A8 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Should Oregonians
have a right to repair?
B
uy stuff. It breaks and you have to buy new stuff. It’s a
cycle that can be wasteful, expensive for consumers and
not good for the environment.
There’s a bill in the Oregon Legis-
lature that tries to break the cycle.
Cellphones, game consoles, farm
tractors, even hospital ventilators
often come with strings attached.
People who buy them can’t fix some
aspects themselves. It requires get-
ting manufacturers to come in with
their own repair personnel and
equipment.
It can mean extra hassle, expense
and a lack of control. Some argue it’s
an unfair trade practice.
It’s also been an issue in the battle
against COVID-19. The New York
Times reported a medical equip-
ment technician at Memorial Hos-
pital in Colorado Springs was trying
to get hospital ventilators up and
running. She could not. The man-
ufacturer required its own techni-
cians to work on the equipment.
A right to repair movement led
by consumer groups has been fight-
ing this battle for some time. Bills
have been introduced in Congress
to rein it in. In the Oregon Legisla-
ture this session, there is House Bill
2698.
The bill would require the man-
ufacturer of the original equipment
to make available to consumers the
same parts, tools and documen-
tation that are made available to
authorized repair providers. Man-
ufacturers would have to do so on
“fair and reasonable terms.” The bill
is generally focused on consumer
electronics.
Manufacturers have opposed
changes like this. They argue most
consumers don’t just throw things
away. They find ways to recycle
their equipment. They also argue
that consumers could get in over
their heads, mess up the equipment
and blame the manufacturer. Safety,
privacy and security might be jeop-
ardized. That might not be too big
a deal if consumers just turns their
own phones into paperweights. But
if it puts a hospital ventilator into a
nonrepairable state, that would be a
bigger deal.
If there’s anything that we want
most out of this legislation, it would
be more action from manufacturers
to make repairs easier for consum-
ers, build things to last and move us
away from a throwaway society.
Oregon gets needed grant
to help suicide prevention
S
uicide is preventable. It might
be easier to prevent in Oregon.
The state has received a grant
to help it develop a sort of 911 for
people who need help. When it is
set up, people will dial 988 in Ore-
gon and be connected with someone
who can help. Oregon already has a
suicide hotline, but 988 is just sim-
pler. It might be up and running in
Oregon by July 2022.
Vibrant Emotional Health, the
nonprofit that runs the national sui-
cide prevention hotline gave Oregon
and most other states a grant to help
set up the 3-digit hotline
Taking action in Oregon to help
prevent suicide is all the more criti-
cal. The state has in recent years had
one of the highest rates of death by
suicide in the country.
If there is any good news, prelim-
inary data released recently by the
Oregon Health Authority shows that
the number of suicide deaths in Or-
egon in 2020 show no increase when
compared to 2019. The number of
suicide-related visits to emergency
departments and urgent care centers
in the fourth quarter of 2020 were
also similar to 2019.
Treatment works with suicide. If
you or someone you know needs
help you can call Deschutes County
24-hour Crisis Line: 541-322-7500
ext. 9 or the National Suicide Pre-
vention LifeLine: 1-800-273-TALK
(8255).
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
How to submit: Please address your submission to either My Nickel’s Worth
or Guest Column and mail, fax or email it to The Bulletin. Email submissions are
preferred. Email: letters@bendbulletin.com
My Nickel’s Worth
Stop paying attention to Trump
Apparently more than half the peo-
ple, voter age, in the United States
seem to consider Ex-President Trump
a pariah. As such, and because of his
violent, vitriolic and bigoted speech
and his incitement of a violent coup
against the United States and other
apparent criminal behavior, he has
been banned not only from Twitter
but other social media outlets.
Now it’s time for all media sources,
including television and newspapers
to stop pandering to him. Not men-
tioning his name is probably the grav-
est thing he thinks can happen. But
by stopping mentioning his name, he
will stop being a news item and will
slowly fade away.
As long as television and newspa-
pers give him space, he will continue
to be a threat to this country and es-
pecially to the ‘real’ GOP.
— Diana Hopson, Redmond
Peaceful retirement
In January of 2016, he said: “I could
shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and
not lose any votes.” Later he said: “I
am the law-and-order President” as
his loyal followers protested violently
in the streets of Charleston. He also
said he had won the election and mil-
lions feared he would never leave the
White House orderly. And almost in
the end he said, I will march to the
Capitol together with you. In between
those statements there were hundreds
of others, intended to demonstrate
how connected he was “with my peo-
ple.” Ultimately, he did not shoot, he
did not lead, he did not march and fi-
nally, he left the White House quietly.
This past week, House Minority
Leader Kevin McCarthy visited the
golden palace of Mar-a-Lago to assure
the former president that he was still
loyal and he hoped for his approval as
many current Republican politicians
still needed his support so that the
loyal followers would still vote to keep
them in Washington.
Most likely, the former president
never really intended to lead anything
or work hard for anything or anybody.
Basking in the sun of adoration of
loyal throngs was the ultimate elixir
for a man whose only certainty in life
was satisfying his narcissism.
Without Twitter, Facebook or other
artificial megaphones the “greatness”
of the man shrunk to a mere photo
op with soulless politicians. May the
Great Spirit grant him a peaceful re-
tirement in the company of adoring
fans and Mayor Rudy.
— Carlos Wysling, Bend
No back to normal
Since 2011 Oregon has set goals
for the reduction of CO2 emission
which will mitigate future climate
change. The first mile post on reduc-
ing these emissions was set at 2020.
Oregon’s Global Warming Commis-
sion (GWC) monitors progress and
reported in Dec. 2020 to the Legisla-
ture that “We (Oregon) has not made
the required progress in reducing its
planned emissions.... erasing all the
gains (emission reductions) that had
been made since 2010. Now the state
is developing a new plan over the next
2 years to meet even more significant
emissions reductions by 2035.
In developing its 2020 Plan, Ore-
gon’s GWC identified seven efforts
that would be required: (1) Embed
carbon in the planning process; (2)
Maximize the energy efficiency of
cities; (3) Increase the efficiency of
buildings; (4) Shift to lower carbon
transportation fuels; (5) Ramp down
coal emissions and ramp up efficiency
and renewables; (6) Reduce and cap-
ture carbon across the board; and (7)
Embed carbon in energy prices. Since
adoption 10 years ago, significant
progress has only been made on one
of these items: (5) Ramp down coal
emissions.
Since COVID, all of us are quick to
ask the question, “When will things
get back to normal”? The dirty little
secret is that reducing CO2 emissions
will require an immense change in
how we pay for and pursue our daily
lives and returning to our old normal
is not going to happen.
— John Dunzer, Bend
Excellent column
I’d like to thank Cylvia Hayes for
her excellent guest column of Jan. 31.
It’s a very eloquent statement of what
many of us must feel, especially those
of us who grew up in the Bend and
Central Oregon of yesterday.
Her distinction between develop-
ment and growth is a good one and
worthy of thought and discussion.
Much of our unhappiness with Cen-
tral Oregon growth can be attributed
to the reluctance of Central Orego-
nians to accept community-land use
planning or to give much thought
to the consequences of encouraging
growth without considering needed
development or the impacts of growth
on our environment.
Ms. Hayes emphases on the finite-
ness of our planet’s space and its re-
sources is right on, as is her conclu-
sion, “We must get to enough”.
— Drannan Hamby, Bend
GUEST COLUMN
Endangered species: science, economics and values
BY YANCY LIND
T
he Bulletin has recently pub-
lished two columns, one from
an industry lobbyist and one
from two local industry CEOs, argu-
ing in favor of keeping the four lower
Snake River dams. Statements in these
columns are worthy of scrutiny and
debate. One thing is certain, however,
according to the best available science,
many Columbia Basin salmon and
steelhead are on the path to extinction
in the not too distant future.
The dire situation
for these iconic, cold
water fish is due to
many factors in-
cluding habitat loss,
pollution, warm wa-
ter from a heating
planet, poor ocean
Lind
conditions, low wa-
ter levels from mu-
nicipal and agricultural withdrawals,
commercial and recreational fish-
ing, predation, hatcheries, and dams.
There is debate about which of these
is most detrimental, but the scientific
consensus is that dams are at least
near the top of the list, especially for
salmon and steelhead in the Snake
River watershed.
Over decades, sportsmen, tribes,
conservation groups, and others have
sued the U.S. government to improve
operation of the lower Snake River
dams and have repeatedly won in fed-
Rick Bowmer/AP file
A sockeye salmon, left, swims past a chinook salmon, center front, and shad, above, at the fish counting window at the Bonneville
Dam near Cascade Locks in 2012.
eral court. Politicians and economic
interests have successfully blocked
meaningful changes, however, and the
cycle continues to this day. Recently,
the government has yet again stated
that dams are not the problem, and in
the face over overwhelming evidence,
and repeated legal rulings, claimed
that minor changes are all that are re-
quired for recovery, leading to yet an-
other round of lawsuits.
The economics of hydropower are
complicated and are the subject of
fierce debate. Industry representatives
claim it is cheap while other analyses
suggest it is less so when total costs,
including environmental, are fac-
tored in. It is a fact, however, that to-
day solar is a very inexpensive form
of power generation and those costs
continue to fall. Clearly, we need util-
ity-scale solutions for storing power
generated by solar (and wind), but
those are coming.
The issue really comes down to
values and the future we plan to pres-
ent to our children and grandchil-
dren. Salmon are an important food
source for us and play a key role in
the Pacific Northwest ecosystem. In
the ocean, they are food for predators
such as orca and sea lions. Returning
adults are food for terrestrial species
like bears, their carcasses and eggs
feed many other fish, and it has been
shown that they are an important
source of nutrients for nearby forests.
We are living at a pivotal time for
salmon and thousands of other spe-
cies that are on the path to extinction.
What sort of world do we want to live
in? What sort of world do we want to
leave to our children and future gen-
erations? Do we think that we can
continue to be separate from the en-
vironment without it impacting our
own survival? The science says other-
wise. We are, in fact, part of the envi-
ronment and dependent on it.
There is much to be done on many
fronts, but without quick action scien-
tists believe that many Columbia Basin
salmon populations will soon go ex-
tinct. Removing the four lower Snake
River dams is a necessary step to avert
this catastrophe. More must be done,
and we need to take those steps as well.
A large majority of Americans and
Oregonians believe that we are on the
wrong path and steps must be taken
to improve our environment. This
will entail disruption in some ways, a
burden we must bear on the path to
sustainability. There is growing aware-
ness of the role of income inequality
and environmental justice in this dis-
cussion. Lower income Americans
suffer disproportionately from envi-
ronmental degradation and are less
able to pay higher costs if they occur.
New, environmentally friendly jobs
must be created in these communi-
ties. The solution is to acknowledge
this and help our fellow citizens while
taking action to create a better envi-
ronment for us today as well as for fu-
ture generations.
e e
Yancy Lind lives in Tumalo and blogs at www.
coinformedangler.org.