By SAM STITES, JAKE THOMAS and CLAIRE WITHYCOME/Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — They are blue-collar workers but Thursday they carried views from the “red” parts of Oregon.
They raised their voices in protest against legislative proposals they fear will cost them, their companies and their communities. Some took time off from day jobs to travel to Salem to protest; others were paid by employers.
The Timber Unity protest Thursday at the state Capitol reflected the deep political angst in many parts of rural Oregon about what Democrats and legislators intend to do in the next three weeks. Primarily, they were there hoping to snuff out the latest plan at a carbon policy meant to limit greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon and fund a variety of environmental projects.
Approximately 1,500 truckers, farmers, loggers, diesel machinists, veterans and others showed up Thursday to express their displeasure with the revised co-called “cap and trade” plan by lawmakers. Traffic in downtown Salem ground to halt as hundreds of big rigs lapped the Capitol. Others bused to the rally.
They came from Coos Bay and Wheeler, Alsea and Albany, Ontario and Port Orford. They included men, women and children — single demonstrators and families united around a common goal of making themselves and their plight as rural Oregonians heard.
They sported shirts bearing the names of their companies and political messages. “Make America Great Again” hats were in full display, along with trucker hats, cowboy hats and hard hats.
As more trucks arrived Thursday morning, the brightly colored sea of denim, flannel, camouflage and reflective safety vests swelled around the Capitol steps. The crowd anxiously awaited speakers to take the microphone, and Cries of “God bless America” and “God bless Donald Trump” cut through the din and prompted echoing cheers from nearby demonstrators.
Children shuffled through the crowd around their parents, many carrying Douglas fir saplings handed out by Timber Unity.
Dozens of organizations took the opportunity to set up booths on the Capitol mall to pitch their causes, asking participants to sign petitions, register to vote or learn about emerging political candidates.
Lawmakers say they have tempered their proposal to reduce the impact on rural and low-income Oregonians by creating a tax credit for low- and moderate-income people in areas where fuel importers will be subject to regulation in a separate bill, which also calls for refunds for off-road operations in agriculture and forestry. And the latest version of the main proposal would give free allowances to natural gas utilities to cover emissions specifically from low-income customers to prevent bill increases due to the program.
Protestors have other issues
But many protestors Thursday carried other grievances in their log trucks and dump trucks and service trucks.
Molly Welch, 60, a log truck driver from Cottage Grove, said she was in Salem because “I’m an Oregonian from day one.”
She said she grew up in Oregon, working in the woods throughout her life.
“And I’m just here hoping that we can get rid of Kate Brown and keep our state the way it should be … She’s against everything that we stand for in Oregon, I mean, this is tree country … farming, ranching. It’s a renewable resource.”
Lewis Robertson, 63, a machinist from Tualatin, took a day off from work to drive to Salem. He said he was worried that “higher taxes” in cap and trade would affect him and costs for fuel would increase.
“The company that I work for, we use a lot of natural gas, and natural gas prices will go up. That’s going to harm the company that I work for in particular,” Robertson said.
“I’m here to support my fellow Oregonians. Born and raised in a small town here in Oregon, and it was all about logging back then, and you can see how much of it is gone, I mean, there are small communities along the Oregon coast that are barely surviving, because they don’t have the ability to go out, and do the type of work that they used to in the forests.”
Does he think the rally was only about cap and trade?
“No, I don’t,” he said. “I think it’s, there’s a lot of different issues that are going on within this whole rally … Well, I think a lot of people feel that you know, down the road, there are going to be more restrictions put on say, your ability to, just you know, guns and things of that nature.”
Paul Luhrs, of Albany, 48, works for a company that supplies fertilizer, mainly to big farms around the Willamette Valley. He said he was there to support Timber Unity because if cap and trade “goes through, it affects me, everybody I know.”
“Well, everything that we have comes by truck or train,” Luhrs said. “Higher fuel costs, you know, a lot of our customers, farmers are barely making ends meet as it is, and extra cost is going to put them under.”
Healing the urban-rural divide
The Simon brothers of Malin once again joined Timber Unity’s display of trucks by bringing their hay and grain rigs to Salem. The Simons operate a farming and trucking business in southern Oregon bearing their family’s name. They covered their trucks in big blue tarps for demonstrators to sign their names and write short messages.
Ron Simon, 57, believes cap and trade is a threat to the family business because of what he expects to be increased fuel prices.
“We keep hearing about these amendments and exemptions, but in three or four years those exemptions could disappear, and then we’re stuck with the bill,” Simon said. “The government needs to start listening to its people or we need to get them out of here.”
Simon believes the only way for Oregon to overcome the division between urban and rural residents is for Democratic lawmakers to spend more time meeting people in places like Malin.
Some demonstrators Thursday said they aren’t directly affected by cap and trade, but the potential loss of natural resource jobs makes them anxious about the economic viability of their hometown and region.
Timber Unity leaders, lawmakers, candidates for office and industrial leaders all took to the microphone and commended the crowd for their participation and making their voices
heard in front of Oregon’s elected officials. By around 2 p.m., much of the crowd had dispersed or gone inside the Capitol to speak with their legislators.
The Oregon Capital Bureau in Salem is staffed by reporters from EO Media and Pamplin Media Group and provides state government and political news to their newspapers and media around Oregon, including YachatsNews.com