It's been a week of recurrent themes here.
This week, as the Stupid Timber Lawsuit lumbers forward, the state of Oregon has requested that Benton County be removed from that very lawsuit. Just Benton County. Why, you may ask?
Well, as it turns out, the state has tumbled to the fact that, not so long ago, Benton County's Commissioners endorsed and signed off on the timber management practices and related finances that they are now, foolishly, suing to overturn. To repeat: Benton County Commissioners officially endorsed the very thing they are now suing to protest.
Doesn't make much sense, does it? It's like sending a meal back at a restaurant because it is exactly what you ordered.
And this change of heart isn't due to any major changes in Benton County. We had three Democratic County Commissioners when they endorsed the deal that our current three Democratic County Commissioners (or two of them, anyway) are now objecting to. I'd chalk it up to a stagnant political monoculture, poor institutional memory, and a few servings of bad advice. In any case, the Stupid Timber Lawsuit remains, well, really stupid overall. This latest development just goes to show why it's extra-stupid for Benton County to be involved with it at all.
Good luck to the state of Oregon in all this. Benton County getting kicked out the Stupid Timber Lawsuit would be a good thing. The only thing better would be for our County Commissioners (or one more of them, anyway) to simply admit they were wrong and withdraw.
Or a related note...I am a member of Benton County's Environmental Issues Advisory Committee (EIAC). We had our monthly meeting this last week. One of the agenda items we discussed was the ongoing efforts at the state level to put some sort of price on carbon emissions, as one part of the state's efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
Again, there are ongoing efforts at the state level to get this done. It is a matter of when the state of Oregon puts a price on carbon emissions, not if. This will happen, and likely sooner than later.
And once again, this is a concept that our Benton County Commissioners have already officially endorsed, back in 2014. Which is to say, they are already with that program.
Without going into an excruciating amount of background details about the discussion, let me just say that at the end of it all, I made a motion to simply send a copy of their own 2014 resolution endorsing these efforts to the County Commissioners to remind them that they have already signaled their support for these efforts, and to urge them to continue to support such efforts at the state level.
In other words, the motion was pretty much just to remind the Commissioners of their already expressed position. That would hardly seem to be a controversial or provocative thing to do. And yet...The motion failed.
It was pretty disheartening. Those who refuse to acknowledge the past are doomed to deplete it - with "it" being the future. It's been bizarre to see these Benton County institutions being so out of touch with themselves. Clearly, clearly, we can do better. We must do better.
This week, as the Stupid Timber Lawsuit lumbers forward, the state of Oregon has requested that Benton County be removed from that very lawsuit. Just Benton County. Why, you may ask?
Well, as it turns out, the state has tumbled to the fact that, not so long ago, Benton County's Commissioners endorsed and signed off on the timber management practices and related finances that they are now, foolishly, suing to overturn. To repeat: Benton County Commissioners officially endorsed the very thing they are now suing to protest.
Doesn't make much sense, does it? It's like sending a meal back at a restaurant because it is exactly what you ordered.
And this change of heart isn't due to any major changes in Benton County. We had three Democratic County Commissioners when they endorsed the deal that our current three Democratic County Commissioners (or two of them, anyway) are now objecting to. I'd chalk it up to a stagnant political monoculture, poor institutional memory, and a few servings of bad advice. In any case, the Stupid Timber Lawsuit remains, well, really stupid overall. This latest development just goes to show why it's extra-stupid for Benton County to be involved with it at all.
Good luck to the state of Oregon in all this. Benton County getting kicked out the Stupid Timber Lawsuit would be a good thing. The only thing better would be for our County Commissioners (or one more of them, anyway) to simply admit they were wrong and withdraw.
Or a related note...I am a member of Benton County's Environmental Issues Advisory Committee (EIAC). We had our monthly meeting this last week. One of the agenda items we discussed was the ongoing efforts at the state level to put some sort of price on carbon emissions, as one part of the state's efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
Again, there are ongoing efforts at the state level to get this done. It is a matter of when the state of Oregon puts a price on carbon emissions, not if. This will happen, and likely sooner than later.
And once again, this is a concept that our Benton County Commissioners have already officially endorsed, back in 2014. Which is to say, they are already with that program.
Without going into an excruciating amount of background details about the discussion, let me just say that at the end of it all, I made a motion to simply send a copy of their own 2014 resolution endorsing these efforts to the County Commissioners to remind them that they have already signaled their support for these efforts, and to urge them to continue to support such efforts at the state level.
In other words, the motion was pretty much just to remind the Commissioners of their already expressed position. That would hardly seem to be a controversial or provocative thing to do. And yet...The motion failed.
It was pretty disheartening. Those who refuse to acknowledge the past are doomed to deplete it - with "it" being the future. It's been bizarre to see these Benton County institutions being so out of touch with themselves. Clearly, clearly, we can do better. We must do better.
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