A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
WOTUS
rejection a
victory for
landowners
Y
ou can add our voice
to those cheering
a decision by the
Environmental Protection
Agency and the Army Corps of
Engineers to propose a rule to
rescind the 2015 Clean Water
Rule meant to defi ne waters
of the United States that are
regulated under the Clean
Water Act.
WOTUS is on its way out.
It’s a victory for landowners
against the power of the
administrative state.
EPA and the Corps worked
on the rule for a couple of years
in the hopes of reconciling
two separate Supreme Court
decisions in cases involving
the Clean Water Act. The
object was to better defi ne
what constitutes “waters of the
United States,” which the act
gives the federal government
authority to regulate.
The language of the rule
extended regulation to isolated
bodies of water that have
a “signifi cant nexus” with
navigable waters of the United
States. The rule left it to the
bureaucrats to determine that
nexus, and that rightly made
farmers and ranchers nervous.
Despite their attempt, the
fi nal regulation brought little
of the clarity it purported to
provide.
Farm and ranch groups
worried, despite the
government’s protest to the
contrary, the feds would use
the opportunity to expand
their authority over “waters,”
and therefore adjacent lands,
not previously subject to
regulation under the Clean
Water Act. Such a designation
could have profound and
expensive consequences for
landowners.
Even the Corps had its
doubts. Unhappy with the way
EPA wrote the document, it
wrote a scathing email to EPA
offi cials prior to the release
of the final draft. Among its
complaints was a claim that
in extending regulation to
isolated bodies of water that
have a “significant nexus”
with navigable waters of the
United States, but defining
such bodies as having “no
hydrological connection with
navigable waters,” made it
unlikely the agencies could
establish a nexus that would
withstand a court challenge.
When the rule was released
in 2015, a number of states
and industry groups sued. Most
notably, one lawsuit was fi led
by Scott Pruitt — then attorney
general of Oklahoma and now
the Trump administration’s
EPA director.
Jurisdictional disputes
arising from those lawsuits
resulted in a stay of the
rule’s implementation by the
Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in October 2015. The
Supreme Court will take up
the case later this year, but will
decide only the jurisdictional
issues, not the merits of the
rule’s interpretation of what
constitutes “waters of the
United States.”
Fulfi lling a campaign
promise, President Trump in
February issued an executive
order for a review of the rule.
Getting rid of the rule as
written is a good fi rst step
in reducing the reach of the
administrative state. But
that’s not enough, because
it will leave unresolved the
ambiguity created by the
disparate Supreme Court
rulings. Farmers, ranchers
and regulators need clear,
unambiguous guidance on the
true extent and limit of the
government’s authority.
On that point the next rule
must be quite clear.
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.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
• 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.
G UEST C OMMENT
Medicaid supports students
By Mark Mulvihill
and Heidi Sipe
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Soon, the U.S. Senate will vote
on the Better Care Reconciliation
Act. The topic of healthcare reform
in general is one we’ll leave to the
leadership in Washington, D.C., to
sort; however, we feel it’s crucial
to increase awareness of changes
that would have severe impact on
our schools right here in Eastern
Oregon.
If approved, the act will cap
Medicaid payments to Oregon and
jeopardize healthcare access for
vulnerable children.
Our elected offi cials are propos-
ing cutting hundreds of billions of
dollars in Medicaid spending; such
cuts could be detrimental to stu-
dents with special education and
health needs in our schools, and the
ripple effect of lost funding could
impact all students.
School districts across the na-
tion receive about $4 billion from
Medicaid every year, and much of
the money helps to defer the cost
of our special education programs.
Locally, we use these funds to sup-
port physical therapy, occupation-
al therapy, speech pathology and
nursing services to our medically
fragile students.
In addition, our regional Com-
munity Care Organization receives
Medicaid reimbursements to pro-
vide mental health and nursing
services. Providing such services
in the school environment allows
students to receive quality care, re-
lieves the burden of such care on
families and helps us pool resourc-
es to provide services to students at
a lower cost.
Without the ability to bill Med-
icaid for these important student
supports, districts are forced to lo-
cate outside providers to care for
students and pay potentially high-
er costs without reimbursement,
which means reductions in other
areas for all students to offset the
expenses.
The InterMountain ESD region
serves approximately 29,000 stu-
dents in 18 districts. We receive
roughly $340,000 in Medicaid
funds from both fee for service and
Medicaid service claiming. If our
children lose access to the Med-
icaid dollars, our districts would
have to offset the loss of this reve-
nue by cutting other areas.
We must do everything we can
to make sure the Senate does not
pass this bill. We must encourage
our senators to fi ght against these
devastating and unnecessary cuts
to services that our low income and
special needs kids rely upon. Our
children are depending on us.
Dr. Mark Mulvihill is the super-
intendent of InterMountain ESD.
Heidi Sipe is the superintendent of
Umatilla School District.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
The Eagle’s ‘hack
job on the Rainbow
Gathering’
To the Editor:
In four articles, an editorial and
featured hostile comments, the
Eagle on June 28 did a hack job
on the Rainbow Gathering and re-
ality. The smear on “detrimental
impacts” was spoon-fed by Forest
Service personnel under incident
command – wholly speculative, ig-
norant of environmental standards
and routine protective practices on
the land. Habitats are undamaged.
Some critters may move within
their normal range, then return. La-
trines and compost pits are sensibly
located, respectful of “heritage re-
sources.” Streams are protected by
on-site water systems and tempo-
rary crossings. Trails and campsites
are scarifi ed, mulched and seeded,
to mitigate surface compaction
and let plants spring up fast. Yet
Forest Service offi cials allege “the
site will never be back to normal”
– actually it will be fi ne by fall af-
ter a few rains. They should know
that the Rainbow Gatherings have
done effective restorative cleanups
for decades, with no signifi cant im-
pacts on national forest lands, but
didn’t do the homework. In fact,
the Forest Service deemed them
“categorically exempt” from formal
environmental assessment, with
minor transient effects not requir-
ing prior review. (Federal Register,
60:168, 45257, Aug. 30, 1995.) So
it’s misleading to raise false fears:
There is no “double standard,” as
the editorial intones, where special
use tests have been met consistently
– and ranchers have no gripe about
compatible public access in mul-
tiple-use national forest primitive
areas. Then it’s onerous to impugn
this gathering as “unauthorized.”
It is a public assembly, joined vol-
untarily by individuals. There is no
“group” party or agent power to sign
a permit. In recent years, the Forest
Service adopted Operating Plans
as a fi tting means of compliance;
now they revert to a “Design Cri-
teria” contract, conjuring a fi ctional
“group” and demanding signatures,
again. Gatherers could not sign it
fraudulently (18 UCS 1001). That’s
all it’s about; it has no bearing on
their ability to assemble peacefully
and care for public lands. What’s
missing from the Eagle news is the
First Amendment – any respect for
these rights or concern over target-
ed enforcement against them. The
writing was derisive and got facts
so wrong, it was obvious collusion
with the feds to disinform the public
and foment division.
Scott C. Addison
Coordinator
Free Assembly Project
St. Louis, Missouri
Term limits would
clean up politics
To the Editor:
According to theorists on the
Science Channel, all those stars,
novas (novae), space debris and
planets out there are sucking up
all the nutrients, gases and stuff
that our solar system needs to sur-
vive.
After a few trillion years, all
those twinkling stars will snuff
out — suffocated and starved to
death.
On the other hand, there are
massive black holes meandering
around our universe, sucking up
space debris, defunct novas, stars
and the like.
So, my theory is that the black
holes are nature’s toilets, flushing
away all those greedy stars and
debris that are depriving the rest
of us of air and stuff, in a few tril-
lion years or so.
Now, I would like to theorize
that a black hole may exist within
the political realm. My question
would be: Where can we find the
flush handle to make it operation-
al? Oh, I believe the flush is called
“term limits,” and why don’t we
establish them for career politi-
cians who are sucking our nation
dry and suffocating constitutional
rights?
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
L
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
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be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for
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Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
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