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Street Roots • May 26-June 1, 2017
News
Victory, defeat and alternative facts in two coastal county elections
BY STEPHEN QUIRKE
Backers of the measure say this kind of
spending should not be allowed, but they
also say they are not daunted by the loss.
n the battle to protect the environment,
According to Mary Geddry, a co-petitioner,
activists are increasingly turning to a
model of local organizing that mixes face- organizers are already in discussion about
to-face democracy with the power to create how to re-file in a way that puts a laser focus
on Jordan Cove LNG, with separate
law.
measures addressing the need for renewable
Not everyone is happy with that.
energy.
Two recent law-making initiatives on the
Backers of the measure blame the loss
Oregon coast provide a striking case in
primarily on out-of-town money and
point: Measures 6-162 in Coos County and
dishonest advertising.
Measure 21-177 in Lincoln County.
“As is becoming the norm in our nation,
Measure 21-177 focused on banning the
elections are won and lost by whoever has
aerial spraying of pesticides - a
the fattest wallet, and I think that was much
longstanding issue in the county that’s
the case in Coos County,” said Coos County
involved lawsuits, coupled with reports of
sickness, death and miscarriages throughout resident Stacey McLaughlin. “It was, in my
experience, about as oppressive an electoral
the valleys. After a hard-fought campaign,
environment as I’ve ever seen.”
this measure appears to be passing by a
Geddry said she is actively challenging
margin of just 28 votes - which could make
falsehoods from the “no” campaign with the
it the first such ban in the country.
Secretary of State’s Election Division -
According to the county clerk’s office a final
particularly incendiary claims that say the
count will be available June 5, after voters
law would permit violence against people
get a chance to fix a small number of
and property. One mailer stated, "... the
unsigned ballots.
measure will allow anyone to damage
A similar proposal in the Oregon State
buildings or vehicles in the name of the
Legislature died this session.
environment,” and another stated the
Measure 6-162 focused on the proposed
measure will “Allow anyone to trespass on a
Jordan Cove LNG and Pacific Connector
homeowner, farmer or business’s private
pipeline - a project that some residents feel
property and damage buildings, vehicles or
has been forced on them for years despite
other items deemed harmful to the
major objections concerning climate change,
ecosystem.”
safety concerns, property rights and
Such claims were apparently lifted from
fracking. The measure also used expansive
language granting the right to locally owned
Lincoln County - where opponents of 21-177
renewable energy and defining other types
attacked a last-resort provision of the
of ownership as inherently unsustainable.
measure that allowed citizens to protect
themselves from aerial pesticide spraying
Business interests came out in force
against both measures. According to Coos
with “direct action” if all other options fail.
Bay’s The World Newspaper, opponents to
This provision opened a floodgate of
their local initiative spent or received more
unhinged speculation - including claims that
than a million dollars, making it the most
voting yes would legalize violence. That
expensive campaign in that county’s history.
sentiment was echoed by County Sheriff
With a majority of opposition funding
Curtis Landers, who appeared in radio spots
coming from Canadian gas company Veresen opposing the measure, and re-enforced fears
Inc. (which has bet big on the Jordan Cove
that the sheriff might openly defy the law.
LNG), the measure ultimately failed,
The claim became increasingly bizarre
garnering just slightly more than 24 percent
when it landed in Coos County. Here,
of the vote.
property owners have raised the alarm for
STAFF WRITER
I
years about the threat of eminent domain -
and recently secured a pledge from U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden to oppose eminent domain
across the entire length of the project. But
when those attacks were lifted from Lincoln
County and dropped in Coos County,
something truly special happened - the
Canadian-based Veresen not only got the
local facts wrong, but also managed to use
the idea of property rights to shut down real
property owners.
And back in Lincoln County the story
wasn’t much better.
“The sheriff just stuck to their message,
which was full of lies,” said Maria Sause, a
chief petitioner of 21-177. “They were just
raising hell about possible violence, but
what they’re doing is using these pesticides
on people. I mean I can’t imagine anything
more violent than poisoning people.”
“Their strategies weren’t working, so they
just kind of kept pivoting,” said Rio Davidson
of Citizens for a Healthy County. “At first
they made it all about the fishermen not
being able to paint their boat, but I’ve never
seen a helicopter paint a boat before. Then
it was all about the poor blueberry farmer
who wouldn’t be able to spray his crops. And
then at the end it became all about
vigilantism. Things just weren’t working, so
they wanted to talk about literally anything
except the aerial spraying of pesticides.”
Davidson said he knows about a dozen
people with personal stories of people
experienced health problems after aeriel
sprays.
“There’s more than ample proof that
people have been poisoned by this aerial
pesticide spraying for a long time,” Davidson
said.
“The opposition’s claims about violence
are completely unfounded,” Davidson added.
“The purpose of this measure is to create
safety, which is guaranteed to us in Article
1, Section 1 of the Oregon Constitution. You
cannot create safety with acts of violence.”
Mary Geddry said a dizzying array of
misinformation was also pushed in Coos
County by Veresen and allied groups -
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under the auspices of the newly formed
Save Coos Jobs.
“They said people were going to set up
checkpoints to see how much gas you had,
people wouldn’t be able to drive fuel trucks
through town, the ferries wouldn’t be able
to fuel themselves,” Geddry said. “But
oddly, there was no mention of Jordan Cove
LNG.”
The barrage of misinformation, combined
with the loss in Coos County, has backers of
a similar initiative on edge.
CCSAGE, or Columbia County
Sustainable Action for a Green
Environment, is a community group
promoting a similar law near Portland. Their
law aims to block the export of fossil fuels, a
fracked gas generating station, and a China-
backed tracked gas facility that would
convert the substance to methanol for the
purpose of export.
Spokesperson Nancy Ward said their
group has been impacted by the giant ball of
cash thrown into the Coos County election -
something their small group doesn’t know
how to handle.
“We’re kind of taking a deep breath here.
We don’t think there’s going be an issue
with getting signatures. But once we get
them, should we put it on the ballot? I can’t
stress enough what a difficult decision this
is for us to make,” Ward said.
“One of the reasons (the opposition)
spent $1.4 million is not just to crush the
Coos issue, or even statewide, but they want
the message out to all activists, all
environmentalists ... that you are going to
be outspent, and we will win. So what do we
do?”
Speaking on the likely victory of the
aerial spraying law, Davidson said. “The
citizens of Lincoln County did not believe
the propaganda and the twisting of the truth
that the corporate-led opposition did. We’re
really excited, and we’re really grateful that
the community came together and spoke
with one voice and finally put a stop to this.”