Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 416
The news that President Biden plans to resume leasing of federal land for oil exploration maybe good five years from now, but that action alone won’t bring down record gas prices at the pump in the months ahead. According to American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.07 on Good Friday (April 15); down from $4.31 a gallon a month ago. That’s still 70 percent higher than when he took office. The Interior Department ann...
Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair was awe-inspiring. It previewed developments that would improve our daily lives in the next millennium. While “Century 21” memories have faded, three of its landmarks remain as reminders of the innovations it inspired: The Seattle Center, the Space Needle, and the monorail. One thing many remember is “The Bubble-ator,” a glass ball-shaped elevator in the coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena) which gradually climbed to the middle of a contoured map of...
Return Alaska to Russia? A month ago, such lunacy wasn’t news worthy, but after Russia shockingly invaded Ukraine, anything is possible. The assault on Ukraine has been massive and brutal. Civilians continue to be targeted and thousands have been killed. Apartment complexes, stores, and nuclear power plants are being bombed and hospitals, orphanages and children’s theaters are being shelled. Just as worrisome is Vladimir Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons. The game changer...
There is an old saying: Don’t let the “perfect” be the “enemy” of the good! That is important to remember as we work our way out of the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the Russians are razing the country and killing thousands of innocent people, many world leaders are slapping Moscow with heavy economic sanctions. Embargoing Russian oil and natural gas are examples. With the prohibition of Russian oil imports, there is a crude shortage in...
Washington’s Board of Natural Resources is considering banning timber harvesting on state lands. That is extremely unwise. Instead, the Board must insure its healthy forest policies incorporate all management tools including planting, thinning and logging. The board, established in 1957, sets policies to manage Washington’s 5.6 million acres granted by Congress in 1889. More than 3 million acres were designated as trust lands to support various public institutions of whi...
When St. Patrick’s Day rolls around March 17, the Irish have lots to celebrate. Ireland is still clean and green. Now, it is spending $15 million to bring visitors back. Irish tourism officials are targeting 35 million people living in the U.S. with Irish heritage. They are key to generating $3 billion in pre-coronavirus yearly revenue. Ireland is an island nation roughly one-third the size of Washington state with 5 million people. It is no longer an agrarian country. T...
Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee announced in October, they’ll listen to diverse viewpoints with open minds to recover salmon and potentially breach the four Lower Snake River dams. Their focus on restoring Snake River salmon and steelhead runs is too limited. It needs to be expanded to cover the entire Snake River drainage. Currently, the four lower dams---all in Washington---are targeted to determine if they should be torn down to improve ocean-going fish r...
Last year, Gov. Jay Inslee attempted an end run around the legislature by banning natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings via the state’s building codes. It was a bad idea. Now, some fellow Democrats who control the legislature are working on legislation trying to do the same—also a bad idea. Inslee’s proposed regulations forbid the use of fossil fuels for heating and hot water in new structures. Prohibiting natural gas is expensive for home and building owner...
We are only a couple of weeks into 2022 and it is already shaping up to be another challenging year for America’s 5.5 million family businesses dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Rampant inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, and acute worker shortages continue. Family businesses are vital to America. According to the Conway Center for Family Business, they account for two-thirds of our nation’s GDP, just over 60 percent of U.S. jobs, and 78 percent of all new jobs cre...
The first order of business when Washington state’s Legislature convenes in Olympia is replacing the state’s new long-term care law. It is fatally flawed. Gov. Jay Inslee and Democrats who control the state legislature wisely postponed implementing the sweeping “Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program,” but it is beyond repair. It is time to find a better alternative. The new law, also known as the Washington Cares Act, is a mandatory, public, state-run long-te...
Increasing river flows to wash young salmon to sea works; however, once water goes down stream, it is gone. What if we could recycle it in key parts of the Columbia River system allowing us to increase electricity generation as well? The Columbia River and its tributaries offer enormous potential for innovation. Power planners are looking for new ways to increase electricity output while providing sufficient water for migrating salmon and steelhead. The good news is we are...
Remember the television ad where the auto mechanic looks viewers straight in the eye and says: “You can pay me now or pay me later!” The message: if you change your car’s oil and filter every 5,000 miles, you can avoid a disastrous engine replacement later? The same principle applies to our national debt. Congress can either take steps to control spending and debt now, or watch interest payments swallow up our hard-earned tax dollars and starve needed programs. Ignoring massi...
Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota was never a darling of conservatives; however, in his later years he shocked fellow Democrats by his outspoken backing for streamlining government regulations and eliminating frivolous lawsuits — positions championed mostly by Republicans. McGovern, a decorated World War II B-24 pilot who flew 35 combat missions over North Africa and Europe, was an unabashed self-professed liberal. He won the Democrat presidential nomination in 1972 but l...
There’s an old saying that oil and water don’t mix. That may be true, but apparently they coexist quite well. Traveling through Sweetwater in west Texas, you see an interesting mix of irrigated farming, cattle ranching, oil production and wind energy. Farmers draw water from wells to irrigate fields and provide drinking water for people and livestock. Scattered across those same fields are traditional oil wells that have been pumping crude since 1921. Less than 10 miles fro...
Lowering our flags to half-staff seems to be an all too familiar sight these days. It is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or a Vancouver police officer killed in the line of duty. It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who serve us. Unfortunately, after those flags return to the top of the pole and time passes, we tend to forget that the suffering for the friends and families continues....
Unfortunately, what happens in Taiwan doesn’t just stay in Taiwan, it impacts us. So, when President Xi Jinping announced China’s plan to step up “unification “efforts, it gets our attention. “U.S. ties with Taiwan, a Cold War ally, are a lightning rod in the testy relations between Washington and Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and vows to use military force if needed to annex the island,” the Wall Street Journal reported recently. Xi’s words are not idle...
Massive forest fires in the western parts of our country are not only choking us with layers of thick smoke, but are leaving behind millions of acres of scorched hillsides, ridges and valleys. Simply, there are not enough trees to absorb CO2 and prevent erosion. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees. Many forests have burned so severely that natural regeneration is not possible, which makes replanting...
In our zest to quickly switch from gas-powered to battery-operated vehicles and to convert our power grid to wind and solar generated electricity, the impacts of CO2 released from rivers, lakes and streams has been ignored. President Biden wants to transition America to renewable electricity by 2035 and have every car CO2 emission free by 2050. In the world of nature, the focus is carbon gases releases from forest and rangeland fires. In California last year, wildfires...
Shortly after President Biden took office, he issued the sweeping executive order to transition America to TOTAL–-100 percent–-renewable electricity by 2035–-15 short years from now. Translated that means no more power from coal and natural gas ––quite a challenge considering 60 percent of the 4.12 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh) of electricity we generated in 2020 came from burning fossil fuels while 20 percent came from renewables including hydro. Land is the wild card. In...
China’s growing dominance of critical metals production and its vast stockpiles is setting off global alarms as economies emerge from the punishing COVID pandemic. It is not only fear of the Chinese control of refined rare earth minerals, but more traditional metals such as manganese. Ores containing these elements are located in deposits across our planet; however, the technology to process them is largely in China. As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under Xi Jin...
When Congress established the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) in 1935, it was intended to provide temporary and partial income replacement for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. It was supposed to be a “bridge” to a new job and not “in lieu of compensation” to remain jobless. The coronavirus pandemic produced massive layoffs. The resulting economic downturn swelled the ranks of unemployed Americans by more than 14 million — from 6.2 million i...
Sometimes being first isn’t good. Such is the case with legislation making Washington the only state to ban natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings. Thankfully, the legislators ended their session in Olympia and left that bad idea on the table. However, it is destined to come back next year. The issue is complicated and expensive. Earlier this year, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) unveiled it as part of a package to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It included a phase out of nat...
It isn’t often we hear good news from Hanford, but the Deptartment of Energy recently announced nation’s first commercial advanced nuclear power reactor would be developed on the massive federal reservation north of Richland. Much of the news from Hanford focuses on radioactive waste cleanup and storing it safely. It has accumulated since the 1940s when nuclear reactors enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. While that tedious work will continue for years to come, Hanford sci...
Surprisingly, there is something U.S. Presidents agree upon — America’s economic and national security hinge upon maintaining our technology edge in semiconductors. Those tiny computer chips are the brains of modern electronics. They operate our laptops and smart phones and permeate every sector of our lives from farming and manufacturing to health care and public safety. They are embedded in our military’s most advanced equipment and give us a tactical edge. Semic...
America’s media is suffering from a truth deficit leaving many to wonder where to go for honest, reliable and accurate information. Unfortunately, it is not the mainstream or social media. Last month Forbes magazine found for the first time, fewer than half of all Americans acknowledge any kind of trust of major media. The information was captured in Edelman’s annual trust barometer. “Fifty-six percent of Americans, for example, said they agreed with the following state...