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Commissioner Patti Adair was right

Kudos to Deschutes County Commissioner Adair regarding piping Deschutes River water for farming in the Arnold Irrigation District. Our river is over allocated and the river’s diverse ecosystem is being strangled. It’s not good stewardship of the river to kill its beauty, biodiversity and the economic engine it represents for our town and region. Farming in the High Desert was once a stabilizing force for the community, and allocating Deschutes River water for that was then embraced as the beneficial use of the river’s water, our public water that we own in perpetuity. Water rights are subject to forfeiture if they are not used according to the permit. Our public employees who approve continuing some water rights need to take a more discriminating look at that use of public water for public benefit. In fact, should the precious water we own be used entirely to farm in the desert?

These days, recreation, tourism and regionwide beauty of water in the river outweighs the economic benefit to the farming and ranching industry for Central Oregon. Money generated by agriculture does not circulate in Central Oregon anywhere near what the dollars generated by recreation, tourism and beautiful neighborhoods where people want to live do. Think about it. Those dollars pass through the hands of many, many more local people than through crop farmers and the enterprises that support their work. While I feel compassion for struggling farmers and families, desert farming should not kill our rivers.

We all enjoy the benefits from open canals by use of adjacent walking and biking paths, mature trees and wildlife that have grown dependent on that water, and even simply driving by the open canals as we move through town. Plus, waters that percolate down from the canals are recharging the water table. Do you have a well? Then you know how important it is to keep the water table up and recharged.

Then there’s money, taxpayer millions and millions to sustain crop production we don’t even eat or use nearby. When I see a big semi drive out of town, I see the Deschutes River going to a California or Saudi horse ranch. Open ditches — not closed pipes for the beautiful Deschutes!

— Jane Leeson, Bend

The walkout jeopardizes clean energy

Both Democrat and Republican elected officials have a responsibility to the whole of today’s society and future generations’ quality of life. All of the reasons for the Republican walkout are not apparent. Still, the walkout jeopardizes a fleeting opportunity to revitalize Oregon’s coastal and rural economies in districts held mainly by Republicans. Two years ago, Oregon passed landmark legislation (House Bill 2021) that requires our major electric utilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040. Historic levels of federal funding are now available on a competitive basis to provide billions for wind and solar projects. But only states that have programs in place to administer the funds have a good chance of being selected, and bills to do just that are currently stalled in the Senate due to the walkout.

It’s difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of the opportunity at risk. Oregon currently imports a substantial amount of fossil-generated electricity from other states. However, abundant solar and wind resources are available in rural and coastal parts of the state to replace that imported energy. Developing solar, offshore and land-based wind resources will provide good family-wage jobs to areas where timber and commercial fishing industries have declined. Studies indicate that the amount of renewable energy available is substantially more than the state will need, which could make Oregon an exporter of clean energy, further boosting this new industry well into the future. For example, a recent study at Princeton’s Net-Zero America project stated, “The best wind potential in the country, if not the world, is off the Northern California and Southern Oregon coast.”

It’s time for elected Democrats and Republicans to put their differences aside, find common ground, and pass bills supporting renewable energy projects that provide economic growth for rural communities and generate hope for future generations.

— David M. Petrie, Coos Bay

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