A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
OUR VIEW
U.S. needs a realistic
oil and gas policy
P
resident Biden has blamed the Russian invasion of
Ukraine for rising fuel prices. But fi gures show prices
have been on the rise for more than a year. The invasion
and the ensuing bans on Russian crude have only made the
situation worse.
The price and supply volatility suggest that the United States
needs to revisit its policies towards the domestic gas and oil
industry even as the country works to transition to alternative
energy sources.
A year ago, the spot price for a barrel of West Texas Interme-
diate — a benchmark crude oil — was $62.29 a barrel and the
average price of a gallon of gas in Oregon and Washington was
$2.89.
As post-COVID demand outstripped supply, oil prices rose
to $91.70 a barrel on Feb. 18, the last day of trading before the
invasion.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
the average retail price of regular gas in Oregon and Washing-
ton was $4.32 a gallon on March 7, up 46 cents from the week
before and $1.43 over the year before.
The average retail price of on-road diesel in Oregon and
Washington was $4.978 a gallon on March 7, up 68 cents from
the week before and $1.75 over the year before.
The United States is still a net exporter of petroleum, pump-
ing 11.6 million barrels a day, and the Energy Department fore-
casts that production will increase by another million barrels by
the end of the year.
The alternatives are expensive, even with subsidies. Propo-
nents favor pricing fossil fuels out of the market and forcing
consumers to make the transition. That requires regulatory and
policy measures that limit oil and gas production.
For the most part, the administration is favorable to that strat-
egy. Throughout the campaign, candidate Biden said he’d “get
rid of fossil fuels.” While he has yet to succeed, his policies
have made permitting and production more diffi cult.
But now the president wants oil companies to start pump-
ing to bring down gas prices, as if a spigot can be turned on. It
takes a year or more to get a well drilled and producing, and oil
companies make expansion plans based on long-term fi nancial
forecasts.
Why would oil companies plan to expand production during
an administration that’s committed to getting rid of fossil fuels?
We have no animus towards alternative energy sources, at
least those that don’t impact productive farmland. But we live
in the real world where the needs of everyday life cannot yet be
met by wind, solar panels and batteries. Trucks, tractors, com-
bines, tanks and fi ghter jets are still powered by fossil fuels.
It’s possible that one day our personal and commercial lives
won’t be powered by fossil fuels, but that day isn’t today, it
won’t be tomorrow, nor probably any day in the next decade or
more.
Until that day arrives, it only makes sense that U.S. policy
facilitates enough oil and natural gas to ensure our commercial
and strategic energy needs are met.
FARMER’S FATE
Love and cement on Valentine’s
F
or people who love, even
water is sweet.
— Chinese proverb
Valentine’s Day isn’t a holi-
day that we typically celebrate —
unless eating copious amounts of
conversation hearts counts as cel-
ebrating. I don’t eat chocolate and
I’m too practical for cut fl owers.
Fifteen years ago, I did get a
pair of Muck boots on Valentine’s.
I was wasn’t sure how roman-
tic that really was — but my hus-
band assured me it oozed love and
hearts.
“Just think of all that quality
time we’ll spend together chang-
ing pipes,” he grinned. I am sure
I rolled my eyes at the time, but
those boots have been a staple in
my life. I wear them snowmobil-
ing, four-wheeling, snowshoeing,
changing pipes, to the barn — and
of course to town. In hindsight, it
really was the perfect Valentine’s
gift.
But other than that, we have
never really gotten into that Febru-
ary holiday — until this year. OK,
I’ll be honest, it had nothing to do
with Valentine’s — I was just look-
ing for another reason to play with
my new toy.
For Christmas this year, my
husband had upgraded my vinyl
design cutter to one that was twice
the size. And I was having a ball.
Decals for the semi, a few wooden
signs, stickers for the kids’ rockets,
and even a few mugs.
So Valentine’s seemed the per-
fect way to continue my fun by
making everyone shirts. I discov-
ered, though, that Christmas is
the only holiday where I feel obli-
gated to wait for
the actual day to
pass out gifts. I was
so excited I passed
out the gifts on the
13th. I don’t know
who seemed more
surprised, my hus-
Brianna
band or the kids.
Walker
I have always
rolled my eyes at celebrating a day
“that is an overly commercialized
way to make money off of love.”
And now here I was passing out
presents? Whatever happened to
the woman that used to live in my
body?
I shrugged aside their ques-
tions and encouraged them to open
their gifts. The kids pulled out their
shirts and were as excited as farm
boys can be about new clothes.
My husband pulled his out and
looked a little confused but was
nodding appreciatively. It read: “I
have everything I need.” He looked
up when I unzipped my jacket to
reveal the shirt I had made myself.
It said “I am everything.” He rolled
his eyes at my arrogant humor.
“Muck boots and me, what else
is there for Valentine’s?” I laughed.
The next day, on Valentine’s
proper, we were scheduled to pour
concrete for a center pivot. Noth-
ing more romantic than screeding
cement in the rain. So wearing my
old Valentine’s Muck boots and a
rain jacket, I watched the cement
slide down the truck’s chute into
the forms. We were cold to the
bone but basically fi nished, just
running a trowel around the outside
to edge it.
Unneeded until we started driv-
ing machinery home, I sought shel-
ter in the cab of the pickup. I had
just started playing with the dials of
the radio when my husband jerked
open the passenger door, “Take me
home — my leg!” He winced as he
pulled himself into the passenger
seat. I glanced down. The denim of
his jeans was wet with blood from
his knee down on one leg.
Questions fl ooded that quick
ride home. He had slipped getting
into the skid steer and fallen, gash-
ing his leg pretty good in the pro-
cess. His jeans and socks went
straight in the trash when we got
home — it would take more hydro-
gen peroxide than they were worth.
Thirty minutes later, his leg was
cleaned, iced, elevated and wrapped
in purple and red vet wrap. Once
the ibuprofen had kicked in, we
even drew hearts on his bandage.
“Ya know, if you wanted to
spend Valentine’s with me, you
could have just asked!” I teased. But
in my heart I was relieved that it
wasn’t worse.
As I mopped up the last of the
blood, I thought about love and Val-
entine’s. Anyone can catch your eye,
but it takes someone special to catch
your heart — and clean up the blood
from that pumping heart.
It wasn’t the Valentine’s that I
expected. It wasn’t the Valentine’s
romance from a movie. But it was
still with my family — in my com-
fortable, old Valentine’s Muck
boots. And when we’re together, I
truly do have everything I need —
no matter the situation.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Let’s give M110 a
chance to work
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@cityofl ongcreek.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.
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.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.
state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313,
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale — 900 Court St.
NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1730. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: sen.lynnfi ndley@oregonlegislature.
gov.
• Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane — 900 Court St.
NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-1460.
District address: 258 S. Oregon St., Ontario OR
97914. District phone: 541-889-8866. Website:
oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley. Email: rep.
markowens@oregonlegislature.gov.
To the Editor:
I’m writing in response to
Jim Carpenter’s opinion piece
on Measure 110 and the prob-
lem of meth in rural communi-
ties (“M110 Makes Meth Problem
Worse,” March 3,2022). Mr. Car-
penter’s assertions presuppose an
association between drug use and
crimes against persons and prop-
erty. While I won’t deny that the
use of illicit drugs is strongly asso-
ciated with other crimes, this type
of thinking is essentially advo-
cating for the incorrect assump-
tion that drug use always precedes
other crime. He is eff ectively argu-
ing for the ability of the police to
arrest someone on the assumption
of a future crime based on drug
use. This is not only immoral, it is
un-American and unconstitutional.
I would also argue that if the
type of law enforcement that Car-
penter is advocating for was going
to work, it would have done so
already. Meth is a national prob-
lem that is particularly bad in rural
communities. Punitive measures
have completely failed to stem
the tide of meth production and
use in the United States. This type
of thinking is outdated and coun-
terproductive. A criminal penal-
ties-focused approach will only
serve to dehumanize those most
vulnerable to this continental-scale
drug epidemic and create further
barriers to rehabilitation. For better
or worse, M110 represents a new
approach to a problem that previ-
ous methods have thus far failed
to solve.
A recent Blue Mountain Eagle
article correctly pointed out that
the type of access to treatment that
M110 sought to create has failed to
materialize in Grant County. This
is the problem we should be focus-
ing on. The meth epidemic is a
national problem affl icting commu-
nities like ours from coast to coast.
Those that Mr. Carpenter sim-
ply reduces to “methamphetamine
users” are human beings, and it
is important to remember that. A
community-level response, not
fearmongering, is needed. Our pol-
iticians, district attorney included,
To the Editor:
The article on me in the Eagle on
March 16 (“County Court Race Will
Be Three-Way Contest”) left out the
most important point I made to the
reporter. The most important point to
me is the lack of union-trained build-
ing trade workers in Grant County.
It takes months to get needed
home repairs and signifi cant new
construction is almost impossible
because of a lack of trained trades-
persons to do the work. Meanwhile,
most young people leave the county
for training and good jobs as soon as
they graduate from high school.
I see this as one of the most
important issues that needs to be
changed in our community.
Scott Knepper
Prairie City
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Lack of worker
training a key issue
L
Blue Mountain
Published every
Wednesday by
should be providing the leadership
on this issue. Grant County and its
people deserve better.
Alexander Rice
Canyon City
Phone: 541-575-0710
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