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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 2015)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 LNG: Acosta’s ruling ZRQ¶WEHFRPH¿QDO for a few months would prove “futile,” Acosta wrote. “LNG’s contention that its its claims by alleging that the Army Corps had abandoned proposed amendments would its interest in the property. FXUHWKHGH¿FLHQFLHVLQLWVSUH- “Oregon LNG basically vious complaint rest on the said, ‘Let’s reframe our argu- assertion that the Corps perma- ments to try to get around what nently abandoned the subject the court said,’” Miles Johnson, property as a dredge-spoil dis- a clean water attorney for Co- posal site,” Acosta wrote. “The lumbia Riverkeeper, a Hood Corps argues it did not clearly River-based environmental manifest its intent to abandon group opposing the LNG proj- its interest in the subject prop- ect, said. “They were asking the erty.” court for permission to present The standard for showing those new arguments.” the federal government aban- A federal district court doned property where it has a judge will have to sign off on property right is “very high,” Acosta’s decision. Oregon Acosta said. LNG will then have time to ap- Citing a 2008 case, Acosta peal. But, even if the company pointed out that the government does nothing, Acosta’s ruling “does not abandon its claims to ZRQ¶W EHFRPH ¿QDO IRU D IHZ property by inaction.” Rather, months. “there must be “clear evidence However, “this more or less that all adverse claims of own- ends the litigation unless Ore- ership had been relinquished, as gon LNG comes up with dif- documented by a person with ferent arguments or decides to appropriate authority.” appeal,” Johnson said. Oregon LNG’s case does not meet that standard. ³7KXV WKH FRXUW ¿QGV WKH ‘Newly discovered Corps did not abandon its evidence’ Oregon LNG said it was en- easement on the subject prop- titled to replead its case because erty as a matter of law, and it received “newly discovered QR MXVWL¿FDWLRQ H[LVWV IRU WKH HYLGHQFH´DIWHUWKHEULH¿QJZDV court to revisit its decision that completed on the Army Corps’ LNG’s claims should be dis- motion to dismiss the lawsuit. missed,” Acosta wrote. “The What was this “newly dis- court should not reconsider its covered evidence”? previous ruling and should not Oregon LNG said that the grant LNG leave to amend their government’s response to a complaint.” Freedom of Information Act request revealed that, in 2002, ‘Another blow’ “the government removed the The Army Corps of Engi- Skipanon Peninsula as a dredge neers is responsible for maintain- disposal site in the Columbia ing the federal navigational chan- River Estuary Dredged Mate- nel, which includes dredging the rial Management Plan”; and, channel to maintain its depth. as recently as 2014, the Army “That material has to be Corps “omitted the Skipanon placed somewhere, and this par- Peninsula from dredge-spoil ticular piece of property is one of deposit locations on a dredge those placement sites,” Michelle deposit permit application to Helms, an Army Corps public the Oregon Department of En- affairs specialist, said. vironmental Quality,” accord- An Army Corps spokesman ing to the decision. recently said that he can’t foresee The company argued that the agency giving up its ease- these documents — plus the ment unless the city of Warren- fact that the Army Corps hasn’t ton proposed an alternative site to deposited dredging spoils on deposit dredge spoils. the easement since 1992 — “This is an area that is im- show the agency intends to portant to our navigational mis- abandon the easement, and that sion, and that’s kind of where the statute of limitations should things still stand,” Helms said. start anew. Brett VandenHeuvel, execu- But this evidence is not tive director of Columbia River- “new,” Acosta concluded. In keeper, said “the court’s decision fact, Oregon LNG had already that Oregon LNG doesn’t have located these documents on the access to the land is another Internet and obtained them be- blow against their development fore the Army Corps moved to plans. The Corps continues to dismiss the company’s claims. defend its right to use the east Skipanon Peninsula.” Oregon LNG could not im- ‘Futile’ amendments In addition, the compa- mediately be reached for com- ny’s amendments to its claims ment. Continued from Page 1A Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Pines on an old Christmas tree are lit by the sun at the drop-off site at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Trees: Restoration efforts have been ongoing since 2007 Continued from Page 1A “This is a place (the salmon) come when they are juveniles to fatten up, and get bigger before head- ing out into the ocean,” Bell said. Another benefit is the Christmas trees provide protection for the salmon against predators such as birds and small mammals. The trees also offer shade to help control water tempera- ture. “The great thing about it is it keeps the trees from go- ing into landfills, and it puts them back into a natural set- ting,” Bell said. Restoration work Restoration efforts at Colewort Creek have been ongoing since 2007. When the park acquired the land, it was an old pasture cut off from the Lewis and Clark River, and salmon popula- tions. Over time, more native plants began growing back and more aquatic species and wildlife re-emerged. “It was totally cut off. The salmon could not ac- cess this area at all,” Bell said. The park has tried not to impact the restoration site and allow nature to take over. In just the past few years, park staff has seen an abundance of waterfowl and frogs. “This area has changed significantly in the past three years,” Bell said. “There has been a lot of na- tive plants that have volun- tarily come in, and just an abundance of wildlife has increased here.” Christmas trees are already beginning to show up at the drop-off location. Trees can be dropped off at the park anytime between now and Jan. 16. Jenny Bell walks along the Colewort Creek restoration site on Monday. Trees will be placed in the Colewort Creek resto- ration site during a volunteer work party on Jan. 16. Regional effort Park staff and volunteers will be hard to miss during the work party from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 16. Many will be wearing Santa hats as they place the trees into a 15-acre portion of the creek. The drop-off location is on the west side of Fort Clatsop Road between the Visitor Center and Netul Landing. Hot chocolate and gloves will be provided to volunteers, who should pre- pare to get muddy. All tinsel and ornament must be re- moved from the trees. Bell said the best way to place the trees is to wedge a few together and anchor them into the mud using fresh cut willow stakes. It is important to make sure the trees stay put since the creek is influenced by the tides. The water level is al- ways rising and falling. The Cocoa and Coho event coincides with other efforts in the area. Scouts from Boy Scout troop 642 will be collecting trees at Columbia Bank in Cannon Beach and at the Seaside Outlet Mall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 2 and Jan. 3. The collected trees will be placed in various locations by local groups such as the Necanicum Watershed Council, the Lower Ne- halem Watershed Council, North Coast Watershed As- sociation and Trout Unlim- ited. “They started the whole thing in this region, so we got inspired by that and we brought it here,” Bell said. “It’s a regional effort.” Port: Lone lawsuit has to deal with Riverwalk Inn Continued from Page 1A the Special Districts Associ- ation of Oregon. As part of Browne’s settlement, she and Foster agreed not to comment to the press on the matter. Weston recently signed a separation agreement with the Port, which provided him with $22,500 in severance pay, equal to three months of his salary, and $14,046 worth of accrued vacation and sick time. Knight also agreed to provide Weston a neutral letter of reference. Weston agreed not to seek any claims against the Port. The Port is down to one ac- tive lawsuit, regarding the As- toria Riverwalk Inn, in which spurned suitor Param Hotel Group claims the Port didn’t follow through on an agreement to transfer former operator Brad Smithart’s remaining two years DQG D ¿YH\HDU H[WHQVLRQ 7KH suit claims the Port showed bias toward chosen short-term hotel operators Chester Trabucco and William Orr, whose brother-in- law is Port Commissioner Ste- phen Fulton. Neighbor:+HSODQVWRLQWHUYLHZQDWLYHSHRSOH¿VKHUPHQ of his company’s operations remain in the Asian country. He uses coaching, writ- visited at least 20 states and 18 countries as “a storytelling ing and training to help busi- warrior,” or “someone that nesses craft engaging and KHOSVEXVLQHVVHVWR¿JKWEXVL- audience-friendly stories for ness wars using the power of different forms of commu- nication. His goal is to help stories,” he said. He started a different ver- employers engage employ- sion of his company while ees; help employers engage LQ 6LQJDSRUH WKH ¿UVW WLPH business prospects, customers When he moved to Nevada and stakeholders; and help for graduate school, he kept employers engage the com- the same concept but changed munity for public relations the name to Business Sto- campaigns. Sometimes he will be a rytelling Academy and the company evolved. Struggling keynote speaker or lead work- with job prospects in Nevada, shops at conferences and he moved back to Singapore, business training seminars. where he became a resident. He speaks several languages, Even now, about 40 percent including his mother tongue, Continued from Page 1A a Bantu language; French; English; and some Mandarin, Malay and German. He’s also learning Spanish. Writing craft While he is willing to help write stories for others as part of his job, he also enjoys writing for himself. For-muk- wai’s interest in writing was sparked as a young teenager after reading Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” “That book inspired me so much,” he said. “I felt like Tom was my brother from a different mother.” In addition to enjoying others’ tales, he decided to ZULWH KLV RZQ +LV ¿UVW SXE- lished work was an autobi- ographical book titled “Fac- ing Adversity with Audacity.” It was published in 2008. In May this year, he published a second book, titled “The Science of Storytelling: How Win the Hearts and Minds of <RXU3URVSHFWVIRU3UR¿W´ Since moving to Gearhart to be with his wife, who has lived in Oregon several years, For-mukwai has felt mixed emotions. ³0\ ¿UVW LPSUHVVLRQ ZDV positive, especially the fact that it wasn’t too crowded,” he said. “But I was very un- certain and worried the long rains. The fact that most of the day is cloudy, would take a toll on me.” He still feels that way at times, but he tries to not let it bother him and to continue with his meetings and activi- ties as usual. “I’m liking it now, so I think I will like it even more over time, especially as sum- mer comes,” he said. He looks forward to kaya- king and continuing his hob- by of running outdoors along trails. He said there are times he misses Singapore — “es- pecially when it gets too cold” — and he will travel back there every couple of months for work. He especially is excited to OHDUQWKHKLVWRU\RIWKH3DFL¿F Northwest. He loves visiting places like Cape Disappoint- ment and reading about the area’s indigenous people and the early sailors and explorers who visited. He plans to inter- view area residents, including QDWLYH SHRSOH DQG ¿VKHUPHQ to capture and share stories of WKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW “This is a new chapter that allows me to interview peo- SOHWKDWOLYHLQWKLVDUHD¿QG out what they do, and I think that will end up in a book,” he said. Meanwhile, he will use the stories he gathers here to keep his clients and blog followers aware of what he is doing.
