Calaveras Enterprise

(Angels Camp, CA)-Congressman Dan Lungren goes over his views on energy, immigration and the war in Iraq at Frogtown near Angels Camp. Enterprise photo by Colin Rigley
Congressman Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, held a town hall meeting in Angels Camp Tuesday, discussing topics ranging from bio-fuels to the war in Iraq.

Lungren, whose 3rd District sprawls from eastern Sacramento to Alpine County, appeared at the Frogtown, the county fairgrounds. About 100 people from the community attended.

Lungren came prepared with a PowerPoint presentation that touched on a few key topics before he opened the meeting to questions from the public.

The issues during his presentation were energy, immigration, and the war in Iraq.

First, the congressman discussed briefly some of his views and ideas on the U.S. energy market and ways to cut foreign dependency on a rapidly vanishing fuel source.

Lungren's proposal to ease some of the ailments caused by burning fossil fuels was to use biomass conversion technologies; specifically, the conversion of timber into a usable energy source.
What biomass technology could mean for Calaveras County is not only a cleaner and renewable form of energy, but also a means to stimulate struggling economies in the area.

"The question is can you scale it to make it economically feasible .... It's a question of economics at this point," said Lungren in an interview after the meeting.

Economic blight due to struggling timber industries in the region could be improved if a new demand for timber were implemented. Namely, using timber for fuel rather than lumber, for example.
Much to the chagrin of several meeting attendees, Lungren affirmed his skepticism that global warming is a result of humans. He noted that during his first stretch in Congress, the feature article of Time Magazine read "The Impending Ice Age," but now that impending doom has taken an about-face, and in roughly 30 years no less.

Lungren stressed that, when it comes to human impact on global warming, he is "skeptical not cynical," adding, "I'm not as concerned of global warming's cause and our ability to affect it as I am about pollution and our ability to affect it."

Lungren also touched on immigration reform, a hot button issue in the country and a topic which produced a number of exasperated chuckles throughout the audience as well as passionate outcries from community members in agreement with the congressman.

President Bush has been a strong advocate of "guest worker" programs. While Lungren was in favor of limited guest worker privileges, he disagreed with Bush's intention to put illegal immigrants on a "path to citizenship."

"That's where (President Bush) made the mistake," said Lungren.

He urged the audience to keep an open mind about immigration reform, "Think about it as maybe the best way we can work our way out of this problem."
In the post-meeting interview, Lungren stated that he believes immigration to be the biggest issue facing the country right now.

"It goes to the question of whether or not the government is serious about securing this country."

The PowerPoint slide accompanying Lungren's talks on immigration reform was headed with the line "There will be no amnesty," which was accompanied by the ways in which he believed the country should tackle the situation: secure the border, hold employers who hire illegals accountable, a "blue card" program which would place stricter restrictions on the length of guest worker stints, and a call to review automatic birthright citizenship.
Of course, the most expected topic of the night was that of Iraq. Lungren stressed the importance of "moving forward" in talks about the intensely debated war, as well as noting that he was not serving in Congress during the time a decision was made to go to war.

"Does what we did in the past answer the question of what we do now?" said Lungren.

His proposal on how to handle the Iraq situation was centered on stabilizing Baghdad and the Anbar province in order to orderly withdraw U.S. forces. He was also very supportive of Army Gen. David Petraeus' war strategy, "Patraeus is the best chance we got," he said. Petraeus is commander of the Multinational Force in Iraq.

"I don't' want to candy coat this at all, we're in tough streets right now," said Lungren.

Lungren is a supporter of the war and would rather that Congress make a distinction one way or the other, "I am in support of us having a debate and having an up or down vote on it."

He also stated that the best way for anti-war congressmen to protest the war would be to use the power of the purse, although he stressed in later talks that he does not personally wish to withdraw war funding.
"(Congress) would be acting within our constitutional powers to do so (cut funding) ... and I believe we would be acting appropriately," said Lungren after criticizing congressional tendencies of sending mixed messages.

In what was an unsurprising sequence of events, several community members did express their concern over the war and the reasons which have led to it. Lungren reiterated his position that the way to address Iraq was to stabilize the region, and not criticize the original decision to go.

A few questions were brought up regarding local issues, although Lungren was unable to give answers at the time on some of them.
When asked after the meeting, what he felt was the biggest issue facing the Mother Lode area, Lungren replied, "... to answer the question of how do we effectively resuscitate and rejuvenate the economies of those counties .... That's why I've been so consistent on the 'Healthy Forest Initiative.'"

A common question among attendees was related to rumors of a "super highway" which would connect the United States and Mexico to allow truck shipments between the two countries.

Concern among the community seemed to be that a globalistic push by the White House was gearing up to turn North America and Latin America into a European Union-like coalition of countries.
Lungren adamantly denied the rumors, stating that he had found "no evidence" for a movement to join the countries and that the proposed highway would simply allow truck drivers to move about 25 miles into the opposing country rather than having to submit their shipments at the border.

Some community members were worried about a government conspiracy to approve a massive interconnecting route, but Lungren laughed off the concerns. "They can't keep secrets," Lungren said, referring to the White House's rather porous record.

The issue of Social Security was also brought up by several people. "I thought we were close to a consensus that we needed to take a fresh look at this ... then Katrina hit," Lungren commented.
A recent federal court decision that could possibly lead to the release of 30,000 California prisoners was also up for questioning. Lungren believed that the court had "overstepped its bounds" and now California is faced with massive prison crowding that could possibly flow into counties, although no solution was discussed at this meeting.

"I met my wife in Yosemite," said Lungren in response to a question of his position on a controversial proposal to drain the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, one of San Francisco's major water sources and a plan that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spoken against.

"We have one of the most beautiful valleys in the world ... and it's underwater," said Lungren.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Claudino attended the event.

"I think the congressman did a great job," said Claudino, "He's well-versed on all the issues and I think the biggest single thing is he's here."

"I enjoy these meetings, it gives me a chance to get home and get to different parts of the district," said Lungren.

"When I'm able to go to D.C., I can sit with other members (of Congress) .... We can all talk about the perspectives we've received from (people) in our areas."

Contact Colin Rigley at crigley@calaverasenterprise.com.}