A8 THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Vote Lawler for
library board
L
et’s face it. In the contested race for the Deschutes Public
Library District board, the most important issue is which
candidate will do a better job of following through on the
$195 million library bond.
It’s easy to imagine that either
incumbent Martha Lawler or chal-
lenger Anne Ness would do a fine
job on the bond and other issues.
But Lawler has been on the board
since 2011. She helped develop the
bond, helped get it passed
and is in the best position to
execute it. That experience
matters. Vote for Lawler.
This race is for the Zone
3 seat on the library board.
Only people in that zone
will have the election on
Lawler
their ballot and get to vote
in this race. The zone in-
cludes southern and eastern
Deschutes County.
Ness, who lives in Sun-
river, is passionate about
the library and the impor-
tance of literacy. She taught
special education for more
than 30 years and retired in Ness
2015. She was also a school
board member in Michigan. Ness
has been impressively active in the
community — serving as a court
appointed special advocate for chil-
dren and working with the group
Supporters of Literacy in Deschutes
County.
Ness would favor spending less
of the bond money on the planned
large, new library on the north-
ern outskirts of Bend and investing
more in the smaller libraries around
the county. That is something to
think about as the board makes
choices about the bond.
Ness also has argued that the
board should delay issuing the
bonds and issue them in stages to
“ease our tax burden.” It’s kind of a
moot point. The board already voted
to move forward on the bonds. In-
terest rates are low now. It’s not clear
a delay would mean any overall re-
duction in taxes.
Lawler, who lives in La Pine,
worked for years for the state of Cali-
fornia, retiring as a manager for Cal-
trans, the state’s transportation de-
partment. She volunteers in
the La Pine Public Library
and served on the library’s
budget committee.
She says serving on the
library board has been a
labor of love and she was
thrilled to death when vot-
ers approved the bond.
Lawler wants to ensure
the bond will be a win for
the community no matter
where a person lives. She
knows firsthand how im-
portant the La Pine library
is to people who use it. One
example: It can help level
the playing field for people
by providing internet ac-
cess that they don’t have. It’s also no
short trip to Bend from La Pine or
Sunriver.
The pandemic has caused her
and other members of the board
to reconsider how the space in the
new library building might be used.
Some people may be telecommuting
more in the future and not want the
distractions that come with working
from home. Can the library set aside
some workspaces? Telemedicine
also seems likely to grow in use. Can
the library provide private spaces so
people with no access or poor access
to the internet can get health care?
Lawler told us she is proud and
honored to serve on the board and
would love to finish what she has
helped start with the bond. Voters
should give her that opportunity.
Vote for Lawler.
Require more transparency
about coronavirus data
T
he Oregon Health Authority
worked hard since the begin-
ning of the pandemic to do
what it thought best to protect Ore-
gonians. But there have been down-
right confounding examples where
it has failed to be open to the public
about what it was doing.
The OHA made a decision earlier
this year to start releasing less infor-
mation about people who had died
from COVID-19. Why do Orego-
nians need less information? OHA
said it was too much work. Gov. Kate
Brown initially backed the OHA
move and then reversed it.
Just a few months ago, OHA
banned the public from access to a
meeting of OHA’s Vaccine Advisory
Committee. Every other meeting
had been open to the public but it
decided not to because it “had com-
pleted its official duties” and was
working on implementation of its
vaccine distribution plan. The public
should not have access to that?
You have also likely seen those
graphics that OHA releases showing
COVID-19 cases per week. Orego-
nian reporter Brad Schmidt made a
records request for the actual num-
bers used to make one chart. OHA
denied his request. Oregonians can’t
know the precise numbers?
Oregon Senate Bill 719 sets out
to correct some of that tendency to-
ward secrecy. It would make it clear
that basic aggregate data about dis-
ease investigations should not be de-
nied to the public. Pass SB 719.
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.
From oil company to energy company
I
f the oil majors are diversifying
in a transition from fossil fuels to
renewable power, then quantifi-
cation of investments in clean energy
instead of fossil fuels would be a be-
lievable indicator of change.
Oil company or energy company?
In a paper by Matthias J. Pickl, re-
sults show that of the eight major
oil companies, five have undertaken
considerable investments in renew-
able energy. Their renewable energy
strategies reveal a categorization into
two main groups: Royal Dutch Shell,
Total, BP, Eni and Equinor have em-
barked on a transition from being
oil companies to energy companies;
while ExxonMobil, Chevron and
Petrobras remain focused on hydro-
carbons.
Natural gas is used extensively in
the generation of electricity, partly be-
cause it is cleaner than coal but also
more cost competitive. This is the
main approach that Exxon and Chev-
ron have taken, sticking with what
they know best — transitioning away
from oil by investing more in natural
gas. Renewable energy and electric-
ity lie outside the core competencies
of big oil so acquisition is an easy but
conservative first step. It is a conser-
vative step. Gas is cleaner than coal,
but it is still a fossil fuel.
There is a strong interaction be-
tween oil companies and utilities
because the former produces raw
materials needed for generation of
electricity by the latter. The choice
of wind and solar power sources for
electricity generation significantly re-
duces demand for coal and oil, but
less so for natural gas.
Electricity sector. Cleaning up the
electricity sector is a key target for
economywide decarbonization be-
cause emissions from electricity gen-
eration (27%) and residential/com-
mercial emission sources (12%) are
equivalent to 39% of total U.S. green-
house gas emissions (2018 US Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency data).
Transportation sector. Electrifica-
tion is here to stay, and as the expo-
nential growth in manufacturing and
Climate Changed
CENTRAL OREGON
CROSSROADS
By Scott Christiansen
sales of electric vehicles around the
world highlights, this demand will
help to lower the 28% of all U.S. green-
house gas emissions that are contrib-
uted by transportation. This poten-
tially rapid shift to electric vehicles will
decrease the need for gasoline and die-
sel fuel from oil companies.
Transition. The use of the term
“net” in net-zero means that the
pluses and minuses on the emissions
front will total zero — not that pet-
rochemical companies will stop pro-
ducing oil and gas. The oil majors will
remain integrated oil giants, with an
increased presence in the electricity
space to increase diversification.
Making utilities do better. A Sierra
Club report titled, The Dirty Truth
about Utility Climate Pledges, recom-
mends that utilities do three things:
retire existing coal plants by 2030,
terminate plans to build new gas
plants, and build clean energy faster.
The analysis is based on integrated
resource plans (IRPs) and major an-
nouncements for the 50 U.S. utilities
that remain the most invested in fossil
fuel generation. Plans were examined
for 79 operating companies owned by
50 different parent companies, repre-
senting more than half of all remain-
ing coal and gas generation in the U.S.
Not a good report card. Apart
from a few pioneers, utility compa-
nies are falling short. The report as-
signed a score to utilities in the U.S.
based on its plans to retire coal, con-
struct new gas plants, and build new
clean energy. The aggregate score for
all companies studied was 17 out of
100.
Readers can find their power com-
pany and its score in the report. For
example, PacifiCorp (Pacific Power
and Rocky Mountain Power) is the
operating company with the most
remaining coal without a retirement
commitment (30% of energy genera-
tion), scoring 10 out of 100; Portland
General Electric scored 48 out of 100.
Notably, 22 out of 79 operating com-
panies scored 0 out of 100, with no
plans forecasting a change in direc-
tion.
Climate goals. Out of the 50 parent
companies included in the report, 33
have a stated climate goal; however, in
general, most companies are not fac-
toring their stated climate objectives
into their latest IRPs. One reason is
that net-zero emissions goals are set
for 2050, 30 years away, while most
IRPs have a duration of only 15 to 20
years. In other words, they claim they
will reach net zero, but do not show
how through their capital invest-
ments. Therefore, the Sierra Club re-
port says utility climate goals should
be legally binding; apply to all subsid-
iary companies; and include a short-
term target of reducing emissions by
at least 80% by 2030 — confirmed by
meaningful IRP commitments.
Modeling the path ahead A whole
atlas of model results are available to
guide governments toward the for-
mulation of a clean energy future.
For example, Wärtsilä has modeled
145 countries, including a breakdown
for a dozen U.S. regions, to show the
cost-optimal energy mix for produc-
ing electricity from 100% renewable
energy sources. But, as with utility
companies, laws and actions by gov-
ernments and the willingness of the
private sector, are required to trans-
form these “road map” model results
into reality.
The Sierra Club report concludes
that publicly stated climate goals are
meaningless greenwashing without
publishing strategies and investment
plans to show how companies in-
tend to get from point A to point B
– just like the scholarship of Matthias
J. Pickl demonstrated for the big oil
companies.
Scott Christiansen is an international agronomist
with 35 years of experience. He worked for USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service and the U.S. Agency
for International Development.
Letters policy: Letters should be limited to one issue, contain no more than 250 words and include the writer’s signature, phone
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My Nickel’s Worth
Spring planting for biodiversity
I am a retired biologist. Nature
walks are still one of my favorite pas-
times, but my walks are sadder now.
I know the numbers and varieties of
birds, bees, butterflies and other in-
sects are drastically declining. This is
partly due to a lack of native plants in
our expanding neighborhoods. Our
yards are mostly water demanding
lawns and our gardens are full of or-
namental plants from big box stores,
colorful, abundant and inexpensive,
but these nonnative plants provide
little to nothing for local insects and
birds. They have not co-evolved and
so do not meet each other’s needs.
Native plants provide food, cover and
reproductive needs for our local in-
sects and birds and fortunately, native
plants need less water, too.
Everyone wants to know what
they personally can do to help the di-
minishing biodiversity. For easy and
immediate help, put native plants in
your yard this spring. To find native
plant suggestions for our area, go to
Audubon’s website, audubon.org/
plantsforbirds. Create a miniature na-
ture preserve in your own yard.
— Gail Sabbadini, Bend
Pay them more
The solution to the, so-called, short-
age outlined in the March 31 “Bend
restaurants starve for workers” should
be obvious to restaurant owners who
are entrepreneurs in a free market.
When demand exceeds supply the
price must go up to restore balance.
Employers seem to understand this
when it comes to the things they buy
and sell —except for labor. When the
catch is down, they have to pay more
for fish to keep it on their menus. But
they seem to believe labor is different
and should be available at “normal”
wages. They don’t seem to consider
paying more for labor as an option
and cry shortage. Mr. Swigert sees that
workers are going to other jobs now
available; but doesn’t see the obvious
solution. Make your jobs more attrac-
tive by raising the pay and benefits. It’s
called competing. You pay a higher
price for fish when you have to. If you
pay a competitive wage the so called
“labor shortage” will disappear. That’s
the way capitalism works. I think it is
obvious that restaurant workers aren’t
overpaid and with revenues up 30%,
why not?
When we eat in a restaurant, we
understand that when the price of
fish, or labor, goes up we pay more for
the meal. That’s also part of capitalism
as it should be. Why should workers
who provide me the meal be paid less
than a living wage so I can pay less?
— John Alexander, Redmond
Risks for wait staff
I empathize with restaurant own-
ers and their myriad difficulties
during the pandemic. However, I
seldom read about the risks of work-
ing as wait staff. Diners eat without
masks (there is little choice). In-
door dining is increasing, and some
restaurants don’t have other realistic
options. Wait staff can be masked
up, but the sheer volume of folks en-
countered, and the risk of breathing
diner’s exhalations is quite signifi-
cant – even when protecting one-
self with a mask. The percentage of
folks that are vaccinated is still not
even a majority. A reasonable person
would view a wait person’s (and other
staff’s) personal risk of contracting
COVID as frightening at the present
time. Perhaps it is not so “baffling”
that there are insufficient applicants
for open positions in restaurants.
Please support our community, the
unemployed and our local economy
and get vaccinated.
— Gary Elnan, Bend
Flatter is not smarter
When I picked up Saturday’s pa-
per and read “Worrell Park may be-
come flatter, more accessible,” my
first thought was, “hold on, wait just
a minute here!” Bill Worrell Wayside
Park is not only a lovely, quirky cor-
ner of downtown Bend, it is a beau-
tiful, remnant example of the area’s
natural landscape, a small haven
surrounded by burgeoning develop-
ment. To replace it with just another
curated experience is short sighted.
And to spend $2.5 million doing so
is unconscionable. There is likely far
greater need for those funds else-
where.
— Julie Naslund, Bend