Eugene weekly., July 24, 2014, Page 5, Image 5

There’s no big, bad developer from
out of state trying to make a profi t here.
OMC members are the developers and the
community will be member-managed. We
care very much for the River Road area
and want to strengthen and contribute to
our neighborhood and its ties to the larger
community and city.
Come join us. OMC is actively
seeking folks to be a part of our growing
community. We are a joyful, enthusiastic
and caring bunch, excited to welcome
others to share in the process. Top fi ve
reasons to join now: greater selection of
homes; more discounts on purchase price
the earlier you join; participation in the
creation of community agreements and
more; more time for building friendships
before move-in; contribution of ideas for
any fi nal planning decisions.
Will Dixon, architect
OMC Project Manager
EVACUATION PLANNING
I had the pleasure of being told to
evacuate the Springfi eld Station at 6 pm
July 17 while watching a major fi re a half
mile away. The black toxic smoke was
impressive and I can understand if that
smoke came back down on downtown it
could have life-threatening consequences.
To err on the side of caution is good.
The R-G reported that the sightseers
were not removed till 7 pm when the road
was closed, which seems a little slow. I
was more impressed that as I rode the LTD
to Eugene we passed a busload of people
heading to Springfi eld. I know the city
and the county have their differences but
on this issue they should have tried a little
harder to communicate with each other.
Vince Loving
Eugene
BEER SHORTAGE
Is it just me, or isn’t it about time
someone opened a decent brewery in this
town!
Peter Tildesley
Eugene
THE NATIONAL INTEREST?
The Pacifi c Connector pipeline is the
chosen route to bring natural gas from
the shale oilfi elds of the mountain west
to a not-yet-built natural gas compression
plant at Jordan Cove on Coos Bay,
just across the channel from the city of
North Bend. Private pipeline developers
have been granted the power of eminent
domain to seize over 300 parcels of private
property, which lie in the path of the 230-
mile Pacifi c Connector route.
Jordan Cove developers argue in their
application to FERC (the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission) that building the
plant and the pipeline are in the national
interest because unless foreign markets are
found for U.S. natural gas, fracking in the
Rockies will slow down or stop.
Aside from the obvious one about
exactly why it’s in our national interest
for a Canadian developer to make massive
profi ts selling U.S. gas to China, a more
practical question has arisen concerning
the Jordan Cove project. Developers are
denying property owners along the route
the ability to contact each other. Requests
by property owners for the names of others
along the route have been denied, because
of “the threat of terrorism.”
A moment’s thought makes it clear
that a 100-foot-wide scar on the landscape
that extends for 230 miles across nearly
the entire state of Oregon is not going to
be very diffi cult for bad guys to locate.
There must be another reason why the
developers don’t want the property owners
facing eminent domain claims to contact
one another. Could it be the insultingly
low prices ($300/acre) being offered for
destructive easements and the prospect of
having massive amounts of explosive gas
running under their properties?
How about it, Jordan Cove? Why are
you refusing to release the names of the
property owners whose land you plan to
seize?
Fergus Mclean
Dexter
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eugeneweekly.com • July 24, 2014
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