Vernonia freedom., June 21, 1979, Page 2, Image 2

Thursday June 21,1979
Page 2 — Vernonia Freedom
Public forum
In our effort to bring you what you want in a paper we hope that you can
participate with us in some small way. It is our job every day, but for all of you
out there we hope you can throw in a tid-bit now and then. Particularly we
want you to call Mary, our office person and collector of gossip if you have
anything of interest. Mary Cota is a lifelong resident of Vernonia and familiar
to many of you and it would seem that Mary has been in the gossip collecting
business long before joining the Freedom staff but now she can do so
legitimately.
We are particularly interested in “notes on folks” that are pertindnt and of
interest to many people. We need to know when and who has gone to the
hospital or a rest home. We need to know about people who have left and are
I living elsewhere. We need to know about our young people who have gone off
. to college, the service or elsewhere. We need to know about significant social
functions. And particularly we need to know about engagements, weddings or
births. We need to know about .anything you might think significant and it will
be up to you to call us and not expect that someone else is going to let us know.
I hope that everyone will participate in giving us their news tips although we
may not be able to print all items depending on their relative importance, but
we will never know until we can get the information in. It is also very
important to me that we get our “notes on Folks” from all the social and
cultural groups that make up the whole community, because we are trying to
represent the whole community.
Ned
Reichhold Energy Co. optimistic about gas pipeline
by Paul Seamons
I had a phone conversation last week with Paul Howe, Senior Vice-President for
Operations Northwest Natural Gas Company. Northwest Natural Gas, along with
Diamond Shamrock is a partner in the successful gas exploration and drilling operation
currently being conducted by Reichhold Energy Company. The gas company is the
largest supplier of energy used in Oregon with the exception of the sun. Last year the
company delivered an average of around 230 million cubic feet of gas per day to its
residential, commercial and industrial customers. The combined flow of Reichholds
three successful wells near Mist is about 6 million cubic feet per day.
I asked Mr. Howe for his perspective on the possibility that a gas pipeline would be
built from the Mist gas field.
“I am extremely optimistic,” said Howe, “each hole that is productive tends to
assure that a pipeline will be built.”
However the construction of the line is not yet a certainity. Reichhold will begin
drilling another exploratory well here this week. Additional drilling is expected to
continue throughout the summer. By summer’s end the question of whether
construction of a pipeline is economically feasible should be answered. But from my
discussion with Mr. Howe, it sounded like Northwest Natural Gas is convinced a
pipeline will be needed.
“It’s too late to start construction this year,” said the vice-president, “but we’ve
begun to study the project, examining different routes and so on.” I asked the size of
the possible pipeline. “Certainly no smaller than 10 inches in diameter, maybe 12 or 16
inches,” Howe replied.
According to Howe, the line in all probability'would go eight miles over Clatskanie
Mountain, following
direct a route as possible, to a point a mile or so west of
Clatskanie. Northwest Natural Gas has a distribution line which runs from Portland to,
Astoria, along the Columbia. This line is 16 inches in diameter th Clatskanie where it
reduces to 10 inches on put to Astoria. Howe estimates the cost of the project at $2
million.
,
The gas company VP also mentioned that Reichhold is examining the possibility of
running a pipeline from the Mist gas field directly to its plant in St. Helens.
Reichhold’s urea plant near St. Helens is currently served by the N.W.N.G. line from
Portland. Reichhold uses some 9 million cubic feet of gas a day as a feedstock for urea
and anhydrous ammonia manufacture. The reason Reichhold is looking at the
possibility of a line directly from Mist to its plant is that the Mist gas contains about
6% nitrogen. Reichhold now uses the nitrogen in atmospheric air for its ammonia
manufacturing process. Reichhold is studying whether it can supply its process
nitrogen requirements more economically by piping the Mist gas, with its relatively
high nitrogen content directly to its plant some 21 miles distance. The pipeline gas
Reichhold now uses does not contain substantial amounts of Nitrogen. The cost of this;
longer pipeline alternative would clearly be several times higher than that of the 8 mile
line over Clatskanie Mountain.
In any case the line would require that a fifty foot wide right-of-way be maintained
clear of trees. The pipe would be buried five feet below the ground, by my calculations,
the right-of-way for the 8 mile route would take 50 or so acres out of timber production.
Additional land would probably be lost to production by the required network of
smaller feeder lines extending from each well to the pipeline.
Purchase of the right-of-way would be negotiated by N.W.N.G. with each land owner
affected. In any case, N.W.N.G., as a public utility, has condemnation powers if
negotiations fail.
I asked Mr. Howe whether his. company is considering running the pipeline along
Longview Fibre’s Clatskanie Mountain haul road which goes from Mist to Clatskanie,
and is already cleared. “I can’t comment on that except to say that we are considering
all alternatives.”
Howe said that if a pipeline is to be built it would be designed this winter in time for
construction to begin next spring. In all probability the work would be done by a
contractor rather than by the gas company’s own crews. In that case the welders,
pipefitters, operating engineers, laborers and other construction workers required for
the job would presumably be called out of Portland and Longview union halls.
Northwest Natural Gas currently gets 100% of the gas it distributes from one
supplier, Northwest Pipeline Corporation. 70% of this gas comes from Canada. It
appears that the addition of supplies from the Mist field could augment substantially
what the gas company describes as an already favorable supply situation.
M M ■■ M M K M Mi ■■ Hl M Mi ■■ M MW ■■ ■■ M H M ■■ HUB M
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Special writers.........
Paul Seamons, Angie Remsen, Roselinda Maycock
“NOW HEAR THIS”
by G.G. Connely
President Carter has no trouble staying
in the public eye it seems. I am.
wondering if it will last until election day
in 1980.
In reference to thé President’s outburst
toward Senator Kennedy, first it was
“bologna,” which seems innocent enough,
but at a recent breakfast attended by the
President and several members of
Congress, the phrase used by Carter was
uncalled for, even though he is trying to
become tough on different issues. And
this statement coming from oné who has
professed, since before his election, to be a
“born again Christian.” Mr. Carter
evidently was looking at the peanut crop
report instead of the Bible when he said
he was a bom again Christian.” He
should read the Bible more diligently,
because it tells you very definitely that a
person does not become a “bom again
Christian” here on this earth. I am not
one who likes to dwell on religion, but I
just couldn’t let this opportunity pass to
clear the air on “bom again Christians.”
In a speech by Senator Kennedy, after
the President’s tainted statement, he said
he knew many people were behind him in
Washington, but he didn’t know they
were that close.
Barring any unforseen obstacles, by the
time you read this, we will have become
partners to the signing of the SALT II
agreement. What has worried me from
the start is how are we possibly going to
be sure that Russia will live up to the
agreement. They are not going to let any
U.S. team perform an on-sight inspection
of their missiles, or missile location^,
nuclear or otherwise. They never have, so
why should we expect them to be any
different this time? The United States, on
the other hand, is so soft that they
prvoide any visiting foreign dignitary
with the most elaborate tour of our
nuclear facilities, missile and missile sites.
How naive can this country get? I feel the
same way toward Russia, as the late
President Truman did. He said he trusted
the Russians about as far as he could
throw an elephant by the tail, or words to
that effect.
We have heard so much about the
shortage of gasoline. One authority said
on TV that when gasoline at the pump
reached $125 or $150 per gallon, we will
have no shortage of this precious
commodity. I reluctantly concur in this
statement.
I will admit, that I have mulled the
following piece of gossip over and over the
past several days, trying to decide
whether or not to pass it on, for what it is
Letter to the Editor:
I would like to thank Dale Martinez of
the Columbia County Vector Control
District for being responsive to my
concern of aerial spraying for mosquito
control. I am worried that spraying from
an airplane would not contain the spray in
a certain area thereby contaminating my
garden and pets. Since the field behind
my house is accessible Mr. Martinez has
agreed to try handspraying first. Also I
was told if neighbors surrounding the
property agree to not have spray, all they
have to do is collect signatures and
present them to. Mr. Martinez or the
Vector Control Board.
According to Dale Martinez there is a
non toxic spray available for use but there
isn t enough money in their budget for it
1 think everyone should know that
Vector Control has Gambusia fish that
teed on mosquito larvae. If you want to
try to alleviate the problem yourself thev
are available free of charge.
If you are concerned about the Vector
worth to my readers. After reading many
other reports on gasoline shortages, and
listening to different views of individuals
on TV. I decided to tell this, and I repeat
again, it is strictly hearsay and gossip.
Being a reporter, which I am not, I should
have followed up the story to see if it was
authentic.
This was overheard several days ago by
yours truly in a restaurant in Hillsboro.
This discourse being told by a very
positive gray haired lady to her two lady
friends and a gentleman seated at a table
directly in front of me. She said this was
told to her by her minister who was
traveling in Eastern Oregon.
The minister was driving between Bend
and Madras, when he came upon a large
tank truck sitting along side the highway,
the valve oh the tank open draining
gasoline into the bar-ditch. The minister,
thinking that perhaps the driver of the
truck might be having trouble, got out of
his car, and found the driver of the tanker
resting beside the truck.. He asked him
what the trouble was, the driver said, no
trouble, just carrying out orders. The
minister went back to his car and got his
camera and took several pictures. He
asked the driver his name, but he refused
to give it. He said he just worked for the
company, and was just doing what he was
told to do. The minister took the license
number of the truck, and what I did
gather was, he gave the truck driver his
name and telephone number, or address.
After the minister arrived home, he
received a telephone call from someone in
authority of the trucking firm. He stated
that he would pay $50,000 for the pictures
and the negatives.of the tank truck that
he had taken. The answer was no. The
offer was upped to $75,000, the answer
was still no. Finally the company
representative asked the minister where
the negatives and pictures were, he told
them-in the hands of “60 Minutes!’’{This
ended: the conversation which I
overheard. Remember now, I said in the
beginning, this must be treated as
heresay and pure gossip, unless proven
otherwise at a later date by “60 Minutes.”
A humorous parting shot at the.
President of the United States. Mr. Carter
should be defended somewhere along the
line, even though the polls show him at
the lowest in percentage points since his
election in 1976, so I’ll try. President
Carter couldn’t whip himself out of a wet
paper bag, leave alone whipping the
Senator from Massachusetts but, there is
always the possibility that he might
‘Whupp” Senator Kennedy perhaps not in
the same place mentioned at the
breakfast, but at the ballot box.
Control program in your area I think you
should contact Mr. Martinez. He does,
seem to listen.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Hill
St. Helens
EMERGENCY
PHONE
NUMBERS
City Police................. 429-5141
Ambulance................. 429-5141
Vernonia Fire Dept.. 429-3131
Col. Co. Sheriff..... 429-5141
(ask for Sheriff’s Dept4