Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2006)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 27,2006 Letters to the Editor (Editor’s note: Enclosed are letters written to the editor by eighth grade students at lone Community School during an oceanography unit, Erin H. Heideman, science teacher, lone Community School.) To the Editor: Did you know their has only been one oil spill from a pipeline? Compared to 1400 since the mid 70’s. I believe that almost all of the world’s oil should be transported by pipeline. I think this because pipelines are safer and if they develop a leak the whole pipeline can be shut down in seconds, compare this to an oil tanker that would just keep leaking till the tank the has the oil is completely emptied its easy to tell which causes greater harm to the environment According to think quest an online library there has only been major oils spills in the U.S. the Exxon Valdez and one off the coast of San Francisco compared to one a week in other countries . I know it would cost trillions of dollars but you can't put a price on life or the environment and if the environment dies so do we. So please consider making the oil companies transport oil by pipelines. Kevin LaRue To the Editor: Oil spills are a harmful element to ocean life. Mainly caused by human error, these happen a lot more often than they should. A major oil spill, like the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989. was also caused by human error, and is still being cleaned up to this day. Rocks are being shifted and new oil puddles are being discovered. The cause of oil spills from human mistakes, however, is not much of a threat compared to illegal dumping of oil by people used to avoid the expensive cost of disposing used oil. This disposal is a fair amount cheaper than the twelve hundred to two million dollar fine that you get if you are caught. These oil spills are a extreme killer of animals, from ocean mammals attempting to get air, or bird cleaning and are then poisoned. • I think that more law enforcement should take effect to catch criminals dumping their synthetic and other wise non-biodegradable oil from motors, and increase the minimum fine for dumping oil. All info rm atio n p rovided by: h ttp :// www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.html;http://www.itopf.com/ stats.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill. Thomas Holland To the Editor: We need to stop dumping toxic waste into the oceans. Let me explain to you why. Toxic waste harms many plants and animals. Toxic waste is the most harmful form of pollutant. It gets into seas and oceans by the leaking of landfills, dumps, and mines. Chemicals and heavy metals from factories can have a harmful effect on marine life and humans. Many fishermen believe that the toxic chemicals in the ocean are killing much of the fish population. When toxic waste harms an organism, it can and will quickly be past down the food chain and may end up in our seafood. According to Thinkquest, an online library, one of the most harmful chemicals in the ocean and seas is lead. Lead causes many health problems; it can damage your brain, kidneys, and your reproductive system. Lead may also cause birth defects for people. It has also been shown to cause low IQ scores, slow growth, and hearing problems to small children. We need to be stricter on giving out penalties and civil fines. Alex Rietmann To the Editor: Since the last ice age, 18,000 years ago, sea level has risen by 120 meters. According to Geological data the sea has risen .l-.2mm/yr over the last 3000 years. However, the tide gauge data shows that the average of the sea level had risen to l-2mm/yr since the 20th century. This is all because of global warming. When sea levels rise the surface layer becomes warmer. This kills organisms such as algae, which some fish rely on for food causing a break in the food chain. G lobal w arm ing is the in creased average temperature of the earth. The increase in global warming is due to human activity. The main causes of human-induced warming are due to increased amounts of carbon dioxide and other green house gasses released by burning fossil fuels. If global w arm ing d o e sn ’t slow dow n then eventually species will starts to disappear. There are many things at home you can do to help prevent global warming. Such as, driving smaller vehicles, heating and cooling our buildings more moderately, and using compact florescent light bulbs. It also helps to use more energy-efficient appliances. Such as, class ‘A’ kitchen appliances. This helps the environment by reducing the release of green house gasses into the. I encourage you to save energy, and be more fuel efficient. Make it part of your everyday life to do the little things and help slow global warming. Mary Gates To the Editor: Do you like to fish? Well many people do but, there is a major issue with how much of the fish population is gone. According to U niversity of G eo rg ia’s Ocean Education Department, fishing fleets roam seas, harvesting large amounts of fish from the ocean. Fishing fleets are large nets that fishers put down into the water and fish and other creatures get caught into the net. One fishing fleet, within four months it can produce 10,000 tons of fish products, 1,000 tons of fish meal, 10,000,000 cans of fish and 100 tons of fish oil. There are many non-food animals like dolphins and sharks that are killed in fishing nets. There are many different ideas to regulate fishing harvesting such as larger fishing nets so that younger fish may have a chance to escape. Several countries agreed to this idea, but none of them were willing to spend time or money on this issue. There are many other ideas, but that is the main one. This is a serious problem and I hope that people will stop fishing so much; because once the fish are gone we are faced with a To the Editor: Oil spills are one of the main problems we have number of other issues. So please consider this issue the today harming the environment. Hundreds of animals are next time you go fishing. Mariah Bradfield dying and we need to do something about it. So what exactly is an oil spill? An oil spill is what happens when people make mistakes or are careless and cause a oil tanker To the Editor: Imagine you are a goose flying south for the winter to leak into the ocean. Equipment breaking down can also and over the ocean arid you decide to take a break and land cause an oil spill. Birds die from oil spills; they get oil on their wings in the water for rest and some food. But the water is not and become poisoned because the bird will try to clean like you remember it is black and murky and all the fish itself. Other animals can also die from this because they you came to eat are belly up and you are covered in oil and get hypothermia and already have a really low body can’t fly. According to the United States Environmental temperature. Oil can also affect the animals liver or lungs. P ro tectio n A gency ( h ttp ://w w w .e p a .g o v /o ilsp ill/ Oil can kill an animal also by blinding it. According to response.htm) there are about 14,000 oil spills reported Thinkquest, an on-line library, oil spills sometimes are one each year. Sea birds are greatly affected by oil spills because of the reasons for animals becoming endangered. This their w ings are covered in oil they try to clean themselves means that a certain type of animal could become in danger by eating the oil which poisons them and eventually kills of becoming extinct. So if we don’t do something now them. Sea otters are also affected by oil spills because when your favorite animal might not exists anymore. One thing their bodies are covered in oil the bubbles in their fur are we can do is have an education plan for individuals covered in oil which causes low body temperature. Killer whales are affected by oil spills because they ingest the oil operating oil tankers. If you have anym ore q u estio n s visit or the oil gets into blowhole which plugs the air ways. Because we created the problem of oil spills we should www.Thinkqest.com. have the responsibility for finding ways to solve the problem Tanner Rietmann too. Jake Trahan To the Editor: In today’s world, you've probably seen news bulletins warning us about global warming. Sure, for the first few days after you see it you'll start to help the earth by maybe recycling more, or trying not to use as much electricity. However, after a while you’ll forget about global warming all together and go back to your old lifestyle. That’s where the trouble starts. When greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide and methane, its causes the earth to heat up. This is how global warming happens. Global warming affects many things on our planet, but the ocean is hugely affected. Since the earth is steadily growing warmer, ice caps and glaciers begin to melt, which causes the sea level in the ocean to rise. Eventually, cities at low sea level could be covered with water. Global warming in the ocean is also causing coral reefs and other species to start to die, or at least make their habitat harder to live in by heating the ocean water temperature. According to the N ational O ceanic and A tm ospheric A dm inistration (NOAA), carbon dioxide levels have increased a lot since 1950, and are still on the rise. Even if the earth was going to warm up by itself, human activities have continued producing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, so we are at least partly to blame. Even if we have partially caused global warming, there are things we can do to help stop it. We can use less electricity by not watching as much TV and only turning on lights when we need them. We can use fluorescent light bulbs, and improve the insulation in our homes to keep heating and cooling inside. We can also walk more and drive less, and start to use wind energy and solar power as it becomes more available. We can help slow global warming. Additionally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (IPCC) says if we continue like we are, sea levels could rise dangerously in the next 1000, or 100 years. It could even happen sooner. So think about your There were two winners in last week’s drawings at the kids, your grandkids, and even your great-grandkids, would Morrow County Grain Growers in Lexington. Sheryl Thompson you want them to live in global warming? Even if you just (above) won the giant stocking, and Daniel Looslie (below) was help out a little every day by using less electricity, or by the lucky winner of the giant NASCAR race car. MCHGG is recycling, you can prevent global warming. an authorized NAPA parts store dealer. Beth Morter Two winners in MCGG drawings. SECOND ANNUAL NEW YEAR S EYE PARTY Everyone is Welcome to Attend this FREE party! 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. at the Seventh-day Adventist Church gym There will be snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, games, face painting, ping pong, board W ^ games and other family activities, plus JyT a Warren Miller ski movie! Town and Country tickets on sale Tickets are now on sale for the annual Heppner Chamber of Commerce Town and Country banquet planned for Thursday, January 11 at the Heppner Elks Club. Tickets, at $23 each, will be available at the Bank of Eastern Oregon, the Heppner Chamber of Commerce office. Murrays' Drug and Heppner City Hall. Social hour will begin at 6 p.m., with the prime rib dinner to follow at 7 p.m.
