A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
A voice for
fairness
I
n an era of bare-knuckled
politics, it is instructive
to reflect on the career
of William Ruckelshaus, the
first administrator of the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
He died in Seattle in late
November at age 87, leav-
ing behind an unblemished
career as a voice for environ-
mental reason.
Ruckelshaus was no
stranger to pitched political
battles. His career in Presi-
dent Richard Nixon’s admin-
istration abruptly ended when
Ruckelshaus resigned his job
at the U.S. Department of
Justice instead of firing the
Watergate special prosecutor.
But after two turns as EPA
administrator — as the agen-
cy’s first chief under Nixon
and again under President
Ronald Reagan — Ruck-
elshaus probably knew more
about how the EPA and stat-
utes such as the Endangered
Species Act work than any-
one else.
In 2011, EO Media
Group interviewed Ruck-
elshaus about the EPA, the
Endangered Species Act and
issues related to the protec-
tion of species. Edited for
space, here are some of his
thoughts:
On the Endangered Spe-
cies Act: If the law is work-
ing properly, the “how to” is
an agreement by the people
who will be impacted by the
necessary changes. It doesn’t
work as well as it ought to,
because a lot of time the
government comes in and
imposes habitat require-
ments that the manager of the
land doesn’t find completely
reasonable.
On the Clean Air Act:
After a couple of years of
administering it, I knew it
needed change. ... What has
proven really hard is to get
these laws changed, and the
reason is, I think, the people
who lobbied the laws through
were primarily outside the
government, and the govern-
ment agencies that adminis-
tered these laws and the staffs
on committees remain in
place for a long time — they
get a vested interest in the
law and they fight furiously
against any changes.
The scope of the Endan-
gered Species Act: (Con-
gress) wrote the law broadly
enough, and of course it’s
been interpreted broadly
enough, it encompasses a
lot more than they probably
originally intended.
Changes needed in the
Endangered Species Act: If
I’m a landowner and some-
one is running a highway
through my land, I may not
like it, but at least I’m being
compensated for it. If I’m
forced to put buffers along-
side streams that run through
my land in order to protect
salmon, sometimes those buf-
fers take a significant amount
of my land, and I think they
should be compensated for
that. ... If that’s a public good
and it’s being asserted against
a private property owner,
then why shouldn’t the public
pay for it the same way they
do with a highway?
On environmental reg-
ulations: In the first place,
some guy writing the regula-
tion down in Olympia or in
Salem, and not being on the
actual land itself, can’t pos-
sibly draft a regulation that
makes sense on every piece
of land. So the landowner
has the regulator from the
government coming on their
land, starting to tell him how
to manage it. He’s been man-
aging for five generations
and this guy’s maybe six
months out of school. Well,
they’re not going to be very
pleased with what they’re
told to do. ... (Let) the indi-
vidual landowner have a lot
more authority about what he
should do to manage the land
in such a way that it doesn’t
adversely impact the envi-
ronment. And compensating
them where there are signifi-
cant costs involved.
On collaboration: If they’d
see themselves as part of
a family, they’d begin to
make progress. But if they
see themselves as adversar-
ies, as enemies, then you
don’t make any progress. ...
My experience of listening
to farmers and environmen-
talists when they finally let
their guard down, they are
not nearly as far apart as they
think they are. I’ve heard
farmers say, “Well, if that’s
what you want us to do,
that’s not so hard.” And here
the environmentalists would
say, “Well, I guess that’s not
really the problem, is it?”...
Once you see those inter-
ests come together, it really is
remarkable.
These words, spoken from
experience, offer wisdom
to all sides of many issues,
whether they involve the
environment or other topics.
Maybe, just maybe, the
world needs more voices for
reason like William Ruck-
elshaus. We’ve seen plenty of
the alternative.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Donate to
the arts
To the Editor:
Each year the Juniper Arts
Council/Grant County Oregon
Cultural Trust Coalition offers
grant opportunities to local arts
and heritage organizations.
Last year the Grant County
Historical Museum, Grant
County Piecemakers, the Hum-
bolt PTA, the John Day Fos-
sil Beds, the Prairie City Fiber
Fest and the Youth Arts Pro-
gram each received grants for
projects related to culture or
heritage.
Where does the money
come from that the JAC dis-
tributes? Each year the JAC
(along with 35 other county
cultural coalitions and nine
tribal coalitions) receives grant
funding from the Oregon Cul-
tural Trust. For fiscal year
2020, the JAC will receive
almost $7,000 for distribution
in Grant County.
Why donate to the Oregon
Cultural Trust? Donors to the
Oregon Cultural Trust not only
donate to arts and culture, they
also qualify for Oregon’s cul-
tural tax credit.
Here’s how to get your state
tax credit:
Donate to one or more
of Oregon’s 1,400+ cultural
nonprofits.
Donate to the Oregon Cul-
tural Trust online or by mail
before Dec. 31. You will get
this money back when you file
your state taxes.
On your state tax form,
enter the amount you gave to
the Cultural Trust as a refund-
able credit. Your maximum
tax credit eligibility is the total
you gave to Oregon cultural
nonprofits, up to $500 per per-
son ($1,000 for joint filers).
If you have questions or are
ready to donate, visit cultur-
altrust.org or call the OCT at
503-986-0088.
Kris Beal
President, Juniper Arts
Council Chair, Grant County
Cultural Coalition
Blood drive a
great success
To the Editor:
Grant Union High School
students did a great job orga-
nizing and staffing the Com-
munity Blood Drive Dec. 9-10.
The community was super sup-
portive, and Red Cross was
pleased to exceed the donor
goal both days. Grant County
is the best.
Susan Sintay
Community Blood Drive
coordinator
Walden works
hard for
agriculture
To the Editor:
As someone who owns and
operates a cattle ranch, I take
pride in saying Congressman
Walden is working harder than
anyone in D.C. to cut through
the red tape that we farmers
and ranchers live with every
day.
Greg has supported the
Trump Administration as they
work hard to renegotiate trade
deals and expand access for
our farmers and ranchers to
foreign markets — like the
newly negotiated USMCA and
the U.S. trade deal with Japan
— a great win for Oregon
agriculture!
In Congress, Greg has
passed legislation that would
improve forest management
and decrease the risk of wild-
fire by utilizing tools like graz-
ing and thinning to reduce fuel
loads on public lands.
Greg has fought hard to
ensure farmers and ranchers
can continue to rely on the pro-
tections provided in the Farm
Bill.
He has worked tirelessly to
advance legislation time and
again that would federally del-
ist the gray wolf and give the
states the ability to better man-
age wolf populations.
I’ve watched Greg as he
has spoken with leaders in the
agriculture industries from
Eastern Oregon throughout his
career in Congress.
His passion for the indus-
tries is clear in those meetings,
and he has always carried the
message he receives in those
discussions back to D.C. I
have had the pleasure of work-
ing with him in Oregon and in
Washington, D.C.
The farmers and ranchers
of Oregon are going to miss
having Congressman Walden
around.
Thankfully we still have one
more year!
Matt McElligott
North Powder
Lower
prescription
drug prices
To the Editor:
As someone with a long
career in nursing, I know how
important it is that my patients
have access to the prescrip-
tions they need to live healthy
lives.
I appreciate the good
work that Congressman Greg
Walden is doing to lower
prescription drug costs and
increase access for patients.
Greg’s work to help import
FDA-approved drugs into the
U.S. would help lower the
price of critical drugs like
insulin, while providing Amer-
icans with greater choice in the
marketplace. Walden has also
used his post on the Energy
and Commerce Committee to
get legislation passed that goes
after high prescription drug
prices.
In 2018, he helped pass leg-
islation to increase price trans-
parency and allow pharmacists
to inform patients that their
drug would be cheaper if they
paid for it out of pocket rather
than through insurance.
This year, he doubled down
on that by introducing the
“Lower Costs, More Cures Act
of 2019.”
The bill would lower out-
of-pocket spending for patients
and ensure that the U.S. will
continue to lead the world in
developing new cures.
I have personally taken part
in meetings Greg has held with
constituents in his district as
well as health care profession-
als that deal with pharmaceuti-
cal drugs every day.
The message is always the
same — lower prescription
drug prices.
He has worked hard to carry
that message back to D.C. and
get results.
Sam Palmer
John Day
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