Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2019)
A10 STATE Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Gov. Brown has been assessing executive action Why could thousands of Oregon university on greenhouse gasses for more than a year By Aubrey Wieber Oregon Capital Bureau For more than a year, Gov. Kate Brown’s environmen- tal agency has been assessing how the governor could man- date lower greenhouse gas emissions without voter or legislative approval, accord- ing to interviews and public records. Brown has said she’s will- ing to act with her executive authority if lawmakers and industry don’t reach agree- ment on ways to limit green- house gas emissions over the next several decades. Her spokeswoman, Kate Kondayen, reiterated that point, saying that Brown would rather see legislative action. “The governor has been meeting with stakeholders from the agricultural sec- tor, transportation sector and wood products indus- tries throughout the summer and will continue to do so into the fall to ensure that the policy benefits rural Oregon while allowing rural Oregon industries to remain compet- itive,” Kondayen said in a statement. “In the meantime, she has instructed her team and agencies to explore all options to achieve Oregon’s emissions reduction goals.” Kondayen didn’t oth- erwise respond to written questions. Richard Whitman, direc- tor of the state Department of Environmental Qual- ity, said his agency started talking with the governor’s staff a little more than a year ago, exploring what options were available. Those efforts were sidelined as momentum picked up ahead of the 2019 Legislature for a compre- hensive carbon-capping pro- gram. The costly and contro- versial legislation setting the program in place famously failed in the final week of the session. DEQ, responding to a pub- lic records request, released 39 emails dating from Octo- ber 2017 to last June doc- umenting communication between Brown’s office and DEQ regarding curbing emissions outside of legisla- tive action. Much of the cor- respondence regarded suing the federal Environmental Oregon Capital Bureau/Claire Withycombe Gov. Kate Brown speaks to supporters of House Bill 2020 at a rally outside the Capitol after Senate President Peter Courtney announced the cap and trade climate legislation lacked the votes to pass June 25. Brown said July 1 she is not backing down on the concept. Protection Agency to ensure Oregon maintains the author- ity to use executive powers to regulate polluters. An outline of the potential executive actions available to the governor was sent by Whitman to Brown’s advisers and the state Justice Depart- ment five days before the leg- islative session ended with- out a carbon emissions policy passing. Brown had no desire to let the work and momen- tum behind a carbon-capping program fizzle. Less than 24 hours after the session closed, she called reporters into her office and threatened to use her executive powers to lower carbon emissions. Immediately, DEQ resumed its work vetting those options. Whitman said his office is in weekly, if not daily, com- munication with Brown’s staff on the effort. “We are on a pretty steady pace working on these issues at this point,” he said. The June 25 internal doc- ument outlines a gradu- ally declining cap on indus- trial emissions and fossil fuel importers, strengthening Ore- gon’s low-carbon fuel stan- dard and increasing access to public transit and promoting biking and walking. DEQ also outlined ways to strengthen regulations on landfills to lower methane emissions, to more strictly regulate dairies, to expand vehicle inspection programs so that medium-duty trucks are inspected twice per year and to require newly built buildings include electric vehicle charging stations. Whitman said the main focus of the agency’s pro- posal is on capping industrial emissions. And while execu- tive action can be extremely powerful, it lacks the nuance afforded by the legislative process, he said. Going the legislative route allows the state to be less restrictive of industry, giving it the best “bang for its buck,” Whitman said. In 2019, lawmakers developed a policy where a cap on carbon came along- side “allowances” equal to one ton of pollution. Those allowances would have been purchased from the state at auction and then become a commodity for the holders, as they could be resold or traded. Lawmakers also designed a system to give free allow- ances to companies that would struggle to compete on a national or global scale under the new regulations. The policy would have also allowed companies to invest in “offsets” like preserv- ing timber stands rather than buying allowances. Executive action does not afford that level of creativity. More or less, she is allowed to limit emissions, but is more handcuffed in helping industry make the transition. Brown has not said how extreme the new emission regulations could be, but any change would likely impact business, and in turn could impact consumers and the overall economy. Whitman said executive orders might not result in the overall emissions reduction being done in the most effi- cient way. Brown’s potential execu- tive action is likely to draw political fire. “I am severely disap- pointed with the governor wanting to move forward with executive action, when the Legislature clearly did not get the cap and trade program right,” said Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford. Brock Smith served as co-vice chair of the joint committee that studied the issue and pro- duced the cap-and-trade leg- islation, House Bill 2020. Brown has been quiet on the issue since holding her press conference in June. “The really major issue here is that if Oregon DEQ were to proceed with a pro- gram, particularly around capping industrial emissions or fuels … it likely would be kind of a blunt instrument, frankly,” Whitman said. Brad Reed, spokesman for environmental coalition Renew Oregon, said action is needed now. Renew was one of the chief proponents for the policy, but Reed said executive action could be a start. “The governor should do everything she can to combat the climate crisis,” Reed said. Reed said, after her announcement, Brown met with Renew’s policy analysts to go over the most effective ways to use agency authority to cut down on emissions. Reducing pollution was only one part of the legisla- tive plan, though. The cap- and-trade program would have generated millions for climate projects around the state. That also becomes more difficult with executive action. DEQ could raise money through increased fees for things like industrial or agricultural permits, but that would require legislative approval. “I think it’s highly unlikely that we would be able to operate a program that gen- erates revenue for things that reduce greenhouse gas emis- sions,” Whitman said. And while DEQ ana- lysts have narrowed what options to consider, they con- tinue to examine how best to implement new rules and regulations. Senate Democrats back off threat to fine Republicans By Aubrey Wieber and Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau More than two months after voting to fine protesting Republican senators $500 per day for walking off the job, Senate Democratic leaders announced Friday they will not make good on the threat. Instead, leaders said they are pursuing a constitutional amendment to change Ore- gon’s quorum requirement from two-thirds to a simple majority. That would allow the Senate to convene with 16 instead of 20 senators out of the body of 30. Forty-six states use the simple major- ity requirement, according to a Senate Democrat news release. Twice during the 2019 Legislature, Republicans brought the Senate to a halt by walking out in protest. They were able to claim political victories both times. During the first walk- out, Gov. Kate Brown killed bills regulating guns and vac- cinations to bring the sen- ators back, and during the second walkout, Democrats announced they would no longer pursue a controversial carbon pricing bill, though they said that died because they didn’t have the votes within their own party. To date, Senate Demo- crats haven’t imposed any punishment on their peers for walking from the Capitol. “Stopping the work of the people by denying a quo- rum is unconscionable and undemocratic. Senate Dem- ocrats will work to protect Oregon’s democracy by giv- ing Oregonians and their rep- resentatives more tools to stop any future quorum deni- als,” Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said in a statement. “I hope our Republican colleagues now see that this is not a tac- tic that should ever be used again, and that they will work with us to prevent either party from walking off the job.” Burdick’s statement comes after the Senate Majority and Senate Presi- dent’s offices were peppered by reporters asking if they were going to issue fines. Throughout the past two months, the Oregon Capital Bureau asked several times about the fines, and each time was told that they were going to be issued. The issue was brought back to the foreground this week when a coalition of unions and liberal groups escalated the kerfuffle after noticing a political action committee set up to help pay for the absent lawmak- ers’ expenses while gone out of state has donated to each Republican senator. The group has updated its state elections complaint against the 11 Republican senators, contending it’s unlawful to use campaign donations to pay for their political exodus. Patty Wentz, a spokes- woman for the coalition, said the complaint still stands. The only senator who’s paid his $3,500 fine is Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas. He did so to establish grounds to sue Senate President Peter Courtney in federal court, claiming he has no authority to issue such fines. Boquist’s check has not been cashed. Rick Osborn, spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said the retreat from the fines was not because the cau- cus believed it could be on shaky legal ground in issu- ing the fines. Rather, it was to save taxpayers from funding a legal fight. Senate Democrats said that “imposing the fines would have been bogged down by lengthy litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded legal fees.” workers go on strike? By Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau Sitting in a conference room at the Hamersly Library this week, Jackson Stalley wore a large pin emblazoned with a cobra: “Ready to strike.” Stalley, a library technician at Western Oregon University, is one of about 220 classified workers there who could walk off the job next month. They may not be the public face of academic institutions, but classified workers such as Stalley — of whom there are about 5,000 across the state — make universities function from day to day. They’re the people who make sure the bathrooms are clean, the students are fed and that young scholars can find the right article in an academic journal. “When something doesn’t work, people call me,” Stalley said. But last Friday, Oregon’s seven public universities reached an impasse in negotiat- ing pay increases, benefits and time off with those workers. SEIU Local 503, the union representing classified univer- sity workers, said the stale- mate could lead to a strike next month, just as the state’s roughly 64,000 university stu- dents will be starting classes. The university workers say they’re getting short shrift com- pared to other workers on the state’s payroll — especially just after lawmakers voted to boost the amount of money going to public universities by $100 mil- lion over the next two years. The median classified uni- versity worker makes $36,000 per year, according to SEIU 503. The union is railing against what it says are sky-high sal- aries for top administrators, bloated management and mod- est pay raises compared to other state workers. “This causes a significant amount of resentment, where the lowest paid employees, every two years, have to fight to not go on to welfare,” Stal- ley said. “At the same time we’re seeing higher educa- tion administration explode, in terms of numbers and their compensation.” The looming strike also highlights longstanding state budget trends that have put the squeeze on public universities. When Oregon voters approved a series of ballot mea- sures in the 1990s, they largely transferred the burden of paying for public K-12 schools from local property taxes onto the state. The switch left less money for everything else the state does. Paired with rising costs of health care and retirement ben- efits for workers, higher educa- tion felt the impact. And in 2013, after the state restructured the state’s public universities to independently govern themselves, classified university workers split off into their own union. Stalley said what higher education workers receive has not kept pace with employees working for agencies such as the transportation and forestry departments. “Every contract, we fall fur- ther and further behind,” Stal- ley said. “And we don’t quite understand how this keeps hap- pening to us.” A spokeswoman for the uni- versities said much of the $100 million boost from lawmakers is going toward reducing leaps in tuition and covering higher costs of employee benefits. Workers also say they’ve been disrespected at the bar- gaining sessions. “That is a key talking point that they have, and that is a way that they use to gain attention for their story,” said Di Saun- ders, a spokeswoman for the universities. “We could also say exactly the same thing. The bar- gaining table is not always a very happy place.” The contract proposed by university executives is “dis- heartening,” Stalley said — especially after union members lobbied state legislators this year for increases to the higher education budget. For instance, they say the cost of living increases offered are too low to keep pace with inflation. Rob Fullmer, an IT special- ist at Portland State University, said that the most recent con- tract’s cost of living adjustment fell below the rate of inflation. “That just didn’t cover my costs,” Fullmer said. “So I saw my buying power go down last year.” The union wants a 3.75 per- cent increase for cost of liv- ing in 2019 and a 3.5 percent increase in 2020. Fullmer, an IT profes- sional who has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineer- ing, acknowledges he’s not the “poster child” for the effort to secure better wages for univer- sity workers. He cites colleagues who work in dining services or as office specialists who have to take second jobs, noting that about a quarter make so lit- tle money that they qualify for food stamps for a family of four. “We are the lowest paid workers at the university,” Full- mer said. “And for us to be offered wages in this next con- tract that don’t keep pace with inflation is really tough.” The universities, meanwhile, say that the combined 12 per- cent increase for the next two years — 2.5 percent in a cost of living adjustment and 9.5 per- cent in “step” increases for sat- isfactory job performance — is a “fair offer.” Universities also are offer- ing competitive health care and retirement benefits, Saunders said. She said universities already provide “the best benefits you can get on the west coast, if not nationally.” A strike isn’t a sure bet. Union representatives say they want to avoid that by negotiat- ing what they view as a better contract. “We work in higher ed because we want to be able to serve students and faculty, we want to be able to serve the higher educational mission, so striking is not something we’re looking forward to doing,” said Fullmer. “But if we don’t get a reasonable and fair contract offer from management, they’re basically forcing our hand. Striking is the only thing we can really do in order to ensure our workers get a contract that they can live with.” Friday is when the univer- sities and unions officially sub- mit their final and best offers for a contract. Then there’s a 30-day cooling off period, at which point the universities may implement their final offer, which could prompt the work- ers to go on strike. Negotiations could continue until workers and management reach an agreement. The universities, meanwhile, are planning for a strike as stu- dents return for the fall term. They could re-assign non-clas- sified staff, outsource workers or hire temporary employees. 1809 First Street • Baker City • (541)523-5439 BARGAIN MATINEE IN ( ) Adults $7 ALL FILMS $6 ON TIGHTWAD TUESDAY MOVIE SCHEDULE AUG. 30 - SEPT. 5 195 N Canyon Blvd. • John Day • 541-575-0710 Mendy Sharpe FNP Apppointments available SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME- EXTENDED CUT (PG-13) Includes four minutes of a never-be- fore-seen action sequence. FRI & SAT (3:45) 6:45 9:35 SUN & MON (3:45) 6:45 TUES - THURS 6:45 WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (PG-13) A loving mom reconnects with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. FRI & SAT (4:00) 7:00 9:40 SUN & MON (4:00) 7:00 TUES-THURS 7:00 GOOD BOYS (R) Three sixth grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey. FRI & SAT (4:10) 7:10 9:45 SUN & MON (4:10) 7:10 TUES & WED 7:10 IT: CHAPTER 2 (R) Opens Thursday, September 5th! THURSDAY 6:00 $9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth 137502 All classifi eds, legals and display ads are due Thursday, Aug. 29, by 5 p.m. Monday - Thursday 7am- 6pm Friday 8am - 5pm 133923 Th e Eagle will be closed on Monday, Sept. 2, in obervance of Labor Day.
