OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
A4
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
NEPA rule updates
bring lawsuits
two years closer
E
nvironmental advocates
are howling over the
Trump administration’s
proposed update of rules that
govern the National Environ-
mental Policy Act — the first
since its implementation in
1978.
The update is long overdue
and undoubtedly will be the
subject of litigation.
NEPA requires environ-
mental reviews of projects
and activities on federal land,
including grazing, farming and
logging. The reviews evalu-
ate the benefits and impacts
of a proposed project and of
any alternatives available to
achieve the desired goal.
It was meant to promote
informed, transparent deci-
sion making and to give the
public an opportunity to pro-
vide input. Over the past 40
years, the reviews have grown
too long and too complicated,
according to a White House
statement.
The new regulations limit
Environmental Impact State-
ments to 300 pages and set
a two-year deadline for their
completion. Environmental
assessments, for projects with-
out a significant environmen-
tal impact, must be done in
one year.
The new rules clarify that
federal agencies must make
broad use of state, tribal and
local studies and decisions.
They also incorporate the
interpretations of Supreme
Court decisions from relevant
NEPA litigation.
When the original rules
for review under NEPA were
implemented in 1981, reg-
ulators estimated that even
the most demanding analysis
could be completed within 12
months. It turns out that was
wildly optimistic.
The Council on Environ-
mental Quality, the agency in
charge of making the rules,
says today the average time
is 4.5 years, and that doesn’t
count the years of inevita-
ble litigation challenging the
validity of the final product.
CEQ acknowledges that
about a quarter of the reviews
take less than 2.2 years. A
quarter of them take more than
six years. Federal Highway
Administration projects take
an average of seven years.
And with more time comes
more volume, much of which
adds little meaningful insight.
President Jimmy Carter
signed NEPA into law. In 1977
he warned that to be useful
documents had to be concise
and readable.
“We do not want (EISs)
that are measured by the inch
or weighed by the pound,” he
said.
In 1978 regulators con-
templated that a thorough
Environmental Impact State-
ment would take 150 pages.
Today the average EIS dresses
out at 661 pages, not includ-
ing appendices. In its back-
grounder on the changes, CEQ
says that padding is an attempt
by agencies to avoid the law-
suits often filed that claim the
documents are not complete.
By that measure, the extra ver-
biage nearly always falls short
of its mark.
Environmentalists say the
new rules are intended to rush
questionable projects through
the process, denying marginal-
ized communities the opportu-
nity to comment.
We are fans of tight, con-
cise writing. We also have a
hard time describing two years
as a “rush.”
The original framers of
NEPA never intended for the
process to produce inertia as
the default state of affairs.
If nothing else, the pro-
posed rules bring any project
two and a half years closer to
the inevitable lawsuit and the
slow slog of judicial review.
We will take progress
where we find it.
WHERE TO WRITE
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@
centurylink.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@
cityoflongcreek.com.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
• 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.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone:
503-378-3111. Fax: 503-378-6827.
Website: governor.state.or.us/
governor.html.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Plant hunting — Wuhan, China, and beyond
few years ago, I wandered
through the Shanghai air-
port, clutched my backpack
and wondered what in the world I’d
been thinking when I agreed to join a
plant hunting excursion to China with
a leader and 10 fellow travelers I’d
never met.
The Plan: The owner of a plant
nursery, an experienced traveler,
agreed to lead a plant hunting trip to
China. A food corporation paid him
and an interpreter along with seed
company researchers to search for
unique, edible plants.
The leader also invited a few “tag-
alongs.” We paid our own way. I’m
an amateur gardener who loves plants,
and I have no Chinese language skills.
Preparation: I’d studied up on
Kunming in the Yunnan district in
southwest China, a botanically rich
area for our proposed travel.
At the Shanghai airport, the leader
announced, “We are heading west
instead to an area previously closed to
foreigners.”
For the rest of the trip, I felt as if I
was in a travel fog, not knowing the
lay of the land. Our leader was blunt:
“I am not your travel agent.”
Food: With spotty refrigeration,
we stuck to a vegetarian diet. During
the day, I subsisted on packaged coco-
nut-flavored crackers and tangerines.
An occasional noodle shop in remote
villages provided noodles and vegeta-
ble soup.
For dinner, we stopped at mom
A
and pop eateries,
sometimes over-
whelming the fam-
ily with a dozen cus-
tomers. We pitched
in to help peel win-
ter squash, cut up
beans and broccoli,
Jean Ann
and chop greens.
Moultrie
Sometimes I added
twigs to the wood burning stove to
keep the woks hot for stir fry. A favor-
ite dish: stir fried, freshly harvested
Shiitake mushrooms.
Travels: Our journey took us to
valleys hot and muggy where the air
felt like the insides of a laundromat
dryer. In cloud-capped mountains, I
shivered while wrapped in my coat
and curled into my sleeping bag.
We traveled in a van, on buses,
on a train, on a workman’s boat up
the Yangtze River, on a rickety tram
and in a “sleeper” bus that consisted
of sheets of plywood layered above
the seats. I grabbed my sleeping bag
and climbed onto my “extra-firm”
bed. I felt like merchandise on a shelf
in a hardware store. A lap belt kept
me from being pitched onto the floor
during the nighttime drive on a pot-
hole-riddled road.
We circled past cities to reach hill-
side farms. In the shadow of skyscrap-
ers, someone mentioned the name of a
city we passed — Wuhan, a name I’d
never heard of. I never imagined that
in years to come, Wuhan would head-
line international news.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
An imperfect man
perfect for the time
To the Editor:
At times in the history of our great
republic imperfect men have come
forward who were perfect for the time
and challenge. General Patton comes
to mind. He was not a perfect man, but
among his imperfections was the per-
fect ability to lead men in bloody con-
flict and defeat the German and Ital-
ian war machines. He was perfect for
the time. I recently read that Presi-
dent Donald Trump is too imperfect
to vote for because “he lies, he contra-
dicts himself and doesn’t make sure
he has his facts straight.” If the writer
hadn’t named Trump I would have
assumed she was generalizing about
politicians. Our republic is in a bat-
tle for its life. As Charles Krautham-
mer predicted in an article Oct. 11,
2017, we are now being invaded by
“The Enemy Amongst Us,” and we
daily watch the growing insurrection,
violence and chaos he accurately pre-
dicted in our major cities. The coor-
dinated attacks on these cities can-
not be a coincidence. And sadly, these
activities are allowed and supported
by state and locally elected “lead-
ers.” Many of us in Grant County con-
firmed by oath to defend and protect
the Constitution of our great republic.
None that I know of have renounced
that oath. We the people are ready to
push back against the destruction of
our country and our way of life, but
we are all looking for the person to
lead this effort. Bestselling author Ben
Shapiro describes Trump in his latest
book: ”His serious character flaws sim-
ply become secondary concerns when
the future of the nation is at stake.”
Trump’s actions during his first term
convince me that he is the perfect man
to lead us through this national cri-
sis. I submit to you that we should not
let our great republic become history
while we stubbornly seek that “perfect
leader.” I think we have that imperfect
man who is perfect for the time! Proud
and blessed to be an American.
Kenneth Delano
Mt. Vernon
‘Lawless order
alive and well’
To the Editor:
This letter is in reference to the edi-
torial “Oregon ranchers face tough
choice” (vis-a-vis wolves) in the July
8 Blue Mountain Eagle. The issue was
local law enforcement, rather than
Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life biologists checking out a carcass,
are influenced by the rancher’s diag-
nosis of “certain wolf kill.” Not so. In
my experience, neither Grant County
Sheriff’s Office nor Oregon State
Police are persuadable even by the
evidence.
My pet buffalo was belly shot,
through and through. None of the
applicable agencies came out, escap-
ing like Phaedrus between the horns
of the beast. Hunting season had just
started.
More recently, I found the near-in-
tact skeleton of a young steer with
skin evenly pulled down over the
leg bone and cleanly cut. Do wolves
carry knives in Grant County? Verdict:
inconclusive.
The same for fresh carcasses of
deer on my property, despite a clearly
visible round hole in the side. A total
of two bucks and four does were killed
on my property that winter — in my
opinion, a planned cull.
I returned with a load of hay one
evening late, road blocked by a vehi-
cle. I barely squeezed by. That vehicle
then followed me and sat in my drive-
way for some time, blocking it. The
next day, a week-old calf was dead.
By week’s end, a young Jersey died.
GCSO’s report omitted my statement
totally. It was a lost dog someone was
looking for.
A cow pregged at eight-plus
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months “left” the corral after dark. The
next day, I found tracks leading to a
boundary fence, through it and off into
the snow. GCSO called two days later
when the snow had melted. Photos
don’t count. I have not seen a report.
She did come back, alone.
And prior to all this, after just hav-
ing moved here, my young daugh-
ter and I stood by the pond when a
shot from the rimrock zinged over our
heads aimed at a few mallards (hope-
fully!) who rested there before mov-
ing on.
No peace for the weary here, but
lawless order alive and well!
Vega Nunez
Ritter
A compromise
To the Editor:
I have been thinking about signs on
businesses that say “no shoes, no shirt,
no service.” People obey those signs.
I am not sure why stores and restau-
rants have that policy. To my knowl-
edge, bare feet and a bare chest are
not known to be a health hazard. Well,
maybe if someone uses their bare feet
to eat instead of their hands, that would
be a health hazard to that person.
But, I have never heard anyone
declaring that they have a right to be
barefooted or shirtless when they shop
or eat, or seen anyone marching into a
business shirtless or shoeless to show
their independence. But, during a pan-
demic, a bare mouth, out of which an
invisible, deadly virus can spew and
infect others? “No mask, no service?”
Revolt! Recall the governor! Storm
the Capitol!
If the sign, during a pandemic,
said, “Wear a shirt and pull it over
your nose and mouth when you enter,
or hold a shoe over your mouth and
nose when you enter, or no service”
that might be the compromise that will
save lives.
Nancy Nickel
John Day
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As we traveled, we collected sam-
ples from arboretums, town parks,
remote farms, roadsides, woodlands
and around Taoist temples — with
permission.
At night, we cleaned seeds and
labeled them. How does one deter-
mine the genus and species of a jew-
el-looking seed pod the farmer identi-
fies as, “Snake bite cure?”
While others in the group chatted
with farmers, I often looked for fam-
ilies with children and grandparents
to engage with. Photos don’t show
how delightful the children are and the
deep, multi-generational bonds within
families.
Great Find for One Who Has
Lagged in Seed Collecting: A farm-
ers’ store with hundreds of packets
of commercially packaged vegetable
seeds. Pictures of the vegetables on
the cover, instructions in Chinese. All
cleaned and labeled.
I cleared customs with no
problems.
When I returned from traveling
overseas, I scrubbed and disinfected
travel gear including boots. I won-
dered if I appreciated the blessings of
clean drinking water.
Family stopped by to welcome me
home.
“Where’s Mom?” asked a family
member.
“In the kitchen hugging her water
faucet and fridge,” answered another.
Moultrie is a freelance writer in
Grant County.
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