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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2015)
143rd YEAR, No. 95 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Trade deal could widen LNG market and increase exports Department of Energy would automatically OK partner export deals ic Rim countries, could widen the LQWHUQDWLRQDO PDUNHW IRU OLTXH¿HG natural gas by legally obliging the U.S. Department of Energy to auto- matically approve all applications to export LNG to partner countries. If the controversial agreement — whose early text was released last By ERICK BENGEL week — goes forward, companies The Daily Astorian looking to ship LNG to, for exam- ple, Japan, the world’s No. 1 LNG 7KH 7UDQV3DFL¿F 3DUWQHUVKLS importer, would have their export a proposed trade deal among the applications granted without the United States and 11 other Pacif- energy department reviewing, mod- ifying or delaying them. The result could be greater demand for LNG and more LNG exports. All natural gas exporters need the approval of the energy depart- ment to sell to foreign buyers. Last year, the department grant- ed Oregon LNG, an energy com- pany seeking to build an LNG ter- minal and pipeline on Warrenton’s Skipanon Peninsula, a conditional license to export LNG to countries without a free trade agreement. When foreign buyers do not have a free trade agreement with the U.S., the energy department, in the- ory, must conduct a thorough public analysis to determine whether the gas exports are consistent with the public interest before granting a li- cense, according to the U.S. Natural Gas Act. But when the foreign buyer is part of a bilateral or a multilater- al free trade agreement with the 86 WKDW ² OLNH WKH 7UDQV3DFL¿F See LNG, Page 10A Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife This remote camera photo taken in 2014 shows wolf OR-7 on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Com- mission voted Monday to remove wolves from the state’s endan- gered species list. Oregon removes wolves from the list Contentious move takes away their endangered status By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Bureau Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian POLES APART The city of Astoria has tried to remove the communications tower from Coxcomb Hill for several years. Forester objects to new Verizon monopole at Shively Park By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian A storia has wanted to move an old, unappealing communications tower it shares with Verizon Wireless off Coxcomb Hill, and away from the Astoria Column, for a decade. But did the city, in an eagerness to reach a deal with Verizon, fail to vet a provision of the agreement that allows Verizon to erect a new 150-foot-tall monopole tower at Shively Park? Ron Zilli thinks so. The forester, who lives near Shively Park, has appealed decisions by the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission and Planning Com- mission to approve the monopole. His appeals, which will be heard by the City Council on Monday, claim the mono- pole is not compatible with the historic park and will be more obtrusive than city staff and Verizon have described. Zilli also believes the city was biased in favor of the idea, since the City Council agreed to cover about $70,000 in expenses by the Friends of the Astoria Column — and an additional $20,000 from the city — for a Portland telecommunications consultant to help persuade Verizon to move the lattice tower off Coxcomb Hill. Under the agreement, the city would get upgraded emergency communications at a new lattice tower it would share with Verizon off Reservoir Road, while Verizon would get the new tower, as well as the new monopole at Shively Park to help improve wireless cov- erage. “A 150-foot-tall metal tower at the end of a knoll, to me, just seemed inherently in FRQÀLFW ZLWK WKH QDWXUDO VHWWLQJ WKHUH´ VDLG Zilli, who lives at 16th and James streets and often goes to Shively Park with his 10-year- old daughter. See MONOPOLE, Page 10A Ron Zilli ‘Marching band changed my life’ Earning drum major was instrumental in Ilwaco student’s transformation By PATRICK WEBB For EO Media Group ILWACO, Wash. — Ilwaco High School senior Michael Johnson recalls exactly when everything changed. It was the middle of his sophomore year. “I didn’t take school that seriously,” said Johnson, candidly revealing he was kicked off the basketball team for poor grades. “That was a big moment in my life,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘What are my passions?’” The answer was music. Though rap and country aren’t favorites, he enjoys all styles, from classical to jazz, musicals and operas, and even metal. So, he returned to the marching band. “It was a wake-up call to focus on school,” he said. “This is my future.” Johnson auditioned and won the job as the drum major for his junior year, a posi- WLRQKHUHWDLQHGIRUKLV¿QDO\HDUDW,+6 “In reality, marching band changed my life,” he said. “To have the opportunity to be in marching band, and to lead, is great IRUP\FRQ¿GHQFH´ Last Saturday, he led Ilwaco’s band in the Auburn Veterans Day Parade, compet- ing in the novice division. SALEM – After nearly 11 hours of emotional testimony, back and forth discussion and two timeouts for legal advice from a state attorney, the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission voted 4-2 Monday to take gray wolves off the state endan- gered species list. In making the decision, commis- sion members agreed with a wildlife staff appraisal that the state’s wolves have expanded in number and range to the point that they no longer need protection under the state Endangered Species Act. Oregon’s wolves remain covered under the federal ESA in the western WZRWKLUGV RI WKH VWDWH DQG ¿VK DQG ZLOGOLIH RI¿FLDOV VD\ WKH VWDWH ZROI management plan remains in effect and will protect wolves from illegal hunting. The decision doesn’t close the book on Oregon’s work to manage wolves. Some commission members made it clear they preferred to delist wolves only in the eastern third of the state, where most of Oregon’s 82 FRQ¿UPHGZROYHVOLYHEXWZHUHSUH- vented from doing so by language in the state law. Meanwhile, conservation groups DUHH[SHFWHGWR¿OHDODZVXLWRYHUWKH commission’s decision. “I think that’s very likely,” said Amaroq Weiss of the Center for Bi- ological Diversity. “I think they’re in violation of the law. They didn’t pay attention to the science.” Conservation groups believe Or- egon’s wolf population is too small and too fragile to delist, and is pres- ent in only 12 percent of its potential territory. “There’s no other species we would delist when it’s absent from al- most 90 percent of its habitat,” Weiss said. Oregon’s ranchers, who had urged WKH ¿VK DQG ZLOGOLIH FRPPLVVLRQ WR follow the guidelines of the wolf plan and the recommendations of the de- partment’s biologists, cheered the de- cision. “I’m relieved,” said Todd Nash, wolf committee chairman for the Or- egon Cattlemen’s Association. “This sends a message to cattle producers that the ODFW Commission will stand by its commitment.” Nash said ranchers would not have supported a partial delisting. “When we were paying the price (of livestock attacks) in Eastern Or- egon, we fully believed we were do- ing it for the whole state,” Nash said. “And we were proud to do it.” More than 150 people packed the ¿VK DQG ZLOGOLIH KHDULQJ URRP DQG 106 signed up to testify. Activists opposed to delisting wolves, many of them wearing matching orange Patrick Webb/For EO Media Group See JOHNSON, Page 3A Michael Johnson See WOLVES, Page 10A
