Essay: A week in our national town

Through Western Eyes: Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is a town where an arcane government and a logical street grid are muddled by overlap and diagonal lines. But the reverent preservation and displays of America’s history have a clear and tangible path.

In a town where the ghosts of American history wait for you to discover them, your hosts are cabdrivers, waiters, and doormen from Eritrea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia. They are a twenty-year wave of immigrants just as the Irish, Italians, and Eastern Europeans who are the backbone of the Eastern seaboard were at the turn of the 20th century, and by working as hard as their role models they remind you why America exists.

In a place where federal buildings are so baffling that in looking for the “Anteroom” you run across a door marked “Not the Anteroom” you can still simply have your bag scanned and then walk straight to your congressman’s office and state your plea.

Election '09

Election Highlights from Around the Rockies

The elections that attracted national attention Tuesday were all on the East Coast, with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (suddenly burdened by his previous job as head of Goldman Sachs) going down to defeat and conservative Republican activists like Sarah Palin failing in their effort to override the local party and elect a fellow-traveler to an open Congressional seat in upstate New York. Unsurprisingly, voters across the country were worried about the economy, not too keen on incumbent office-holders, and wary about measures that might cost them money.

In Colorado, open space and marijuana were the issues of the night, in Boise, the streetcar desire played a role in the elections and in Montana, the liberal bastion that is Missoula finally has a liberal city council.

Here’s a quick and dirty roundup of highlights from election night: 

Environment

Economic Concerns Continue To Shape Climate Calculus

An initial hearing Tuesday on revamped cap-and-trade legislation from Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-MA, and Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-CA) gave moderates a public mouthpiece that might spur concessions from party leaders down the road.

At the hearing in Boxer’s panel Tuesday, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, cited “serious reservations” about the bill’s requirement for U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Boxer replied: “The goal is very, very doable.” Kerry agreed but said the target could change. “We’ll see what happens on the floor on that,” Kerry said. “I’m open to talking with Max; we’ll see where we end up.”

Boxer said she wants her climate bill to continue to preserve EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases despite complaints Tuesday from Baucus and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. “We have to keep the EPA in the game,” Boxer said. But, she added, “There are ways to make it more certain for people.” Specter challenged EPA Administrator Jackson at the hearing and Democratic leaders afterward to provide regulatory certainty.

“There’s a great deal to be gained by certainty so people can make plans,” Specter told Jackson. He also emphasized it is the job of Congress to lay out that roadmap for industries. “That’s really our job,” he said.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS

Tester’s Wilderness Bill, Updates

UPDATED 10/27/09. See end of column.

Anybody who reads NewWest.Net regularly might be getting a little weary of reading about Senator Jon Tester’s “Jobs and Recreation Act,” S. 1470. So far, by last count, we’ve posted twenty-two articles and columns on the bill and its impact. This includes our own coverage and several guest columns, as we’ve tried to give each major stakeholder a forum to voice their point of view, including one from the senator himself. (Click here to read them all.)

But this bill keeps on giving out stories, it seems, such as these updates and follow-ups to earlier postings.

internet technology

How Intermountain West States Rate for Broadband Stimulus Funds

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, Congress appropriated $7.2 billion for broadband grants, loans, and loan guarantees to be administered by the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The deadline for submissions was August of this year.

Now, the applications from each state are posted, and in a number of Intermountain West states, the Governors have already taken the next step of reviewing and prioritizing the projects, and made their recommendations public.

WASHINGTON TO THE RESCUE?

Roadless Rule Bill: the Timing is Right, so Just Pass It

Unnoticed by many, two members of Congress from Washington have decided it’s about time to do something to resolve the seemingly endless debate over the future of our last roadless lands.

Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jay Inslee, both Democrats, have re-introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act (S.1738, H.R. 3563) to codify the Clinton-era Roadless Rule that has been on a legal roller coaster for the past nine years.

Property Tax Brouhaha

Exorbitant Property Appraisals Have Homeowners Reeling, Critics Railing

“Oh my God.” That was all artist Lela Autio could think to say when she opened her 2009 assessment notice for a bare-bones Flathead Lake summer cabin—sans an inside toilet or central heating—that’s been in her family for more than 40 years.

In 2002, the Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) calculated that the property was worth $363,000. Now, Autio’s notice said it was worth $1.9 million—more than a five-fold increase.

Welcome to the 2009 Montana property assessment imbroglio, in which shocked property owners in growth areas like Flathead, Lake, Gallatin and Madison counties are receiving assessment letters saying the value of their land and homes has increased by as much as 300 percent or more, meaning their property taxes will skyrocket as well. This, despite the fact that shortly after the reappraisals were completed—in July 2008—the nation’s real estate market went belly up, buyers disappeared and home prices dipped or plummeted.

Barkus and Rehberg

Political Sparks Begin to Fly Over Boat Crash

In a blog I wrote about two weeks ago I wondered out loud how long it would take before the Aug. 27 boat crash into the rocks of Wayfarer’s State Park became fodder in Denny Rehberg’s 2010 reelection bid. And the answer is ... not very long at all!

Democratic challenger for Rehberg’s seat, Dennis McDonald, has been issuing press releases almost daily blasting Rehberg for how he handled the accident and its aftermath, saying his drinking was irresponsible and asserting that Rehberg bears some responsibility for the injuries suffered by his younger staff members for allowing them to get on the boat driven by Kalispell Republican state Sen. Greg Barkus – who had been drinking that night, though it remains unknown how much.

Let’s be clear: McDonald is not making subtle allusions. He is coming out guns blazing and calling Rehberg’s handling of the crash a “cover-up.”

Missoula Notebook

Tester’s Wilderness Bill: Q & A With Sun Mountain’s Tony Colter

I was curious about the potential effects of Sen. Tester’s act on businesses like Sun Mountain, so—after touring the sawmill—I interviewed Tony Colter, the company’s plant manager and vice president. He told me that Sun Mountain’s mill and logging operations combined could potentially employ up to 300 people, but times have been tough lately. Today, only 120 people work in the mill and finger-joint plant, and about 50 people work in logging. Sun Mountain hopes Tester’s bill could help turn things around.