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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2016)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | September 2, 2016 | PAGE 5 Jordon Cove boss says LNG project needs assist from Oregon’s Congressional delegation BEND — Betsy Spomer, presi- dent and CEO of Jordan Cove LNG, asked delegates to the OSBCTC convention to help her lobby Oregon’s Congres- sional delegation to support the proposed $6 billion private in- vestment in Coos Bay. “There is essentially silence from the federal (Congressional) delegation from Oregon,” Spomer said, noting that only U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader has publicly supported the project. “We need your help to get these guys off the fence,” she emphasized. “... And I think the number one person we need is Sen. (Ron) Wyden.” Veresen, a Calgary, Alberta, British Columbia-based com- pany, wants to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export termi- nal and supporting power plant and pipeline (Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline) on the North Spit in Coos Bay. It will be built with private funding under a project labor agreement (PLA) with the Oregon State Building and Con- struction Trades Council and the Northwest National Construc- tion Alliance, which consists of the Carpenters Union and Oper- ating Engineers Local 701. Con- struction is anticipated to span 42 months, with an average workforce of 900, and a peak workforce of approximately 2,100. Spomer says the project has support from the community, unions, the county, and other lo- cal institutions. But in March, the Federal En- ergy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied Jordan Cove LNG’s applications to build and operate the terminal and the pipeline. The company has filed for a rehearing. Spomer expects a decision on that will come no later than October. Spomer told delegates the biggest weakness in their case is lack of Congressional support. “I think that’s what it’s going to take if we’re going to turn this thing around,” she said. Speaking at the convention the following day, Sen. Wyden said he did what he promised he would do—and that was to let the process play itself out. “On the export question, I know passions run really strong on this,” Wyden said. “Both sides are weighing in with everything they’ve got. We’ve got strong supporters, strong op- ponents—it spreads all across the political spectrum.” Wyden told delegates that when he was chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Secretary of En- ergy was planning to go on hia- tus for a couple of years after having initiated a number of en- ergy projects in other states. “I said you’re not going to do that to the people of Oregon,” Wyden recounted. “You’re not going to cut off the opportunity for us to really make the case— both pro and con.” Wyden said he lobbied ap- pointees to the Energy Depart- ment, asking them to give Ore- gon the chance to make it’s case — and to not cut off the appli- cation process. “I pinned every one of them down,” he said. Wyden’s request was granted. “I have told both sides, that I will work with you every step of the way—it’s now in the FERC process,” he said. ...Mohlis retires from building trades From Page 1 velopment Commission. John Kitzhaber named him “team leader” of his Economic Develop- ment transition team after he was elected governor in 2014. Mohlis also has served on the Manage- ment-Labor Advisory Committee on workers’ compensation, the Oregon State Apprenticeship Council, and the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council, to name a few. Mohlis was raised in Water- loo, Iowa. He spent a year and a- half at the University of Iowa, unsure of what he wanted to do. He met his wife, Debbie, at col- lege. In 1977 they moved to Bozeman, Montana, where he entered the bricklayer appren- ticeship program. He soon be- came an active member of the 35-member Bricklayers Local 5. He phone-banked for area politi- cians and attended building trades council meetings. As a third-year apprentice he was elected a trustee of the local. Later, he served as financial sec- retary when the incumbent offi- cer stepped down. When construction slowed down in Montana, Mohlis trav- eled to Salem in February 1988 to work on the Marion County Correctional Facility. After three months he returned home for his wife and young daughter, mov- ing the family to Redland, Ore- gon, later that year. He transferred his book to Bricklayers Local 1, and met then-business manager Jim Mc- Nannay. In May 1989, McNan- nay hired Mohlis as a business agent and organizer. When Mc- Nannay retired in 1994, Mohlis ran for the seat. He served four terms before taking the job as ex- ecutive secretary of the Colum- bia Pacific Building Trades Council in 2005. He succeeded Wally Mehrens of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, who retired. In October 2010, Mohlis suc- ceeded Bob Shiprack, who re- tired as executive secretary of the Oregon State Building Trades Council. On reflection, Mohlis says he probably is most proud of the purchase in 2000 of the Mason Trades Building in Northeast Portland. The space includes of- fices and a training center. “It re- ally helped us ramp up our train- ing program,” he said. At the 2016 OSBCTC con- vention, Mohlis said it hasn’t been a one man job. He recog- nized all the volunteer union leaders who run building trades councils throughout the state. “It’s so important to have these local building trades coun- cils on the ground, watching the projects in their area, watching the local politics,” he said. “I can look anybody in the eye and say: we have building trades councils in every corner of this state that are minding the business and do- ing the right thing for our mem- bers and contractors.” Mohlis continued: “I am so grateful and so lucky to have had the opportunity to go to work for you and your families, and the men and women of the building trades. It’s an honor and a privilege.” In retirement, Mohlis will do some traveling, and spend time with his son, daughter, and two grandchildren (a third is on the way). He will continue as a trustee on the Western States 401(k) plan, on the Oregon La- bor Press Publishing Co. board of directors, and on the board of the BULL Session golf tourna- ment. He also is considering do- ing some work as a consultant. ‘You saved my town’ GOP state rep says Building Trades worked with him to save Prineville BEND—The Great Recession tax policies known as “central of 2008-09 impacted Crook assessments.” McLane said County more than any county the uncertainty threatened fu- in the state of Oregon. ture growth of the data center “We had the highest unem- industry in the state. ployment in the state. We had So in 2012, McLane, then a the highest food insecurity freshman legislator, sponsored rate. In every a bill to bring statistic that some tax cer- you’d be em- tainty to Ore- b a r r a s s e d “I am incredibly grateful gon. “I was a about, we led to you ... you saved my freshman legis- it. It was dire,” town! Your brothers and lator, not quite State Rep. sisters are working in my sure what I was Mike McLane district, saving my town doing, and not ( R - P o w e l l from utter despair.” quite aware of Butte) told del- the forces I was — State Rep. Mike McLane taking on,” he egates attend- R-Powell Butte, Dist. 28 ing the Oregon said. State Building That’s when and Construc- he met Joe Es- tion Trades Council conven- monde, a union rep for IBEW tion. Local 48, and John Mohlis, Prineville—the largest town head of the Oregon Building in Crook County with a popu- Trades Council. lation of 9,100—had been “They said they would struggling long before the re- help,” McLane said. cession hit. The wood prod- Long story short—with ucts industry was spiraling support from the building downward, and its largest em- trades, the Legislature passed ployer, Les Schwab Tire Cen- a bill, dubbed “the Facebook ters, had relocated its corporate bill,” that changed the tax headquarters to Bend. structure for data centers, and So when Facebook, Google the companies that run them. and Apple rolled into town As a result, Facebook, Google with plans to build gigantic and Apple continued to ex- data centers, they were wel- pand their data centers in comed with open arms. Prineville, creating hundreds While Prineville is best of union construction jobs. known for timber and tires, “I am incredibly grateful to “we started to be known for you ... you saved my town!” technology, the third T,” McLane told delegates. “Your McLane said. brothers and sisters are work- But then a new fight devel- ing in my district, saving my oped, this one over the state’s town from utter despair.”
