april21 2016
www.vernoniasvoice.com
reflecting the spirit of our community
LNG Project Cancelled!
Oregon LNG, the company planning the liqui-
fied natural gas terminal in Warrenton, Oregon and the
pipeline that would bring natural gas across the state,
has withdrawn from the project.
News spread quickly across the internet on the
afternoon of Friday, April 15, as local activists rejoiced
in the defeat of the project that would have included
the installation of a 36 inch pipeline across Columbia
County, traversing forest land and crossing salmon
bearing rivers and streams in numerous places.
“Power to the little people!” said one local ac-
tivist in a message on Facebook announcing the suc-
cessful defeat of the project.
Oregon LNG had proposed building a huge ter-
minal in Warrenton, where fracked natural gas would
be converted to liquefied natural gas and shipped over-
seas to Asian markets. The terminal was proposed to
be built in a sensitive area on the Columbia River and
opponents claimed it would have disrupted commer-
cial and recreational fishing. The pipeline would have
crossed Rock Creek just miles above the intake to the
City of Vernonia water supply.
Concerns about safety and local emergency
services ability to deal with a major
disaster was a major rallying point
for local opposition, along with
concerns about environmental
damage during construction and
the use of eminent domain to gain
easements. Local citizens joined
forces with Columbia Riverkeepers,
an environmental protection group,
to oppose the project, traveling to
Salem to take part in a rally at the
capital. They also continued to hold
local meetings to strategize and stay
updated on the project.
“We’ve waited a long time
for this,” said Brett VandenHeuvel, Executive Director
of Columbia Riverkeeper. “Waited is the wrong word.
No one was sitting around waiting. We fought a long
time to earn this result. That’s more accurate.”
The City of Vernonia passed a resolution op-
posing the project. State Senator Betsy Johnson, State
Representative Brad Witt, and U.S. Representative Ron
Wyden had all spoken out publicly against the project.
School District to Explore New Bond
The Vernonia School Board
took two actions at their April 14 meet-
ing in an effort to alleviate lingering
debt from the construction of the new
school campus.
The Board voted to approve
Resolution 1516-05 authorizing the
refinancing of the current General Ob-
ligation Bond that voters approved in
2009. That 25 year bond of $1.90 per
thousand was issued in 2010 for the
capital construction of the school facil-
ity.
The Board followed that ap-
proval of the refinancing with a second
action, authorizing the Superintendent
to gather information for a possible
new bond election in November 2016.
The refinancing will save tax-
payers approximately $600,000 over
the life of the bond, which is scheduled
to retire in 2035. The refinancing does
not create any revenue for the School
District.
The School District currently
has over $5 million of debt left from
inside
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VERNONIA’S
volume10 issue8
the school construction project. Super-
intendent Aaron Miller told the Board
the annual debt service is approximate-
ly $500,000 per year through 2021 and
will not be completely paid off until
2029. The debt comes from funding
the District had to borrow to complete
the construction. Miller says payment
of the debt service will need to come
from the general operating fund of the
District and will lead to severe cuts in
personnel or days the District operates.
Earlier in the meeting Finance
Officer Dawn Plewes told the Board
that $230,000 would need to come out
of the general fund, which had not been
budgeted for, to pay the balance of the
debt service for this year.
A somber Miller noted that
fundraising efforts that have been used
in the past to pay the debt service are no
longer a viable option. “The initiatives
“I shared the concerns that the
Oregon LNG project would have
had negative environmental and
economic impacts, and I am re-
lieved that local voices prevailed,”
said Wyden in a statement.
The project had already been
rejected several times during the lo-
cal permitting process. The Clatsop
County Board of Commissioners
had denied allowing the pipeline to
cross their territory and on March
8 a land use hearing in Warrenton
determined the project did not meet
local code. A similar project at Jor-
dan Cove in southern Oregon was recently denied by
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“This was not an orchestrated campaign,” said
VandenHeuvel. “This was a campaign where ideas
flowed around kitchen tables and pastures, and where
farmers and fishermen stood side by side with climate
activists.”
we’ve been working towards have been
less and less productive,” said Miller.
“This is the year those payments have
caught up to us. Unless we find a way
to pay this completely off it’s going to
be an impact on the general fund from
here forward. ”
Miller has suggested a second
bond measure to raise the funds needed
to pay off the debt for the school. With
the bond refinancing, the new bond
would bring the obligation to the tax-
payers back to the original $1.90 per
thousand taxpayers approved in 2009
and extend the obligation for several
more years.
Miller presented several op-
tions to the School Board, who took
their second action of the evening and
authorized Miller to begin exploring a
second bond.
Construction
to Close Pebble
Creek Road
For the second summer in a row,
the Columbia County Road Department
will be closing Pebble Creek Road to re-
place a bridge.
Construction on the bridge over
Pebble Creek, located just .80 miles from
the junction of Highway 47, began on
April 18 with short duration closures uti-
lizing flaggers.
Pebble Creek Road will be closed
from June 11 through September 30 for
replacement of the bridge structure. A de-
tour route will be set up, sending traffic on
Highway 47 around to McDonald Road.
Construction will be primarily completed
by September 30, with a contract comple-
tion date of October 30 for all work.
Columbia County Voters Have Big Decisions
The upcoming May 17 primary
election has several important races and
issues that Columbia County voters will
be deciding.
Columbia County Commis-
sioner Positions 1 and 3 are both up for
election in this primary with five candi-
dates running for Earl Fisher’s Position
1 seat. Fisher has chosen not to run for
re-election, so Columbia County will
be sure to have at least one new member
on the Board of Commissioners. Run-
ning for Fisher’s seat are Susan Conn,
Brady Preheim, Joel Yarbor, Margaret
Magruder, and Wayne Mayo.
At Position 3, long term incum-
bent Tony Hyde faces a challenge from
newcomer Alex Tardiff.
Vernonia’s Voice will host a
political forum “Meet the Candidates”
with candidates running for County
Commissioner, on Monday, April 25 at
7:00 pm at the Cabin in Vernonia. The
public is invited to attend.
Columbia County voters will
also have an opportunity to decide the
future of the Columbia County Rider
transportation system. The County
has placed a measure on the ballot
that would form a special transporta-
tion district to operate the transit sys-
tem. The measure would authorize a
tax rate of $0.23 per $1,000 of assessed
value for ten years. The transportation
district would be governed by a newly
elected, seven-member Board of Direc-
tors, which are also on the ballot in this
primary election; all seven candidates
for the Board of Directors are running
unopposed. The transportation district
will include all of Columbia County ex-
cept the cities of Clatskanie and Deer
Island which declined to be included.
Sheriff Jeff Dickerson and
Treasurer Jennifer Cuellar-Smith are
both running unopposed for re-election.
The race for County Commis-
sioner Position 1 is crowded and may
end up going to a run off in November if
no candidate receives more than 50 per-
cent of the vote.
Susan Conn is currently serv-
ing as a St. Helens City Councilor and
is the Council Liaison to the St. Helens
Economic Development Corporation.
She also serves as a board member for
the Columbia Pacific Economic Devel-
opment District. She served for seven
years on the St. Helens School Board
and for 14 years on the Columbia Coun-
ty Commission on Children & Families.
Joel Yarbor of Deer Island is a
U.S. Army veteran who served in the
Vietnam War. He previously served on
the Board of Commissioners for one
term from 1994-98. He has cited jobs
and bringing more industry to Columbia
County as a main concern and focus of
his campaign. He currently works rais-
ing and training race horses.
Brady Preheim of Scappoose is
a former member of the South Colum-
bia County Chamber of Commerce and
was involved in helping stop the $0.08
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