A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
New water
rule just
bad policy
L
et’s just cut to the chase
The new rule on the
Waters of the US needs
to be rewritten The sooner
the Environmental Protection
Agency and the US Army
Corps of Engineers do that, the
better
The 73-page rule, which
was supposed to clarify certain
aspects of the Clean Water Act,
doesn’t do that If anything, it
raises more questions than it
clari¿es Most troubling is the
fact that any determinations
over WOTUS are left to agency
staff members Landowners
have no means of appealing
those determinations
This is among the many
shortcomings pointed out in
the 12 lawsuits ¿led against
the EPA and the Corps over
the rule The plaintiffs are 28
states, ranchers, farmers, and
environmentalists Pretty soon
you’ll see a bumper sticker
reading, “Honk if you’re
sued over WOTUS” Such
complaints and reservations
were voiced all through the
public comment period for the
rule If EPA and Corps of¿cials
read the comments, they sure
didn’t do enough about them
Other agencies listen to
the public When the Food
and Drug Administration
jumped the tracks writing
the regulation for the Food
Safety Modernization Act on
irrigation water for onions
and handling spent distillers’
grains, its bigwigs at least
went to farmers and others
who were impacted and
listened to them
Not the EPA and Corps,
which apparently seek
to establish a facade of
infallibility for themselves
The EPA and Corps are telling
all farmers, ranchers and other
landowners, “trust us” That’s
not good enough Trust is
earned, and the EPA and Corps
have a long way to go
Considering the EPA’s
track record in such matters,
that would require a massive
leap of faith After all, this
is the agency whose bigwigs
maintained off-the-record
email accounts that served
as hotlines to their friends in
environmental groups This
was the agency that insisted
on closed-door meetings
about rules on dust Yes, dust
Apparently, even the most
mundane issue is worthy of
secrecy and intrigue for the
EPA
We assume that not everyone
at the EPA is secretive and
has a personal agenda But we
also understand that such an
assumption does not derive
from some past activities
Last spring, EPA
Administrator Gina McCarthy
characterized the problem
with the WOTUS rule as being
primarily public relations
“I want to tell you up front
that I wish we had done a better
job of rolling out our Clean
Water Rule, from calling it
WOTUS instead of the Clean
Water Rule, to not being more
crystal clear out of the gate
about what we were and were
not proposing, to not talking to
all of you and others before we
put out the interpretive rule,”
she told the National Farmers
Union
But this battle is not about
public relations It’s about good
public policy
That’s what WOTUS or the
Clean Water Rule lacks
So the EPA and Corps can
do the right thing They can
go back and consider the more
than 1 million public comments
that Àooded into their of¿ces
suggesting improvements to the
WOTUS rule
Or they can wait until a
judge orders them to ¿x the
mess they created
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6HQDWH5HSXEOLFDQVUHÀHFW
on 2015 legislative session
Oregon’s middle
class will pay the
price for Democrat
partisan priorities
SALEM ± ReÀeFting on the re-
cently concluded 2015 Legislative
Session, Senate Republicans char-
acterized the session as one of the
most partisan and harmful to work-
ing families and small businesses in
Oregon history
“Sadly, Oregon’s middle class
will pay the price for the Democrat
majority’s partisan priorities,” said
Senator 7im .nopp R-Bend “7he
policies passed by Democrats this
session will hurt families and busi-
nesses across Oregon, especially in
rural areas Oregon is already the
second-worst state in the nation to
make a living, and it’s only going
to get harder for families and small
businesses to survive and thrive”
Throughout the session, Senate
Republicans advocated tirelessly for
new jobs, full funding for K-12 edu-
cation, and protections for Oregon’s
small businesses In contract, Sen-
ate Democrats rejected 50 pro-jobs
bills that would have created new
family-wage jobs and strengthened
the economy in both rural and urban
communities They also intention-
ally underfunded K-12 education,
leading to fewer school days, larger
class sizes and cuts to programs like
art and PE
“Recent studies show Oregon
kids and families are struggling, and
our poverty rates haven’t improved
since the start of the Great Reces-
sion,” said Senator Chuck Thomsen
R-Hood River “We can’t leave our
kids and families in the dust Dem-
ocrats refused to put kids ¿rst, and
now school districts will have to cut
class days and lay off teachers This
has to stop”
In their 2015 Legislative Session
Summary, Senate Republicans out-
lined key initiatives proposed and
pushed for by Republican members,
including programs to create jobs
and expand job training; protections
for small businesses against harmful
Portland-style mandates; full fund-
ing for K-12 education and commu-
nity colleges; blocking an attempt to
steal the constitutionally-mandated
‘kicker’ from Oregon families; fund-
ing for infrastructure investment
in rural communities; preservation
of Second Amendment rights; the
modernization of privacy laws and
expanded statutes of limitations for
rape cases; and stronger ethics laws
to protect Oregon citizens from mis-
conduct by elected of¿cials
“While Democrats intentional-
ly underfunded K-12 schools and
increased transportation costs for
working families, Republicans
worked hard to improve the qual-
ity of life for all Oregonians,” ex-
plained Senate Republican Leader
Ted )errioli R-John Day “If this
is the new modus operandi for the
Democrat majority, Oregonians
need to know their elected leaders
are looking out for themselves and
their own partisan agenda, not for
kids, working families and small
businesses”
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
WOTUS has far
reaching implications
In case you don’t know, WOTUS
stands for Waters of the United States It
is a word and an issue citizens of Grant
County and especially anyone engaged
in agriculture should research The Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA), un-
der Director Gina McCarthy, has issued
new regulations to govern all the water
in the US, including that which should
be under the purview of Oregon State
WOTUS has far-reaching emphasis
and will affect the use of all water There
are numerous websites that discuss the
matter; in addition, several livestock
publications have good articles about it
As of my last notice, 28 states and also
various agricultural related associations
have signed on in litigation against EPA
and also the Corps of Engineers
Watching C-Span with Director Mc-
Carthy present testifying before a DC
legislative committee was especially
informative She de¿nitely is not what
would be considered an advocate for
agriculture At this time, I’ve heard noth-
ing about the State of Oregon becoming
involved, and being the liberal state that
it is, I doubt it will be included in any
objection to WOTUS Incidentally, as
an aside, did you know 92 percent of
the water in Oregon stays instream, and
agriculture only uses 4 percent of it, yet
constantly there is the push to keep more
instream and off ag lands!
Sharon Livingston
Long Creek
Request for recusal
I formally request that Boyd Britton
recuse himself from voting, deliberat-
ing, discussing, or representing Grant
County on any )orest Service business
I would ultimately ask for Mr Britton to
resign his position as well
Mr Britton has a strong appearance
of a conÀict of interest in dealing with
or discussing Forest Service business
being brought to the County Court His
business dealings as the sole proprietor
of Boyd Britton Welding Inc with the
Malheur National Forest leads to that
conÀict of interest While Mr Britton
claims what he is doing is “legal,” it
does not pass the high moral/ethical
standards that an elected of¿cial should
be held to When a commissioner as an
individual or a business ¿nancially ben-
e¿ts from an entity that brings business
in front of the court, it gives the appear-
ance of impropriety
Technically, yes, Mr Britton is within
the “law,” or lack thereof, but just remem-
ber, a man or woman that cheats on their
signi¿cant other is within the law, but not
morally or ethically within the constraints
of the bond they made to their partner –
much like the commitment an elected
of¿cial makes with the voters
Mr Britton has a misplaced alle-
giances to an outside interest through
his business dealings
I again call for Mr Britton to recuse
himself from voting, deliberating, dis-
cussing, or representing Grant County
on any Forest Service business from
here on out and I encourage others to
do the same
John D. George
Bates
Forest Service
‘restoration’ project
needs scrutiny
More recently the primary focus of
the Forest Service (FS) has been land-
scape restoration, but this time they are
deviating from vegetation and riparian
restoration The FS presented a draft
plan for the Summit Creek Landscape
Restoration to the Blue Mountain For-
est Partners (BMFP) environmental
group for ¿ne-tuning before publish-
ing an environmental assessment to
the public for another attempted public
land take over This restoration propos-
al is an attempt to draw public attention
away from their intent to turn large ar-
eas of our forest roads and byways into
non-motorized and some non-equestri-
an trails for cyclists
Missing from this plan are provisions
for trash receptacles/disposal and toilet
facilities along what appears to be 132
miles of proposed bicycle routes What
part does this plan play in “restoration”
when you will likely see piles of cyclists’
granola-laden waste, toilet paper, and
trash decorating the landscape? Encour-
aging concentrated masses of cyclists to
invade our forest lends little credence to
the generic over-used FS excuse for ac-
cess closures to restrict wildlife harass-
ment and enhance watershed protection
Support for this “restoration” project is
reportedly coming from questionable
bicycle-oriented outside funding sources
and environmental groups that obvious-
ly have no concept what “restoration”
actually means for Grant County’s
unique historical characteristics
We need to be reminded that a pre-
vious plan to promote bicycle paths us-
ing historical railroad grades in Summit
and Logan valleys met with defeat and
strong opposition because of cyclists’
arrogant disrespect for motorists and
private property Other than groceries
and campground rent, it is questionable
whether cyclists contribute signi¿cant-
ly to the general local economy
I suggest Grant County residents
and private property owners in the proj-
ect area prepare to address this issue
in the near future and watch the Blue
Mountain Eagle for the scoping notice
the Forest Service promised
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
Do not take away
one’s self-respect
We all know someone that has made
some bad choices in life and had to pay
for them, whether a family member, a
friend, or a friend of a friend They have
paid for their mistakes through our judi-
cial system
It has been brought to my attention
that several of our citizens that paid for
their mistakes (although still on proba-
tion) have now become productive in the
community We live in an area where the
unemployment rate is high and jobs are
few Still, these citizens have struggled
through the obstacle of returning to ci-
vilian life and obtained gainful employ-
ment They want to work and not use the
system for handouts My congratulations
and respect goes out to them!
I have now learned that some of them
that work for a reputable business here in
Grant County are not allowed to perform
their duties as productive citizens in the
¿eld of work they have obtained due to
the Grant County parole and probation
department These men and women
have chosen the heroic profession of
¿re¿ghting (saving lives and land from
the destructive and devastating results of
wild¿res) God bless them!
Grant County is one of the few coun-
ties in Oregon that will not let people
leave the state to perform their duties of
being responsible and productive mem-
bers of the community I believe that if
these people were going to break the
law they would not have shown the re-
sponsibility of getting jobs, paying bills
and trying to get their lives together My
request to our probation department is
please do not take away the self-respect
or incentive to make their lives better
These people have earned the right to
travel as required by their employer
Also, please remember that these
men and women are highly trained pro-
fessionals at their jobs They may be pro-
tecting your son, daughter, niece, neph-
ew or grandchild that just started in this
profession Wouldn’t you want someone
that knew what they were doing next to
them? I sure would How many of our
Grant County children are out there and
could use these men and women to help
them through the next ¿re?
Cheryl Neault
Prairie City