope that an
engineering marvel or scientific mircle
will save us, our government can work to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions instead
of talking nonsensically about building a
$10 billion, 1,000-mile wall to keep illegal
immigrants from flooding America.
We know the villian is carbon dioxide.
We know the threat is climate change.
Hope for a happy ending to the tale
rests with leadership that will make the
hard, political decisions necessary.
So far, it has not come forward.
Kudos to the incredible seniors and
caring staff of Spruce Point on their
first Art of Our Lives event, a won-
derful display of artwork done by the
multi-talented folks of Assisted Living
and Memory Care.
A special thanks to Heidi Turn-
er and Annette Poston who (along
with so many great and helpful staff)
started with a good idea and put in an
amazing amount of time and effort to
host this delightful community event.
—Anne Hasley
Florence
Stop dangerous
Jordan Cove Project
R ight now, we in Florence are about
to sit in on a Disaster Preparedness
Expo to help us get ready for an immi-
nent earthquake and tsunami.
Because of the Cascadia subduction
fault, our coastal communities are at a
greater risk of destruction and extend-
ed cut off of services.
Meanwhile our neighbor Coos Bay
is preparing for construction of the
Jordan Cove LNG (liquefied natural
gas) export terminal.
Canadian owned, it is bringing vol-
atile fracked gas from outside Oregon,
disturbing more than 400 Oregon
waterways, including the Klamath,
Rogue, Umpqua and Coquille rivers,
only to be shipped to Asia. The LNG
tanker terminal will sit in the middle
of a bay that provides important jobs
for numerous local fishermen and
shell fish producers.
To put a highly explosive fracked gas
pipeline and export terminal in our
coastal tsunami zone, where a magni-
tude 9 earthquake is hundreds of years
overdue is, in my opinion, beyond
reckless.
It has been rejected by both Califor-
nia and Washington state. This specif-
ic project, in Oregon, has been reject-
ed twice, largely due to rural resistance
from landowners along the pipeline
route refusing to sell their land.
It was revived with a third applica-
tion after the Trump administration
suggested they’d make sure it goes
through.
Our local and state leaders should be
using their authority to shut down this
project rather than actively promoting
it.
Oregon coastal communities can in-
vest instead in job producing non-pol-
luting sustainable green industries like
expanding our recreational and tour-
ism industries. Those sustainable jobs
actually provide 17 times as many jobs
per dollar of investment than oil proj-
ects like the LNG pipeline.
Please help stop this dangerous Jor-
dan Cove project in its tracks.
—Judy Kinsman
Florence
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Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Amazing show of
senior artwork
USPS# 497-660
A quick civics lesson
Recently a letter writer to the Siu-
slaw News desired to “make this coun-
try a democracy again.”
America has never been a democra-
cy.
In 1787, Dr. Franklin is purported
to have stated when queried whether
we had a republic or a monarchy, “A
republic, if you can keep it.”
In a republic, a charter of rights pro-
tects rights that cannot be taken away
by the government, even if it has been
elected by a majority of voters. In a
“pure democracy,” the majority is not
restrained in this way and can impose
its will on the minority.
Sadly, that republic has degenerated
into an oligarchy of elected officials
who no longer represent the citizenry,
instead spending half their time not
on our business but on filling their re-
spective party’s coffers.
Thomas Jefferson stated in 1781, “It
is the manners and spirit of a people
which preserve a republic in vigor. A
degeneracy in these is a canker which
soon eats to the heart of its laws and
constitution.”
Those who clamor for a democracy
may soon rue their desire when the
political winds shift and are left hold-
ing the short end of the stick.
From ancient Greece onwards, the
dustbin of history is filled with failed
states where a rule of law was sup-
planted by that of the mob.
—Ian Eales
Florence
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor as
part of a community discussion of issues on the local,
state and national level.
Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed
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As with all letters and advertising content, the news-
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ter that doesn’t follow the above criteria.
Emal letters to:
nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com
WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@state.or.us
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us