I just touched down in Klamath County after a whirl-wind
tour in Washington, D.C. I had two big
items on my scheduled agenda. The first was appointments with Rep. Greg Walden
and several other House members regarding land, forest, habitat and watershed
policies that greatly impact our Western States. Rep. Walden has been deeply
involved in efforts to improve how our federal forests are managed and he led
several calls for forest management reform. The Congressional Western Caucus, joined
in, stressing the need for Congress to fix the broken federal policy that leads
to catastrophic fires in Oregon and much of the West.
Second, I was in D.C. to participate in the final sessions
of the Legislative Energy Horizon Institute (LEHI) conference. I’ll circle back
to this topic later.
At the capital, I met with staff members from the
Department of Interior (DOI) Committee on Natural Resources. I also met with the Liaison Office of
Intergovernmental Affairs dealing with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and
federal policy regarding the DOI. Lastly, Chairman Bishop’s Committee on
Natural Resources provided staff time with the Water, Power and Oceans
Subcommittee.
Topics of discussion ranged from water rights, access and
quality to fire management on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM). (Fire management for US Forest
Service land is under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) not the DOI.)
Another topic was the upcoming quandary over the needless
removal of four perfectly viable dams on the Klamath River. Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who represents Modoc and Siskiyou Counties, in California, will hand deliver your letters to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke regarding the destruction of our Klamath River dams. (Email your letters, this weekend, to Congressman LaMalfa’s representative Erin Ryan.)
Lastly, while in D.C., I stressed the need for the feds to clean-up the
regulatory processes that get foisted on the states and private sector by
federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Most of the staff members I encountered were new to their
respective organizations and are bringing fresh, new and innovative ideas to
the President’s administration. A fresh set of unbiased eyes should always be
welcome.
I found it encouraging that there was a universal optimism
about lessening the regulatory constraints stemming from federal agencies. I
was also assured that an overall policy shift would give increased emphasis to
the local officials and the local decision making process. This shift will
certainly provide greater assurances for the public and provide better
protection for life, health, and local safety concerns.
This is the most important issue.
For our benefit, a historical reference was noted by founder, Thomas Jefferson:
"the crown deprived the body of the people of
this power of local rule, and vested it in a small number of persons... In
this way, the ancient freedom of the municipalities was
undermined, and the power of the ruling classes was installed in its
place." (The Historic Origin of the Constitution of the United States, p. 150)
Two other items that surfaced in our discussion, were
specifically tied to the EPA. First was
the elimination of the current “Sue and settle” process and the resulting mandates
that occur outside the regulatory process. Special interest groups and their
high-priced attorneys have used lawsuits to force federal agencies – especially
EPA – to issue regulations that advance their own interests and
priorities. Following the suit, the courts compel agencies to take steps,
either through changes in a statutory duty or enhanced enforcement timelines.
Essentially, agencies must acquiesce to the courts consent decree or settlement
agreement, which in-turn affects the agency’s obligations.
This means that a judge’s opinion forces an agency to take
action that is not a mandatory requirement under its governing statute. This
clearly violates the court’s authority, the separation of powers and eliminates
any need for legislative bodies. Additionally, since these changes come through
the court system they are shielded from public review and carry an unwarranted
legitimacy. In the end, these settlements cost the American taxpayer millions
of dollars.
Second, was the rollback of the Clean Power Plan (CPP).
Last Monday, the head of the EPA announced that he would sign a new rule
overriding the Obama-era effort to essentially destroy America’s coal-fired
electrical energy sector. EPA administrator Scott Pruitt declared, “The war on
coal is over.” The current policy’s strict limitations on carbon emissions from
coal-fired power plants would make coal too expensive as a base load generation
source.
According to the Energy Information Administration, in the
past decade, coal-fired energy production has declined from 49% to 30.4% of US
energy production. The Trump administration’s efforts will limit the speed at
which our nation’s coal energy production declines, but the declines will
continue due to gains in natural gas availability, as seen in the graphic
below.
Following these meetings, I attended the LEHI conference
which shed light on all aspects of our nation’s energy grid. Coal-fired
power-plants, hydro-facilities, wind and solar farms, geo-thermal sources,
natural-gas powered turbines and nuclear energy resources were all part of the
curriculum.
LEHI is designed to educate state legislators on the North
American energy infrastructure and delivery system. High turnover in state
legislative bodies hampers the long-term institutional knowledge concerning
complex energy issues in states and provincial legislatures. The conference was
designed to fill-the-gaps for legislators who are responsible for developing
state energy policy yet often lack a comprehensive understanding of how the
existing energy infrastructure operates.
Experts discussed the technological pros and cons of the each
of these technologies, their current markets, capital incentives, regulatory
hurdles and tried to align them with projected grid requirements for North
America. The bottom-line is, for local rule to be effective, prudence and wisdom must prevail in our public
policy debates. Then, we can positively impact our standards of living and our
business successes.
This dilemma is fast approaching Oregon’s energy
horizon, but, that’s a conversation for next week. Until, then…
Remember, if we don’t stand for rural Oregon values and
common-sense – No one will!
Best Regards,
Dennis Linthicum Oregon State Senate 28
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1728 Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-305, Salem, Oregon 97301 Email: sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/linthicum
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