A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Another voice on
lower Snake dams
A
n obscure division within the Office of the President
now wants to weigh in on the fate of four dams on the
lower Snake River.
Another voice that appears to be leaning toward removing the
dams.
In a March 28 blog post, the White House Council on Envi-
ronmental Quality outlined its efforts to study breaching the
dams. Those efforts included a March 21 “Nation to Nation”
meeting between federal agencies and leaders of the Tribes of the
Columbia River Basin.
The Council on Environmental Quality was established during
the Nixon administration under the National Environmental
Policy Act. According to the council’s website, it is charged with
coordinating “the federal government’s efforts to improve, pre-
serve and protect America’s public health and environment.”
According to the blog, the council last fall convened lead-
ers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration, Army Corps of Engineers and the Bon-
neville Power Administration.
The group will “build on existing analyses to identify a dura-
ble path forward that ensures a clean energy future, supports
local and regional economies, and restores ecosystem function,
while honoring longstanding commitments to Tribal Nations,”
the blog states.
“We cannot continue business as usual. Doing the right thing
for salmon, Tribal Nations, and communities can bring us to-
gether. It is time for effective, creative solutions,” the blog states.
The fix might be in.
“We heard calls to support breaching the four dams on the
lower Snake River to restore a more natural flow, also about the
need to replace the services provided by those dams, and recog-
nition that such a step would require congressional action,” the
blog post reads. “We were asked to consider the Basin holistically
because of its inherent interconnectedness.”
OK. Let’s consider the farmers and other people who depend
on the river.
The dams in southeast Washington generate electricity and al-
low farmers to move grain by barge down the Columbia River’s
main tributary.
Without the dams, the river would be too shallow to barge
wheat and other farm goods the roughly 100 miles between
Lewiston, Idaho and the Tri-Cities. Lake Sacajawea, a reser-
voir created by Ice Harbor Dam, irrigates 47,000 acres. The loss
of electricity generated by the dams would increase the cost of
pumping groundwater.
The agriculture and shipping communities remain wary of
discussions on the fate of the dams.
“We continue to be engaged with the administration at CEQ,”
Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Asso-
ciation of Wheat Growers, said. “Looking at the blog, we would
have liked to see more focus on the impact this would have had
on farmers across the country.”
Removing the dams would come at the expense of the en-
tire region that depends on low-cost and reliable electricity the
dams provide and the livelihoods of farmers, barge operators,
deck hands, dock workers in the region and the vendors who
support them.
It continues to be a bad idea.
█
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City Herald. Columns, letters and cartoons on
this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
YOUR VIEWS
Grateful to first responders
who helped with our fire
I wish to extend mine and my
wife’s heartfelt gratitude and thank-
fulness to all those who assisted us in
a very serious lifesaving experience;
from the 911 operator that morning
to the following Fire Department
crews under Fire Chief Shawn Lee;
Baker City Fire Department, Baker
Rural Fire Department, Bowen Rural
Fire Department and Haines Rural
Fire Department, and the city po-
liceman who brought us very good
news, as well as our blessed neigh-
borhood/friends with such heartfelt
love and support. And a very special
thank you to our dear friends and
neighbors, David and Karen Yeakley.
So very humbling to say the least to
all the outpouring of love and sup-
port we have received. We will be
forever grateful. I would be amiss if
I forgot to mention One Call Resto-
ration of La Grande who showed up
early in the morning to assist us with
clean up and moving and continue to
care for us.
All first responders respond with
a heart of love for their brethren. If
only we all would exhibit the same
heart for one another as their exam-
ple. See, imagine what a righteous
and lovingkindness world we would
be living in today. ... a culture of love.
For all those who are for defunding
our local fire departments, law en-
forcement and all our first responders
who are GOD’s love to save and pro-
tect us and our families: It is written,
from the heart flows all the issues of
life. They were as angels from heaven
saving our house and all of my clay
and wax original art work. Any politi-
cian or others advocating the defund-
ing of any of these (your) services
standing between life and death situ-
ations are part of the problem today,
not the solution. Votes do have con-
sequences. For the sake of righteous-
ness we all must now stand for righ-
teousness for the sake of our families,
brothers and sisters, and the life more
abundantly that our Lord promises to
those of us who obey doing His Word
in the earth as it is in heaven. Thy
Kingdom come, Thy Will be done
in earth as it is in Heaven, in and
through us is His Will for us.
We are so thankful for our Lord
awakening us at 3:30 a.m. and direct-
ing me to my closed artist’s studio
of fire and His presence throughout
the whole ordeal to minimize dam-
age until the fire crews arrived and
successfully extinguishing the blaze.
Some even entering the house and
hauling out my art work to safe areas
and tarping and protecting those that
could not be removed. God said He
will give us beauty for ashes.
For me it was an amazing spiri-
tual encounter with my Lord, Him
feeding me His Word and promises
from the moment I got out of bed
throughout the whole ordeal with
such peace, surpassing all under-
standing. With God all things are
possible; courage and strength was
given me far beyond human carnal
flesh prior to fire crews arriving. It
was as though time stopped, I liter-
ally felt the anointing and the Father
within me doing the work, as if I was
watching from above. ... He shouted
“suffocate it” as I was leaving the
room to go outside to hose down the
flames going up the wall. Praise God!
Let us Rejoice in the Lord always, for
He is faithful.
Glory Be to God!
May the Grace of God be upon us
all and for our nation.
Don and Charlotte Beck
Baker City
County’s constitution
resolution is meaningless
Pyrrhic victory. That expression
perfectly describes the action taken
April 20 by Commissioners Bill Har-
vey and Mark Bennett, who voted
to pass “Resolution No. 2022-1007:
Re-Affirming the Constitutional
Rights of Baker County Citizens.”
Keep in mind that Baker County
United also demanded Baker City
Council pass its proposed resolution.
Baker City Council completely ig-
nored that demand.
The resolution was passed by one
ruling body and completely ignored
by another.
So, I ask Commissioners Harvey
and Bennett, do Baker County citi-
zens now have even one more protec-
tion of their rights than the citizens
of Baker City?
A synonym for “Pyrrhic victory”
is “meaningless,” as in not worth the
effort, which perfectly describes all
the attention Baker County Com-
mission has wasted on Baker County
United’s demand that the County
pass its resolutions.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500;
202-456-1111; to send comments, go to www.
whitehouse.gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office: 313 Hart
Senate Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington,
D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997.
Portland office: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-
326-3386; fax 503-326-2900. Baker City office,
1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-1129; merkley.
senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office: Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962- treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite
7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
100, Salem OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): D.C.
office: 1239 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax
202-225-5774. Medford office: 14 N. Central
Avenue Suite 112, Medford, OR 97850; Phone:
541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-0204; Ontario office:
2430 S.W. Fourth Ave., No. 2, Ontario, OR 97914;
Phone: 541-709-2040. bentz.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol,
Salem, OR 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.
oregon.gov.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F.
Rosenblum: Justice Building, Salem, OR 97301-
4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents
and information are available online at www.leg.
state.or.us.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem
office: 900 Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR
97301; 503-986-1730. Email: Sen.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov
COLUMN
Savoring the first day that truly feels like spring
I
walked out into the sunshine and
immediately felt as though grav-
ity’s tug was a trifle gentler than
usual.
This was a psychological sensation
rather than a physical one, to be sure.
Even I, who was never judged
competent to earn my inevitable F in
an actual physics course, recognized
the illusion.
But illusions can be quite convinc-
ing, as anyone knows who has ever
mistaken a mirage for a lake, or stood
in a building that’s far out of plumb
and watched a ball seem to roll uphill.
Weather can concoct some pretty
confounding tricks, too.
The combination of Baker’s north-
erly latitude and elevation makes for
winters both lengthier and more bru-
tal than in places nearer both the sea
and the equator.
And so, when winter at last begins
to wane, the first day which can rea-
sonably be described as spring-like ar-
rives with a peculiar suddenness — as
surprising, only pleasantly so, as bark-
ing your shin on a coffee table while
stumbling around in the dark. Only
on such a day can a modest tempera-
ture in the low 60s seem almost mi-
raculously benign, the air as soothing
against the skin as a luxuriously moist
balm applied by a smooth hand.
Better still to be able to venture out-
doors without the constrictive swad-
dling layers of wool and fleece and
goose down with which you’ve been
laden for so many weeks.
Here is the illusion, the sense that
your limbs are lighter, more dexter-
ous, as they slip easily through the air.
This reminds me inevitably of
what it is like to heave a medicine
ball several times and then pick up a
basketball and take a few shots. The
basketball, which weighs precisely as
much it did before your workout, feels
as though it were filled with helium
rather than ordinary air, rich with
comparatively corpulent nitrogen.
This sort of day is nothing if not
unpredictable in our mountain valley.
Occasionally it barges in during the
usually frigid February, convincing
crocuses to show themselves only to
be buried in snowdrifts soon after.
And once in a while we must wait,
forlorn and freezing, until April is
nearly finished before we are graced
with the genuine article.
(I feel compelled to concede, con-
Jayson
Jacoby
sidering what we’ve endured the past
couple frequently wintry weeks, that
that first springlike day is apt to be
succeeded not by more of its kind
but rather by its uncouth cousin,
which comes bearing not gifts but
snow squalls.)
Most often, though, this beloved
milestone falls in March.
So it was this year.
On the afternoon of the 23rd I
stepped outside for a stroll about town
wearing shorts and a T-shirt, an outfit
I hadn’t dared consider probably since
Halloween.
The temperature was 64 when
I started out. I checked later and
learned that it reached 68 at the Baker
City Airport, the warmest day since
the previous Oct. 21.
As much as I relished the warmth
of the sun, even the sheen of sweat
on my forehead, I felt slightly guilty
as I celebrated what was for me, and
never mind the calendar, the first day
of spring.
The purity of my appreciation was
sullied by the drought.
I understood, as I ambled along
the sidewalks and streets, that this
dry and balmy day, as fine as it felt,
was precisely the opposite of what is
needed to vanquish the drought and
its myriad problems.
Far better if rain were sluicing
down in the valley and snow on the
high ground, fattening the snow-
pack that keeps streams flowing and
the valuable crops that green the
valleys growing.
Concealed behind the mild breath
of March was the crucible of August
with its choking smoke of fires near
and distant, its blood-ochre sunsets,
its threat of destruction on the hot
acrid afternoon gusts.
But even as I began to begrudge
my own happiness at this gift of a
comfortable day after such a pro-
longed period of chill, I came across
a scene that quieted my unease.
A family was out for a walk, as I
was. Tagging along at the back of
this procession, with a man I took
to be his dad, was a toddler. He was
surely not yet two. He was wearing
shorts, too, and I felt for him a cer-
tain kinship, a pair of lightly dressed
pedestrians, one just beginning the
greatest of journeys, the other al-
most certainly on the downhill side.
He bounced along with that gait
that belongs solely to the very young
— so endearingly clumsy, always
seemingly on the verge of the sort of
tumble that leads to skinned knees
and tears and bandages festooned
with cartoon characters.
The boy, oblivious to everything
except his immediate circumstances
— a trait we lose the knack for far
too soon, it seems to me — was
smiling and gesticulating as he made
his way.
I suspect he appreciated this fine
afternoon as I did. Except he wasn’t
saddled with nagging concerns
about droughts and depleted reser-
voirs and scorched forests.
I envied him in that brief moment
our paths came together, envied the
innocence of children as only those
can who long ago succumbed to the
sometimes grim realities of adult-
hood.
█
Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City
Herald.