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THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2011
JOHN COSTA
Unsigned editorials, and other thoughts I
have written about the editorial page several times in the past. And the questions keep coming. Readers want to know how we arrive at editorial opinions and who is on the editorial board. The most frequently asked question is why the editorials are not signed. The basics are these: The editorial board has seven members who meet each morning at 9 a.m. The editor of editorials, currently Erik Lukens, chairs the meeting, at which he and any other member of the board can suggest positions we ought to consider. Three members of the board are members of the family that own The Bulletin and Western Communications, its parent company. They are Betsy McCool, the chairwoman of the board of directors; Janet Stevens, the deputy editor of The Bulletin; and Peg Cushman. In addition to Lukens, the other members are me, Bulletin Publisher Gordon Black and editorial writer Richard Coe. We are hardly anonymous — one of the complaints we hear. Most of our names and titles are printed in The Bulletin every day. No seven people agree on everything, and that is certainly the case with the board. Our views are generally close to each other, but there are differences, often strong ones, and we have to argue out positions. That is the reason that editorials are not signed. The position that we express in an editorial may not be the position held by the writer of the editorial. Editorial writers sign on to a job that requires them to express positions with which they may not entirely agree. The position is that of the company, not necessarily that of the individual. If he or she can’t abide by that position, we ask another member of the board to write it. It’s our view — and that of most American newspapers — that it would be misleading to ask an individual to sign an editorial that may not entirely reflect his or her view. Readers argue that knowing the personal views and identity of the individual writer would be instructive, but because the writer is expressing a consensus of many views, it’s difficult to see how any one set of opinions has any instructive meaning. We publish many personal columns, including mine and Stevens’, but those represent our personal views, not those of the board. We also publish many other named columnists whose views range the spectrum of opinion. But those are their individual views and do not represent a board or a company. Hope this helps. ••• Like many of you, I have been following closely the events in Egypt. I hope, as I’m sure that you do, that the people of that country are able to create a government that is constructive and peaceful, and, above all, one that offers them the opportunity to live a better life. Time will tell. Watching the events, I could not help but recall a book that I read a couple of years ago: “Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present,” by Michael Oren. Our well-being and security seem intricately tied up with the nations, peoples and faiths of the Middle East. This book details the history of those ties. It’s still a very good read today. ••• I hope you notice the legislative presentation on the front page of the Local section today. It is one we are going to repeat each week while the Legislature is in session. It will offer analysis, the votes and key events of the previous week, a look ahead to the next week, profiles of important players and contact information for Central Oregon’s delegation. And starting Monday on The Bulletin’s website, you’ll see a new addition to our coverage — “Politics and Policy,” a daily blog from the Legislature. It will examine developments not covered each day in the print Bulletin as well as tell you what is coming up in the newspaper. John Costa is editor-in-chief of The Bulletin.
A push to end oil subsidies
“The federal government by no stretch of the imagination subsidizes the oil industry. The oil industry subsidizes the federal government at a rate of $95 million a day.” — Jack Gerard, American Petroleum Institute
By John M. Broder • New York Times News Service WASHINGTON —
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hen he releases his new budget in two weeks, President Barack Obama will propose doing away with roughly $4 billion a year in subsidies and tax breaks
for oil companies, in his third effort to eliminate federal support for an industry that remains hugely profitable. Previous efforts have run up against bipartisan opposition in Congress and heavy lobbying from producers of oil, natural gas and coal. The head of the oil and gas lobby in Washington contends that the president has it backward — that the industry subsidizes the government, through billions of dollars in taxes and royalties, not the other way around. But even as the president says he wants to do away with incentives for fossil fuels, his policies continue to provide for substantial aid to oil and gas companies as well as billions of dollars in subsidies for coal, nuclear and other energy sources with large and long-lasting environmental impacts. Obama’s proposal rekindles a long-running debate over federal subsidies for energy of all kinds, including petroleum, coal, hydropower, wind, solar and biofuels. Opposition to such
C O M M E N TA RY subsidies — often euphemistically referred to as incentives, tax credits, preferences or loan guarantees — spans the ideological spectrum, from conservative economists who believe such breaks distort the marketplace to environmentalists who believe that renewable energy sources will always lose out in subsidy fights because of the power of the entrenched fossil fuel industries. David Kreutzer, an energy economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, argues that the federal government should take its thumb off the scale by eliminating subsidies
for all forms of energy, even it if means slowing development of cleaner-burning fuel sources. “We would like to get rid of all subsidies,” Kreutzer said. “We know that petroleum and coal survive just fine in places where there are no subsidies. I don’t know if that’s true for wind and solar now, but someday it will be, when the price comes down.” See Energy / F6
Thinkstock images
BOOKS INSIDE Biography: Examining the life and legacy of movie icon Humphrey Bogart, see Page F4.
Lost souls: Author Phillip Stephens takes a deeper, haunting look at life in Missouri, see Page F5.
Short fiction: Take a trip in Kurt Vonnegut’s time machine, see Page F6.