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.”