A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Corps gives
plaintiffs a hand
on WOTUS
P
laintiffs who haYe
¿led suit to blocN the
implementation of new
rules from the EnYironmental
Protection Agency and the
Corps of Engineers de¿ning
“waters of the United States”
that can be regulated under the
Clean Water Act got a big boost
last weeN
And it looNs as though they
can thanN the EPA
EPA and the corps haYe
been worNing on the rule
for a couple of years now
in the hopes of reconciling
two separate Supreme Court
decisions on cases inYolYing
the Clean Water Act
Since the beginning, farm
and ranch groups haYe said
the new rule would expand
the EPA’s authority to coYer
eYerything up to and including
muddy hoof prints
So they and the attorneys
general of seYeral states haYe
¿led separate lawsuits to stop
the implementation of the
recently released draft rule
Turns out the Army Corps of
Engineers doesn’t thinN much
of the rules, either, at least not
the way the EPA wrote them
In memos written by the corps
to the EPA before the rule was
released, the corps alleges:
• That in writing the rule the
EPA ignored sound science,
and ignored the corps’ input
to such an extent that it
doesn’t consider the rule the
collaboration the published
draft claims to be
• That the rule remoYes
Clean Water Act protection
from some bodies of water
where it is now enforced
That’s because the rule limits
coYerage to laNes, ponds and
other waterways that are within
4,000 feet of a naYigable water
or tributary The corps says
there’s no scienti¿c basis for
the limit and no legal authority
for the agencies to abandon its
current Murisdiction
• That because the EPA
acNnowledged that abandoning
Murisdiction could create
“signi¿cant adYerse effects
on the human enYironment,”
the National EnYironmental
Policy Act requires the corps
to perform an enYironmental
impact statement
• That while the rule
enYisions the agencies
extending regulation to
isolated bodies of water that
haYe a “signi¿cant nexus”
with naYigable waters of the
United States, the de¿nitions
of such bodies as haYing “no
hydrological connection with
naYigable waters” maNes it
unliNely the agencies will
be able to establish a nexus
that will withstand a court
challenge
The corps, it seems, has
found that the EPA doesn’t
listen to anyone and does
whateYer it wants What a
surprise
It will taNe awhile for all this
to play out in the courts, and
it’s unclear what impact the
corps’ memos will haYe on the
cases
But it can only be a good
thing for plaintiffs when one
of the defendants maNes their
case
)orest of¿cials will
hear public concerns
Listening sessions
set for next week
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Malheur National
)orest SerYice of¿cials will hold three
more Blue Mountains )orest Plan
Community WorNshops
Here’s the schedule:
• Pace and Scale of Restoration
WorNshop, 6 to 9 pm Monday, Aug
17, at the Grant County Regional Air-
port in John Day
• Pace and Scale of Restoration WorN-
shop, 6 to 9 pm Tuesday, Aug 1, at the
Burns Community Center in Burns
• Grazing, and Pace and Scale WorN-
shop, 6 to 9 pm Wednesday, Aug 19,
at the Long CreeN Community Hall in
Long CreeN
The meetings will giYe the public
an opportunity talN to forest serYice
of¿cials who are worNing on the Blue
Mountains )orest Plan ReYision, which
includes Malheur, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa-Whitman National )orests — the
Blue Mountains National )orests
To see the complete list, and to see
the forest serYice meeting notes, Yisit
http://wwwfsusdagoY/detail/wal-
lowa-whitman/landmanagement/plan-
ning/"cid stelprdb524744 online
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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John Day, Oregon
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Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com
editor@bmeagle.com
Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com
Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com
Merkley to conduct town halls
Town Halls scheduled Aug. 12, 13 in Summerville, Joseph, Long Creek
PORTLAND — Oregon Sen
Jeff MerNley will hold town halls in
Union, Wallowa and Grant counties
this weeN
MerNley will update constituents
on his worN in Washington, DC, an-
swer their questions and inYite their
suggestions about how to tacNle
the challenges facing Oregon and
America
“There are huge issues facing
Oregonians, and the best way for
me to effectiYely adYocate for Or-
egon’s families and businesses is
as a US Senator
• Union County Town Hall
Wednesday, Aug 12, 12:30 pm
Pleasant GroYe Grange Hall,
6721 Hunter Road, SummerYille
• Wallowa County Town Hall
Wednesday, Aug 12, 4 pm
Joseph Charter School cafeteria,
400 E Williams AYe, Joseph
• Grant County Town Hall
Thursday, Aug 13, 9:30 am
Long CreeN Community Cen-
ter, 210 West Second St, Long
CreeN
&DPS¿UHVUHVWULFWHGLQVWDWH
SALEM ² Camp¿re restrictions
are in place in seYeral Oregon state
parNs
The restrictions include the Co-
lumbia Gorge, middle and southern
portions of the Willamette Valley,
on southern Oregon coastal beaches
and a few locations east of the Cas-
cades
• Columbia Gorge: Ainsworth,
Viento, Memaloose, Deschutes RiY-
er State Recreation Area and all day-
use parNs No camp¿res or charcoal
briquettes Gas stoYes are OK
• Willamette Valley: Detroit LaNe,
Mongold, Cascadia, EliMah Bristow,
Lowell, Jasper and all parNs around
Help make a
difference
)all CreeN ReserYoir No camp¿res
or charcoal briquettes Gas stoYes
are OK
• East of the Cascades: Remote
camping locations around PrineYille
ReserYoir deYeloped campgrounds
at PrineYille State ParN and Jasper
Point not restricted No camp¿res
or charcoal briquettes Gas stoYes
are OK
Cottonwood Canyon: No camp-
¿res Charcoal briquettes and gas
stoYes are OK in campgrounds,
gas stoYes only outside of camp-
grounds
• Southern Oregon Coastal
Beaches: All beaches and state parN
day-use sites from Coos Bay south
to the California border DeYeloped
campgrounds are not restricted No
¿res or charcoal briquettes Gas
stoYes are OK
EYen where ¿res are allowed,
Yisitors need to exercise caution
Build ¿res only in ¿re rings Attend
all ¿res Don’t build them larger
than necessary Keep a bucNet of
water and shoYel nearby and douse
thoroughly when ¿nished SmoNing
is not permitted in state parNs ex-
cept in personal Yehicles and desig-
nated campsites Conditions change
rapidly )or updates, checN oregon-
stateparNsorg
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
An ill-advised
undertaking
To the Editor:
There is a meeting coming up
on Aug 20, 21 and 22 at the EYent
&enter, 2600 East St, BaNer &ity It
is probably one of the most important
meetings on teaching coordination
you eYer haYe had the chance to at-
tend
It giYes you the tools to stop the
oYer-reach of the forest agencies
We need to stop their benign neglect
of our forest, blaming eYerything on
the off-road users and other forest ac-
tiYities We need to stop the shutting
down of our roads because silt might
get in a creeN, or a salmon that needs
help or some other species in distress
I Nnow 150 for a three-day con-
ference is a lot of money to come
up with But what we will lose if
we don’t stand up and be counted is
much, much more If you can’t at-
tend, please donate to help offset the
cost of the eYent To attend or donate,
or for more information please call
Lorrie at 541-519-5470, or stop by
her of¿ce, open Monday through )ri-
day at 3370 10th St, Suite & here in
BaNer &ity
We are running out of bullets, and
this is the last stand to maNe a dif-
ference on our public forest lands
Please help maNe a difference
Chuck Chase
Baker City
To the Editor:
Labeling one person’s state-
ments as opinion and claiming your
own opinion as fact is an ill-ad-
Yised undertaNing, especially when
the ³facts´ are unsubstantiated
Mr MiNe &osgroYe’s Aug 5
letter, ³)acts don’t MiYe with opin-
ions e[pressed´ ³facts´ assume
that all issues I haYe addressed are
personal opinions Perhaps he is
obliYious to the nuances of public
opinion that are becoming obYious
to most folNs in the county and the
steps being taNen to address these
issues by organi]ed groups
Mr &osgroYe should educate
himself on common laws that de-
fuse one of his “facts” and lend
doubts to the others He claimed
that a letter he petitioned the
County Court earlier this year for
their signature was defeated by
one commissioner after maNing
so free with my name, why wasn’t
the male commissioner/culprit
named"
Oregon meeting laws require a
quorum maMority necessary for
a decision The court quorum de-
nied the petition, and the decision
was supported by priYate citi]ens
of Grant County that populated
the meeting room )act: That is
public record, not my opinion
By his admission, the letter
would haYe proYided support for
his requesting funds to purchase
toilets for proposed forest serYice
biNeways The question arises as
to why he would be requesting
funds for priYies on a forest ser-
Yice proMect that was totally un-
Nnown to the public unless the
forest serYice had guaranteed ap-
proYal of the proMect inspite of po-
tential public input
The topic of my letter was the
Summit CreeN Landscape Res-
toration ProMect, not the cycling
groups he Nept referencing that
utili]e paYed highways Touting
the reYenue produced by those
groups has no bearing on the cross
country cyclists that would utilize
forest dirt and rocNy byways and,
by CosgroYe’s statement, “those
cyclists spend little money”
It is not Must my opinion that
large groups of cyclists should not
be allowed to infiltrate our forest
in mass to harass wildlife, and al-
lowing such actiYities contradicts
the forest serYice’s proclaimed
stringent desire to close off the
forest to protect wildlife and re-
store the landscape
Kudos to Dean Elliot on his
letter on freedom for our country
Aug 5: “What is happening to
freedom in our country"”
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
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by getting out on the
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egonians,” said MerN-
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Since
Moining Sen. Jeff
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MerNley has held a
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counties eYery year Union, Wal-
lowa and Grant counties will be his
24th, 249th and 250th town halls
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Grant County
Grant County Court-
house — 201 S Humbolt
St, Suite 20, Canyon City
9720 Phone: 541-575-
0059 )ax: 541-575-224
Canyon City — PO
Box 276, Canyon City
9720 Phone: 541-575-
0509 )ax: 541-575-0515
Email: tocc162#centu-
rylinNnet
DayYille — PO Box
L
321, DayYille 9725
Phone:
541-97-21
)ax:
541-97-217
Email:"dYille#ortelco
net
John Day — 450
E Main St, John Day,
9745 Phone: 541-575-
002 )ax: 541-575-1721
Email: cityMd#centurytel
net
Long CreeN — PO
Box 49, Long CreeN
9756 Phone: 541-421-
3601 )ax: 541-421-3075
Email: info#cityoÀong-
creeNcom
Monument — PO
Box 426, Monument
9764 Phone and fax:
541-934-2025
Email:
monument#oregontrail
net
Mt Vernon — PO
Box 647, Mt Vernon
9765 Phone: 541-932-
46 )ax: 541-932-4222
Email: cmtY#ortelconet
Prairie City — PO
Box 370, Prairie City
9769 Phone: 541-20-
3605 )ax: 20-3566
Email: pchall#ortelco
net
Seneca — PO Box
20, Seneca 9773 Phone
and fax: 541-542-2161
Email: cityseneca#cen-
turytelnet
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and
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