Letters to the editor for Feb. 8, 2010

Moving power line not a solution

To the editor:

We are concerned about the growing perception that simply moving the Boardman-to-Hemingway high voltage line to public land is the answer.  Even on public land, the line is sure to run close to private property because that is where the access roads are. These are often dusty single-lane roads like the one serving our small farm near Durkee. The construction phase will be three years of misery, and after that we will have the permanent visual and environmental intrusion of the towers and lines.

There would be less impact if the line stayed very near the interstate for access from improved roads. Wherever the line goes, lives and places will be adversely affected so there is no point arguing for one route over another. In light of changing technology, the question is should this line be built at all? The trend is toward conservation and local generation of power from solar and wind. It is not farfetched to say that in 10 years we will be driving electric cars and tractors, many of which will be charged from on-site solar arrays. A smart grid that can shut off selected appliances and tap the batteries of vehicles on charge will have access to a huge back-up capacity to efficiently manage the peak load, without the need for excess generation and transmission capacity.

If more capacity is truly needed, why not add it incrementally with less expensive and less intrusive lower voltage lines routed to benefit areas that are underserved? It seems that multiple dispersed lines would make the grid more reliable and less vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters — even terrorism. It would be a tragedy to have the scenic and historic I-84 corridor become like parts of West Virginia where similar challenging terrain has resulted in an interstate blighted by high voltage lines and heavy industry. We are newcomers to Eastern Oregon and probably not fully informed on all the issues, but we appreciate what you have here and want to join with you to keep it

Tom and Ann Brown

Durkee

Supreme Court attacks our rights

To the editor:

For the past 38 years I’ve been aware that corporations were a distinct “entity,” with lives that extended beyond that of their corporate owners and stockholders. That’s one of the tenets that was included in the basic life underwriters’ courses when I started in the insurance business in 1971.

Never in all of those past 38 years have I assumed that a corporation had rights equal to U.S. citizens, as it should not. This latest Supreme (?) Court decision has changed all that, or at least is trying to, by giving corporations rights that extend even beyond that of individual citizens. For a group of individuals that’s supposed to represent the highest ideals of American citizenry — and the last bastion to protect those ideals — to usurp the Constitution of the U.S. in their zeal to coddle to and protect corporate owners and the powers they already yield over the common citizens is treason in the very least. Their decision and position and acts should be treated as an attack of our basic rights and therefore of our very Constitution, and as such, should be punishable by removal from the Supreme Court, immediately.

Mike Higgins

Halfway