The Pioneer Log, April 8, 2011
Libya is a delicate issue
BY RYE DRUZIN
Staff Writer
The video of jubilant Libyan
rebels cheering Western airstrikes
has been shown repeatedly on ma-
jor news channels. The same rebels
have been seen fleeing the heavy
fighting that has surrounded such
cities and strategic oil hubs like Ras
Lanuf and, more recently, Brega.
As the ground war drags on be-
tween the organized forces of Col-
onel Muammar Qaddafi and the
disorganized but headstrong rebels,
I pause to wonder what the West is
doing about the enforcement of its
no-fly zone. The answer: a lot, but
to what end?
Britain and France led the push
for a no-fly zone soon after this
conflict began. The lead was taken
by France, with President Sarkozy
no doubt trying to give himself a
public relations boost in the face of
sagging poll numbers in his home
country. Britain seemed to be at-
tempting to reestablish some of its
worth in the world as a humanitar-
ian state, even as its importance in
the world continues to diminish
economically and militarily.
Caught up in all this talk of no-
fly zones and preventing crimes
against humanity was the Unit-
ed States, the only country in the
world with the ability to mount
rapid military actions. As the only
country to ever enact and main-
tain a no-fly zone (post-Gulf war
Northern and Southern Iraq), the
U.S. was extremely hesitant to
engage in any action, a stance I
strongly agree with. Any military
action by the U.S. in a Muslim
Arab country has the high possibil-
ity of becoming a public relations
disaster, especially considering
continuing actions in Iraq and Af-
ghanistan.
Yet with the requirements for
Sustainability is Sexy
A weekly column dedicated to environmental issues
The EPA is half naked and being further stripped
BY RACHEL YOUNG
Staff Writer
The GOP has been discredit-
ing climate science and destroy-
ing climate-change legislation and
greenhouse gas regulations since
the Clinton years with relative suc-
cess: the Kyoto Protocol was never
ratified in the Senate, the United
States withdrew from internation-
al climate negotiations in 2005
and the climate cap-and-trade bill
was crushed in the Senate over the
summer.
The only promising avenue for
regulation left is the little legal
and political authorizations within
Federal Agencies, and now conser-
vatives are unjustly attempting to
undermine the EPA’s greenhouse
gas regulation authority and oblit-
erate all potential for carbon diox-
ide regulation.
To date, the EPA has not ex-
ecuted their regulatory power to
the necessary extent. Currently,
the EPA is allowed to regulate
greenhouse gases under the Clean
Air Act. The authority to regulate
greenhouse gases has the potential
to significantly reduce emissions
from industrial sector and energy
producers.
a United Nations resolution met,
Britain and France pushed through
U.N. Resolution 1973, authoriz-
ing a broad range of military ac-
tions against the Libyan military
beyond a no-fly zone. This has led
to the relaxing of an arms embargo
against the whole of Libya, mean-
ing that France may have the abil-
ity to begin arming the rebels while
the U.S. takes actions, including
attacks against Qaddafi’s ground
units by U.S. aircraft.
I do not agree with this. First
of all, our action in Libya was sup-
posed to prevent the Qaddafi gov-
ernment and forces from commit-
ting war crimes and crimes against
humanity. While I believe that the
actions against ground forces at the
gates of the rebel capital, Benghazi,
were valid to prevent full-blown
genocide against the eastern tribes,
I do not believe that further crip-
pling of the Qaddafi military in
order to facilitate a regime change
is appropriate. This sets bad prece-
ILLUSTRATION BY KATE OWENS
Cement factories and energy
production are the highest carbon
emitting activities. Under this au-
thority, the EPA could mandate
significant reductions in the car-
bon emissions in the United States.
However, political pressure has
been scaring the EPA away from
doing their job.
This June, the Senate is vot-
ing on the “Resolution of Disap-
proval,” which would overturn
the EPA’s already weak author-
ity to regulate greenhouse gases.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
is championing the resolution.
Murkowski nearly lost her Senate
seat to a Tea Party candidate in the
2010 elections. To protect her em-
ployment she has flipped sides on
climate; in 2009 she was actually
leaning towards voting “yes” on a
Senate climate bill.
This resolution is the last straw,
destroying any climate regulation
in the United States for the next
10 years. Murkowski’s disapproval
resolution seeks to veto EPA’s “en-
dangerment finding,” a formal de-
termination that allows the agency
to regulate greenhouse gases. Un-
dermining the authority allotted to
the EPA under the Clean Air Act
is a failure for the Administration
Letters to
dent for action against other coun-
tries, something that could come
to a head as China gets set to over-
take the U.S. on the world stage.
The last thing we need is a super-
power showdown taking place with
the U.N. as its puppet.
Another worrying aspect of this
is the links the eastern part of Libya
has to Islamic extremism. The Sin-
jar records found in Iraq in 2007
provided 595 individual files of al-
Qaida operatives and 112 of them
were from Libya, all from the East-
ern part of the country.
This shows that Eastern Libya
is a hotbed of Islamic extremism,
which is a cause for great concern,
as we must question who would
receive any potential weapons that
could be supplied to these ragtag
rebels. While they are certainly ci-
vilians and not experienced jihad-
ist fighters, I am greatly concerned
about who makes up the “leader-
ship” based in Benghazi, and what
their ultimate goals are.
and a huge step back for climate
change solutions.
According to Lisa Jackson, cur-
rent EPA Administrator, the anti-
EPA climate rule will overturn
the administration’s fuel economy
standards and greenhouse gas emis-
sion limits for cars and light-duty
trucks.
The Resolution of Disapproval
is being expedited through con-
gress with no filibusters or amend-
ments. Murkowski only needs
an additional 10 votes to solidify
the passing of the resolution—41
Senators are co-sponsors, three of
whom are Democrats.
Fortunately, the passing of the
resolution in the Senate does not
guarantee that the resolution will
be enacted. The House does not
have the same expedited proce-
dures of the Senate, and President
Obama is likely to veto the resolu-
tion anyway.
However, even if they get to
keep their power, this resolution
will further frighten off the EPA
from mandating greenhouse gas
emission reductions. Hopefully
federal greenhouse gas regulations
will not be thrown by the wayside
or permanently suppressed by po-
litical partisanship.
Opinions 7
the Editor
Re: Portland Mercury’s “Bad Education”
(This is a response to an article published in The Portland Mercury
(March 17, 2011) about Campus Safety removing a homeless alum from
campus last August when he came to use the facilities in Templeton.)
I am absolutely appalled by the actions of Campus Safety and the Lew-
is & Clark administration in regards to the removal of alum Barry Joe
Stull from campus on August 28th of last year and the subsequent deci-
sion to press criminal trespassing charges against him.
I can’t say I’m surprised that Campus Safety would target someone
who appeared to be homeless and then rough them up on the way out.
Nonetheless, I am stunned by the fact that our administration would
prosecute an alum for trespassing just because Campus Safety didn’t like
the fact that he was obviously homeless and refused to be polite, and un-
derstandably so as they were clearly targeting him solely on the basis of his
appearance. It looks even worse that all of this occurred just because Mr.
Stull wanted a drink from a water fountain inside Templeton and chose to
enter the building while a Freshman dance was underway.
I understand that the administration at LC has a knee-jerk reaction
to protect and maintain the prestigious reputation of our college, but to
do so at the expense of a vulnerable, homeless alum is absolutely detest-
able and completely contrary to the humanitarian interests of its generally
progressive faculty and student body. I strongly urge everyone in the LC
community to call out our administration for their reprehensible actions
and to immediately drop the charges against Mr. Stull and apologize to
him and the rest of our community. Until they do so, they will be tak-
ing advantage of the reputation of this college as well as the reputation of
every individual in our community by implying that we think bigotry is
acceptable on our campus or anywhere else in our worldwide community.
It is not.
Carla Cruz-Ulloa
CAS Alum
Class of 2007
Re: Direct action necessary
Adrian Guerrero’s recent article is very disturbing on many levels.
For starters, he unequivocally urges illegal activity, including the use
of bombs, as a form of “protest.” Obviously, the irony of quoting Peace-
ful Uprising in his writing is lost on him. Additionally, he uses words and
phrases much too liberally, which only hurts his cause. Oil companies
have not signed any “declarations of war,” are not committing “genocide”
and are not pursuing “direct violence.” If we are to use his definitions of
these words, then the Fort McKay First Nation is committing a form of
suicidal genocide by developing their land for oil sands production.
Other errors dot the article, further spreading misinformation. It is
true that the combined areas of the Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake
deposits are approximately the size of England. The affected area of oil
mining operations, however, is thus far only 160 square miles, about the
same size as the city of Portland. This is because much of the deposits are
too deep to be reached by strip mining. All told, the potential mineable
area is only 1,300 square miles, nowhere near the size of England.
Stating that the land is dead is also inaccurate. Oil companies are re-
quired, by law, to restore land to useful purposes once their mining is
completed. In some cases, boreal forest will return; in others, pasture and
farmland fit the bill. Nonetheless, it is a far cry from leaving the earth
maimed and scarred, as Mr. Guerrero would have you believe.
Finally, and importantly, there is no mention of the benefits the Al-
berta oil sands bring. More oil production lowers the price of oil for every-
one, whether they are Canadian, Chinese or South African. This, in itself,
saves lives because it allows for more economic opportunity and growth.
Medical supplies and care, among countless other goods and services, will
be cheaper and more available as a result. Locally, the economy and de-
mography of Fort McMurray are changing as well. Immigrants from the
Middle East are raising families with access to better healthcare and edu-
cation than they would have otherwise been able to receive. These issues
are conveniently missing from his arguments.
Protest all you want, but go about it in a way that does not degrade
yourself and the people you wish to help. Trying to solve “violence” with
real violence is not a valid creed in any sense at all.
Garik Lawson Asplund
CAS Alum
Class of 2010
The Pioneer Log accepts and encourages letters to the editor from all students,
staff, faculty and community members.
Submissions should be kept under 350 words and sent to piolog@lclark.edu by
Monday at 6 p.m. for the following issue.