Eugene shorted on clean-air board.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Becky Riley and David Monk For The Register-Guard

Clean air is essential and cannot be taken for granted, especially at the downwind end of the Willamette Valley. The Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority enforces federal and state air pollution laws in our county. Our community relies on this agency to protect the public interest, and to comply with and enforce applicable laws.

Unfortunately, recent actions by the LRAPA board show that politics is taking priority over the public interest and compliance with the law. To serve its own questionable ends, the agency is playing fast and loose with the state law that defines the composition of a regional air board.

Lane County and four cities - Eugene, Springfield, Oakridge and Cottage Grove - jointly govern LRAPA. State law specifies how many representatives each city is entitled to on the agency's board, based on it population. Larger cities get to appoint more representatives, up to a cap of four.

If, after representatives are appointed by each city according to the population formula, the result is an even number of board members, the law allows those members to appoint one additional "at-large" member to ensure there will be a tie-breaker.

Eugene was entitled to appoint a fourth representative to LRAPA's board when its population reached 130,000. LRAPA's legal counsel informed the agency of that fact in March 2003.

At the time, the LRAPA board had seven members, the seventh having just been re-appointed as an at-large tiebreaker. The agency's legal counsel and board evidently decided that they would be justified in allowing that person to complete a two-year term before allowing Eugene to seat its new representative.

We are not convinced this delay was justified. The statute is clear: Seating representatives according to each city's entitlement by population is the first priority, with an at-large member seated only afterwards, if needed as a tiebreaker.

LRAPA's legal counsel understood this principle, since he made it clear to the board that once Eugene seated a new representative, the at-large member would no longer be needed or allowed. He told LRAPA's board that Eugene must be allowed to fill the seventh board seat when the at-large member's term expired in February of this year.

Despite the clear intent of the statute and its previous legal advice, the LRAPA board voted in January to re-appoint its at-large member, instead of allowing Eugene to fill the seventh board position.

In April, the board - acting on a formal request from the city of Eugene and independent new legal advice - acknowledged that an additional Eugene representative must now be seated. But the board also stated its intent to retain its at-large member, and to appoint a second at-large member - ostensibly needed as a "tiebreaker" - when the new Eugene representative is seated.

It's not hard to see through this scheme. By padding the board with two at-large members, the board is trying to dilute Eugene's growing influence. The board is also usurping greater control for itself - control that rightfully belongs to the individual jurisdictions.

Reallocation of board seats to the four cities based on their populations is occurring now, as Eugene appoints its new representative. After this reallocation, no at-large member will be needed as a tiebreaker. Thus, none should be appointed or allowed to remain appointed.

Clearly, the LRAPA board erred in reappointing an at-large member in 2003, instead of allowing Eugene to appoint its new representative. The board should now reverse this error, rather than compounding it. Instead of appointing a second at-large member, the board should ask the current at-large member to resign when Eugene's new representative assumes the seventh board seat.

It is important that LRAPA's board comply with state law. And it is important that Eugene and other LRAPA member jurisdictions be given the seats to which they are entitled.

Having been denied its due representation since at least 2003, Eugene should insist that LRAPA fix this problem immediately, and also refrain from major decision-making - including hiring of a new director - until Eugene's new representative is seated and the current at-large member is retired.

If LRAPA's board does not comply with the plain intent of this law, Eugene should take legal action. The city also should recall any of its own representatives on the board who fail to support the needed corrective action. City residents deserve representatives on the air board who can be counted on to comply with the law and to support city residents' best interests.

Becky Riley is a resident of the River Road neighborhood. David Monk is board president of the Oregon Toxics Alliance.