Snapped this picture of a trucker’s protest from my classroom window at Willamette at 8 a.m. this morning. We had to move to another location for class because the truckers’ airhorns were deafening.

Supposedly, about 1000 big rigs will be here, circling the capitol all day, blasting their horns. Many of them are loaded with timber. Usually, cedar and fir logs smell wonderful. Today, all you can smell is diesel.

Our legislature is just inside the capitol there considering the Oregon Cap and Trade bill, in its greatly revised and modified 2020 form,

Under a cap and trade program, the state puts an overall limit on emissions and auctions off pollution permits or “allowances” for each ton of carbon industries plan to emit. Only the largest polluters are targeted. The state aims to reduce emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

It’s not an easy question. Of course, it’s as much about money as it is about pollution. And there isn’t an easy answer.

The class I am auditing at Willamette is called Ethics and Politics. To a person, every member of the class strongly supports the First Amendment and the right to a peaceful protest and to counter protest. After class, some of the class members, young, engaging 18-year-olds, walked back and forth in the crosswalks the truckers were blocking. A peaceful counter protest. Where you see the orange cones is where I normally pay to park. I was forewarned and walked to class today.

I walked around to the other side of the capitol, the front, where a crowd was gathered. I chatted up a few folks. You could pretty much tell by looking who stood for what. I tried to listen empathetically to both sides. I repeat, no easy answers.

As they did last year, a number of Republican legislators are threatening to walk out to prevent a quorum’s being present for a vote. Apparently, they have to leave the state so that they cannot be brought back forcibly by Oregon state troopers. Last year, they went just across the border into Washington where they hung out at a casino.