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The INDEPENDENT, March 17, 2005
n, INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the
first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion
Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a
free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor,
Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@
the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh,
email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising,
Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net
Wyden strategy removes
BPA from Bush budget hit
President George Bush’s 2006 budget includes
changing the cost-based power rates of the Bonneville
Power Administration to a market-based rate by in
creasing bills for Northwest consumers by 20 percent
each year until the market rate is reached. Once the
market level is reached, the taxpayer and ratepayer
benefits will be eliminated, a switch that would only
lead to privatization.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, who had threatened to
block confirmation of the president’s nominee for
Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy,
because of the administration’s plan to privatize the
BPA and other Federal power marketing agencies, has
now dropped his opposition because U.S. Senator
Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who chairs the Senate Ener
gy and Natural Resources Committee has agreed to
block the market rate proposal if it reappears in any
form.
Wyden and the other Northwest Senators on the
Budget and Energy Committees (Wyden serves on
both committees) have worked together in opposition
to the market-rate proposal, which would cost North
west ratepayers billions of dollars. The Oregon Demo
crat, working with U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ldaho)
also wrote language specifically blocking the proposal
that has been agreed to by the Senate Budget Com
mittee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and will be in
cluded in the Senate’s 2006 Budget resolution.
Though Wyden carried most of the effort on this is
sue, Senator Gordon Smith (R-Oregon), who also
serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, was a strong supporter.
Smith and Wyden also demonstrated bipartisanship
yesterday by opposing the move to open the Arctic Na
tional Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. The Sen
ate voted to include the proposal in its budget, a ma
neuver that smoothes the way for Congress to approve
drilling later this year.
The debate is not yet ended. The Senate must still
pass a budget, which must be reconciled with the
House budget; then Congress must pass a second
budget-related measure that includes the drilling in a
larger package of provisions.
I
By Senator Betsy Johnson
Oregon District 16
The Other
Education Issue
When Oregonians talk
about education funding
they are usually referring
to funding for kindergarten
through high school, the K
- 12 system. There is another system of educa
tion in Oregon that is also pleading for more gen
eral fund dollars: The Oregon University System.
In one way or another Oregon taxpayers sup
port six universities plus the Oregon Institute of
Technology in Ashland and the Oregon Health
and Science University which is also affiliated
with the Oregon University System.
The business community and especially the
high-tech community have been lobbying for in
creased funding for our universities to provide
the trained professionals these firms seek. Stu
dents and their parents are asking for relief from
the constant tuition and fee increases. Lower in
come students are asking for increases in schol
arship grants. And the universities themselves
are seeking additional funding to recruit and
keep the most qualified faculty members. (Ac
cording to recent data, the salaries paid to fully
tenured professors in Oregon rank at or near the
bottom when compared to the public higher edu
cation systems of the other ten western states.)
Some legislators are actually asking aloud the
question that has been raised quietly for years:
“Can we afford our higher education system?”
Logic would lead most to conclude that Ore
gon cannot maintain three major universities
within 100 miles of each other. But as just about
everyone will agree, political decisions often are
based on factors other than logic. Can you imag
ine what would happen if someone introduced a
bill to close the University of Oregon? Or Oregon
State? Or Portland State?
I can almost guarantee you that no such bill
will be introduced this session or perhaps even
in my lifetime. But the facts remain. The quality
of our university faculty is declining. The cost of
an education in our university system is increas
ing to the point where fewer Oregonians can at
tend an Oregon institution. Businesses seeking
academic support, especially in the sciences
and engineering, are becoming increasingly im
patient.
Politically, we cannot close any of our cam
puses. Financially, we cannot support all of them
adequately. The answer to this dilemma? Be
lieve it or not, a bill has been introduced to cre
ate yet another campus in Bend!
Town Hall Meeting
Senator Betsy Johnson will hold a Town
Hall meeting in the Council Chambers at Ver
nonia City Hall on April 1, from 5:00 to 6:00
p.m., to discuss what is currently underway
in the legislature and to address constituents’
concerns and questions.