A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Oregon needs
sunshine
committee
A
s a disappointing
legislative session
comes to a close, you
can lament a lot of missed
opportunities: Tax reform
didn’t get done. PERS reform
never got off the ground. The
education budget survived
disastrous cuts but didn’t take
the necessary steps forward.
A transportation package is
possible, but the process could
still be derailed.
The Democrats have control
of everything — Senate,
House and governorship —
but have not accomplished
much of substance, which is
disappointing.
You can harp on the big
things, but sometimes it’s the
small ones that illuminate the
larger missteps.
But one little bill has, like
the grand bargains, also not
made it across the fi nish line.
It’s a simple one, but one we
believe has a bipartisan ability
to make Oregon government
better and help make
Oregonians better informed.
It is House Bill 2101-A,
colloquially known as the
public records law, which
is geared around informing
Oregonians about their
government and the world
around them.
It provides extra analysis
and notice of bills that affect
government transparency.
HB 2101-A would not
only give the public specifi c
notice of bills that would
increase government secrecy,
it would set up a balanced,
nonpartisan committee to
update and simplify Oregon’s
confusing thicket of more
than 550 existing records-law
exemptions.
We think that improves the
lives of every Oregonian. Yet
the fi rst major reforms to public
records law in the state since
1973 have not yet passed, while
the aforementioned exceptions
allowing greater secrecy are
commonplace.
“Journalists often —
and rightly — complain
about a lack of openness in
government,” Oregon SPJ
Sunshine Chair Shasta Kearns
Moore said. “Now is our
chance to push the needle in a
better direction.”
The bill would cost the
state about $200,000 a year,
but the spending would boost
trust in government and
prevent what could be costly
unintended consequences from
future legislation by ensuring
increased debate around a law
that is the cornerstone of our
democracy.
We hope the Legislature,
and the majority party, will
see this bill through to provide
a substantive win for all
Oregonians.
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
USPS 226-340
Blue Mountain
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G UEST C OMMENT
Finish Yucca Mountain
By Greg Walden
U.S. Representative, R-OR
Nuclear energy has played an in-
tegral role in generating electricity in
the United States for decades. This
reliable energy source is responsible
for generating 20 percent of electrici-
ty across the country, providing low-
cost power for consumers throughout
the United States. In 2016, 30 states
operated nuclear reactors for electric-
ity and six of those states relied on nu-
clear power for the majority of their
electricity generation.
Importantly, nuclear energy pro-
duces zero greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the Nuclear Energy In-
stitute, 553 million metric tons of car-
bon dioxide emissions were avoided
by the nuclear industry throughout
the United States – making it one of
the cleanest forms of energy in the
country.
Nuclear energy is a clean and ef-
fi cient part of our nation’s overall
energy mix and it supports our na-
tional defense priorities. However,
the federal government has dropped
the ball when it comes to disposing
of the necessary byproduct of nu-
clear activities – spent nuclear fuel
from commercially generated nucle-
ar power and high-level waste from
our nation’s defense activities. As a
result, spent nuclear fuel currently
sits idle in 121 communities and 39
states across the country, creating
signifi cant potential environmental
concerns.
The Hanford Site, located about
40 miles north of my district on the
Columbia River in Washington state,
produced plutonium for nuclear
weapons for over 40 years for Amer-
ica’s defense program. Since the
creation of the Manhattan Project,
the Federal government has been re-
sponsible for cleaning up high-level
radioactive waste from sites across
the country like Hanford that are
storing the waste from our nation’s
nuclear weapons de-
velopment and the
spent fuel generat-
ed from our Navy’s
nuclear submarine
and aircraft carrier
propulsion systems.
Greg
The Hanford site
Walden
was deactivated in
1987 and in 1989
the Department of Energy’s mission
to clean up the waste began. Twen-
ty-eight years later, 2,300 tons of
spent nuclear fuel remains at the site
in dry storage and millions of gallons
of high-level waste awaits disposal.
The recent cave-in at Hanford is just
the latest cause for concern. While
nobody was injured and there has
been no evidence of contamination,
it doesn’t take away the fact that this
material clearly needs to be moved
to a permanent disposal facility.
The waste currently sitting at the
Hanford site is engineered by design
to be sent to the Yucca Mountain per-
manent geological repository facility
in the Nevada desert. Yucca Moun-
tain was chosen by Congress in 1987
to house both spent nuclear fuel and
the kind of high-level waste found at
Hanford. At Yucca Mountain, these
materials would be safely isolated
1,000 feet underground. In fact, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
determined that the site could safe-
ly store this nuclear material for one
million years.
Oregon ratepayers, through a
fee tied to the electricity generated
from nuclear energy, have already
paid the Department of Energy over
$160 million to fi nance the costs
associated with the development
of a permanent repository to dis-
pose of spent nuclear fuel. Wash-
ingtonians have paid an additional
$872 million in this effort. All told,
taxpayers around the country have
paid more than $40 billion to per-
manently dispose of spent nuclear
fuel and the high-level nuclear waste
like that found at Hanford.
Despite the safety and environ-
mental benefi ts and billions of dol-
lars taxpayers and ratepayers across
the country have already invested,
the Obama administration halted
Yucca Mountain from moving for-
ward and tried to permanently pre-
vent the project from being complet-
ed.
As chairman of the Energy and
Commerce Committee, I’ve directed
our team to address these problems.
We’ve done our homework too.
Dating back to 2011, the committee
has conducted rigorous oversight,
held several hearings examining all
aspects of nuclear waste policy and
some of our members even traveled
to Yucca Mountain for a fi rst-hand
look at the geologic repository. Now
it’s time to act.
Our resulting legislation, the
Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments
Act of 2017, recognizes that Yucca
Mountain is the most expeditious
pathway for communities around the
country that store defense high-lev-
el waste – like the Hanford Site – to
dispose of that waste. The bill rein-
states Yucca Mountain as the corner-
stone of our nuclear waste disposal
while also allowing private interim
storage projects to move forward for
the fi rst time – a concept that would
temporarily hold commercial nu-
clear waste until Yucca Mountain is
ready to receive shipments.
The recent incident at Hanford
could have been a lot worse. It’s time
for the Department of Energy to ful-
fi ll their legal obligation to dispose
of this waste to assure nothing worse
happens. Thankfully, we’re working
towards a durable solution at the En-
ergy and Commerce Committee and
rest assured, we will get this waste
consolidated and safely stored in its
permanent home in Yucca Mountain.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood Riv-
er) is the chairman of the House En-
ergy and Commerce Committee.
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
Gender-neutral road trips
By Brianna Walker
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
The ABC’s of a long road trip are
Absolute Bladder Control. There
are varying degrees of course, and
while helpful, it is rare that the
driver and the passenger are at the
same level. Such was the case on
a recent family road trip to south-
ern California. At the point when
crossing my legs no longer was
helping — and the nearest rest
area still more than 20 miles away
— I opted for a fast food restau-
rant right off the freeway. It was
nearly lunchtime anyway. We may
as well kill two birds.
I couldn’t get the kids out of
the car seats quick enough, and
as my husband headed towards
the ordering queue, I waddled
my way to the restroom. There
was a sign taped to the door of
the woman’s bathroom. In big,
bold, red letters, it read: “Always
lock stall doors.” Odd. I glanced
at the men’s bathroom door, but
there was no sign there. Weird to
be sure, but my bladder, feeling
like an over-inflated beach ball,
didn’t care. I started to push open
the door, when it was opened from
inside.
I stepped out of the way to let
a 50-something man out of the la-
dies room. Startled didn’t even be-
gin to describe my reaction. I dou-
ble checked that I was indeed in
line for the correct bathroom, and
yes, it said ladies.
I saw four stalls
inside,
before
the door closed
shut, and I turned
away — back into
the nearly empty
Brianna
restaurant.
Walker
“Was it occu-
pied?” my hus-
band asked upon my swift return.
“You could say that,” I said,
suddenly feeling no need at all
to use the facilities. The next 20
miles to the rest area somehow
passed in much less discomfort
than the previous 10 had.
Equality is a wonderful thing
— in the right places. But what
is wrong with embracing the dif-
ferences between the genders as
a positive thing? Recently a mom
I know actually took the time to
write a letter of complaint to a
scrapbooking company because in
a large assortment of paper they
included a sheet that had dinosaurs
on it with the words “Boys Rule.”
She was angry, because maybe
her daughter liked dinosaurs and
said it was sexist to include words
like that. No mention was made of
the princess paper with the words
“Girls Rule” on it. When did we
become a nation of complainers
that can’t seem to find beauty in
two very separate genders? Equal
pay for equal work is a good thing,
but what is wrong with embracing
the idea of different characteris-
tics (and bathrooms) for a gentle-
man and a lady?
Perhaps I am old-fashioned,
but I cannot understand why a
man opening the door or pulling
out a chair for a woman is now
sexist and a 50 year old man in a
ladies room is forward thinking. If
it is an outhouse, then we all take
turns and it becomes gender neu-
tral — and I have no problem with
that. If there is only enough room
in a business for one bathroom,
put a male/female sign on the one
bathroom door — with a deadbolt
— and I am good with that too.
But a restroom with stalls, and a
fluid gender? Bladder control be-
comes even more absolute!
“I’d rather head out behind a
tree,” I told my husband as we got
back in the pickup.
“Well perhaps you should iden-
tify as a dog, and then you can pee
behind or on any tree you want!”
he laughed.
I just shuddered. Women’s
bathrooms that aren’t for wom-
en. “One nation under God” that
doesn’t believe in God anymore.
We certainly aren’t in Mayber-
ry anymore. I once read that the
eye only sees what the mind is
prepared to comprehend. If that
is true, my seeing dog and I will
both be using the tree out back
soon.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.