143rd YEAR, No. 60
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Family, friends remember Jade Morgan
Speed likely a
factor in teen’s
fatal crash
HOW TO HELP
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Today, on what would have been
Jade Morgan’s 17th birthday, friends
and family are remembering her
spontaneous personality, contagious
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“Jade was always full of life, al-
ways smiling,” her friend Michelle
Westerlund said. “You knew some-
thing must have been really wrong if
she wasn’t smiling.”
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Saturday after losing control of her
Submitted Photo
A fundraiser has been started
on GoFundMe.com for Jade
Morgan at www.gofundme.
com/wp4gb6hc. Already
more than $10,400 has been
raised to help Morgan’s family
after the tragic traffic accident.
In addition, friends and fam-
ily have set up an account at
Wauna Federal Credit Union
in memory of Morgan to help
her father, Bob Morgan, and
family with all expenses.
Jade Morgan
car on a corner of Highway 202 and
crashing into a pickup truck. The
driver of the pickup was treated and
released from the hospital. Morgan
was pronounced dead at the scene.
No cause has been determined in
the crash, although speed appears to
be a factor.
Astoria Police reported that just
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Jasmin Mabry/Submitted Photo
See MORGAN, Page 10A
Students grieve at a memorial for Jade Morgan in her parking space at
Astoria High School Monday.
LNG foes ask Brown to intervene
Credit for
knowing
the score
Revenue aided
in below-rate
tax credit sales
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Oregon LNG protesters gather outside the Clatsop County Fair and Expo Center before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pub-
lic comment meeting Monday.
Speakers address governor during two-part FERC hearing, rally
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
C
onfident that the Federal
Energy Regulatory Com-
mission will eventually
issue a license for Oregon LNG’s
$6 billion liquefied natural gas
terminal and pipeline on Warren-
ton’s Skipanon Peninsula, oppo-
nents are calling on Gov. Kate
Brown to take a stand against the
project.
The commission’s environ-
mental staff held two public
comment meetings at the Clatsop
County Fair & Expo Center Mon-
day, allowing concerned citizens
to weigh in on the agency’s draft
environmental impact statement
for the Oregon LNG project. The
nearly 1,000-page draft state-
ment, released in August, con-
cluded that the proposed project
will result in adverse environ-
mental impacts on water quality
and fish and wildlife habitat, but
that the company could minimize
and mitigate these impacts to
less-than-significant levels.
The commission will review
all oral and written comments
and respond to them in the final
environmental impact statement,
scheduled for release in February.
The commission will consider
the final statement when decid-
ing whether to authorize Oregon
LNG to proceed with develop-
ment in Warrenton.
See LNG, Page 10A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Calling the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a “rubber
stamp” commission, Ted Messing, of Brownsmead, holds up a gi-
ant stamp during his comments.
SALEM — The Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy had help from top
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Revenue last year, as energy em-
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allow deep discounts on energy tax
credits.
Tax credit recipients wanted
to sell the credits issued under the
Energy Incentive Program for less
than allowed under a price formula
in state rules, and energy Chief Fi-
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thought he had found a section of
state law that allowed the practice.
Buckley consulted with employees
at the Department of Revenue, and
they agreed.
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sellers and buyers could ignore a
price formula called for in laws the
Legislature passed to control ener-
gy tax credit prices. However, that
agreement would remain secret:
the Department of Revenue never
formalized the agreement and it re-
mained unwritten. Both the Depart-
ment of Energy and Department of
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written agreement on the issue.
The secrecy allowed the few
people who knew about the inter-
pretation, including tax credit bro-
kers and certain credit recipients,
a competitive edge because they
could offer more deeply discounted
credits.
Oregon issues tax credits to re-
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projects to help offset capital costs.
Recipients can use them to reduce
taxes, or sell them to raise cash. En-
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discounted tax credit sales resulted
in less money going to the projects
the tax breaks were meant to incen-
tivize.
See TAX CREDITS, Page 7A
Highway 420 goes from 0 to 60 with rec ruling
Seaside medical
dispensary gets
city green light
By R.J. MARX
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — What a difference
12 hours makes. Steve Geiger, pro-
prietor of Highway 420 in Seaside,
saw angst turned into a happy end-
ing. After a four-year quest, he re-
ceived approval from the city of Sea-
side to sell recreational marijuana
under terms regulated by the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission.
Twelve hours before, his business
future seemed anything but clear. Sea-
side still hadn’t weighed in on a state
bill allowing medical dispensaries to
sell recreational cannabis, and with
an Oct. 1 date looming, the clock was
ticking. He feared a new moratorium,
a second vote or further delay.
“I’ve made several attempts to get
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on,” Geiger said Monday morning.
“I will just say this to you — I’m in
a very tenuous position right now.”
Everything changed with a letter
from Seaside Planning Director Kev-
in Cupples granting “the temporary
sale of limited marijuana retail prod-
ucts from licensed medical marijua-
na facilities.”
“I feel elated and great — like we
might be able to make it after all,”
Geiger said. “They concluded what I
asserted, that this early sales program
works with the city’s ordinance.”
Geiger, 55, moved to the area
in 2012 with his wife, Evee. Their
South Roosevelt Drive location met
medical marijuana dispensary cri-
teria and the couple applied for that
status in 2013.
When the city issued a moratori-
um on licensing medical marijuana
dispensaries, the Geigers plans were
stalled. The moratorium expired in
June 2015 and in July, Gov. Kate
Brown signed a bill into law allow-
ing existing dispensaries to sell mar-
ijuana to all adults beginning Oct. 1.
Without word from the city, he
feared further delay, a new moratori-
um or a second referendum.
For the Geigers, the letter from
Cupples changed everything. “We
have concluded that unless Seaside
adopts an ordinance prohibiting the
activity, a licensed dispensary can
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
operate in accordance within the pro-
visions established by the state,” the Steve Geiger of Highway 420 is all
smiles after learning he will be able to
planner wrote.
sell recreational marijuana under new
See HIGHWAY 420, Page 7A state rules.