Nearing
the end of his two terms, it is apparent that Barrack Obama’s signature
initiatives are failing.
His
Affordable Care Act is an insolvent disaster. Obamacare is proven to be both ineffective
and unaffordable. Health insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles are
skyrocketing. At the same time, access to both private health insurance and
health care services have sharply declined.
Obama’s
energy policies are incoherent, ineffectual and ridiculously expensive. Polls
indicate two-thirds of Americans no longer believe man-caused global warming is
an eminent threat. They are beginning to recognize the entire phenomenon is
motivated by the desire for political and financial control of the nation’s
energy industry.
A
vast majority of the population appear to fear his confused and dangerous
immigration programs. His policies creating ever more porosity along our
southern border have led to support of his opponent by a great number of those
responsible for guarding that border. Obama’s
willing acceptance of preponderantly young male refugees from the Middle East
is widely believed to be placing our population at great risk.
The
Obama/Kerry nuclear arms deal with Iran amounts to an incomprehensible give-away,
of money and control, to a rogue nation. His payment of “ransom” to that nation
is the first such act since the American fleet dispatched the Barbary Pirates
in the early 1800s.
North
Korea continues its nuclear testing and its development of intercontinental ballistic
missiles. It is openly threatening other nations without any apparent fear of
reprisal. The rogue nation may now have the capacity to deliver a nuclear
warhead to the continental United States.
Obama’s
Middle East foreign policy has led to the rise of ISIS. His empty “line in the
sand” threats have made America an international laughing stock and are largely
responsible for the creation of the first Muslim caliphate in more than 500
years.
Our
nation has not experienced this level of racial tension in nearly 50 years. During
the past eight years, it seems he has not wasted any opportunity to deepen that
rift.
His
economic strategies have resulted in the slowest economic recover witnessed in
more than half a century. Inflation-adjusted American household income is
significantly less than when Obama took office in 2008. Only the very wealthy
are flourishing because they have been provided nearly eight years of virtually
unlimited access to cheap government money.
Obama
is now desperately in search for some form of legacy. Using the Antiquities Act
as his tool, he appears to be focused on building that legacy on the backs of
Oregonians. He appears to be trying to see how much of the state of Oregon he
can declare as National Monuments by presidential fiat.
His
intent is to create three Oregon National Monuments. The combined areas of his proposed
Owyhee, Crater Lake and Cascade-Siskiyou National monuments encompass more than
four percent of the entire landmass of the state.
The
federal government already owns nearly 53 percent of Oregon. His proposed
monuments would lock-up an area equivalent to two-thirds of the entire land
mass of Klamath County. They would include nearly eight and one half percent of
all the Oregon land that is currently owned by the federal government.
His
latest effort is a 53,000-acre expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument in Jackson and Klamath Counties. Ninety-six percent of that 53,000-acre
expansion is actually O&C forest lands under the ownership of the Bureau of
Land Management. Federal law requires those lands to be managed for multiple
use and sustained yield timber harvest for the benefit of the citizens in the
counties where the land is located.
Nearly
30 square miles of that productive forestland is located in Klamath County. Monument
designation will eliminate about five million board feet of annual timber
harvest from those O&C lands just in Klamath County. It will also prohibit
livestock grazing on 83 square miles of multiple use public land.
Equally
important, monument designation will greatly restrict public access to yet
another 53,000 acres of lands that are, in fact, owned by the people. Much of
the proposed area is located within the Klamath River watershed upstream from
Iron Gate Dam. The monument designation’s addition to the rewilding of the
Klamath River is likely not a coincidence.
Last
month, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) held a public hearing in Ashland
regarding the proposed monument. He apparently gave supporters time to produce
signs and colored T-shirts with printed logos. Merkley generally failed to
notify potential opponents until the last few days.
Those
who were apparently notified late included several local state senators and
representatives, the county commissions of the three affected counties, the BLM
that manages the O&C lands, and the cattlemen who currently hold grazing
permits within the proposed monument.
On
short notice, County Commissioners from Klamath, Jackson and Siskiyou Counties
testified in categorical opposition. The Association of O&C Counties wrote
a letter in adamant opposition. Cattlemen and foresters, who depend on the
federally mandated multiple use of the land, testified in opposition.
Rep.
Gail Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls) and I also submitted
a letter of opposition into the record. We were among the
Southern Oregon legislators who signed
off on a joint letter of opposition to the monument expansion proposal.
Another
better publicized public hearing held
at the Klamath County Government Center on November 1. The hearing was very
well-attended, with the crowd filling two rooms and spilling out into the
hallways. People representing both sides of the issue were provided a forum to
express their positions. The preponderance of the crowd was reported to be in
strong opposition.
Nevertheless,
Senators Merkley and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) appear to be 100 percent complicit in
actively promoting Obama’s last-ditch “legacy” efforts. They are actively
advocating for the monument designation, regardless of the potential severe
economic impacts on rural Oregonians. In my opinion, their support amounts to
advocating for the exclusion of forest harvest, forest management, wildfire
control, livestock grazing and public access, all at the expense of our rural
economies.
Please
join Representative Whitsett and me in both writing and calling Senators
Merkley and Wyden’s offices. Explain to the senators how existing county
budgetary struggles are due largely to already existing harmful federal
policies that lock up the land and prohibit its productive use. Ask them how
and why they could possibly support such a proposal that will further harm the
rural Oregon counties that continue to struggle to fund basic public services.
To
reach Wyden’s office, click
here. Merkley recently released information about the monument proposal and
is soliciting comments online here.
Please remember--if we do not stand up for rural Oregon, no one will.
Best Regards, Doug
Senate District 28
Email: Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us I Phone: 503-986-1728 Address: 900 Court St NE, S-311, Salem, OR 97301 Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/whitsett
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