Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 GUEST COLUMN Founded in 1873 Oregon can deny LNG now STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Workforce housing may cause discomfort With few building sites, leaders must become pragmatic f Astoria wants more workforce housing, the City Council and the public must become more realistic. Two recent situations illustrate why this will be a challenge. One was the developer Dick impairment is that the col- Krueger’s proposal to develop lege for decades charged virtu- housing on the Central School ally no rent for its use. The col- block, a site bounded by Irving lege board allowed performing and Jerome, Ninth and Tenth. groups to live in an unreal world, The second was a Portland in which there was no revenue developer’s proposal to buy the stream to maintain the building Clatsop Community College and build reserves for the inevi- Performing Arts Center and table capital investment. 7KH ¿UVW V\PSWRP RI WKH the Josie Peper building for the building’s mortality happened purpose of building housing. Krueger retreated when res- under CCC President John idents surrounding Central Wubben, when the building’s School raised concerns about steeple was removed, because his concept of attached housing. it was rotten. The PAC today Residents preferred detached has $1 million in deferred maintenance, according to the homes. If anything unites these two FROOHJH¶VFKLHI¿QDQFLDORI¿FHU The real question is whether incidents, it is that a constit- uency decided a developer’s the PAC and the adjoining Josie interest would put something Peper building could be demol- they value in jeopardy. For the ished and replaced with work- Central School neighbors, the force housing. To the PAC’s lot itself is precious in many supporters, Partners for the PAC, ways. With the college’s prop- that would be an earthquake. The larger reality is that erty, a group wants to see the Astoria doesn’t have many PAC preserved in perpetuity. Working with neighbors is sites to build affordable, work- part of what a developer must force housing. So if the city do these days. So it may be that truly wants more, leaders such another developer would have as the City Council and CCC the tenacity to negotiate a solu- Board of Directors cannot tion on the Central School site. afford to dismiss considerations The Performing Arts Center WKDWVRPH$VWRULDQVPLJKW¿QG is a stickier wicket, because alarming on the surface. They WKHEXLOGLQJLVD¿QDQFLDOGDUN must ask, “How can we make hole. The root of the PAC’s something happen here?” I Transparency loses with Gov. Brown W ho owns government information — citizens, or the public employees our taxes pay to produce it? Oregon continues to struggle with this issue, as our Capital Bureau reporters explored in Tuesday story about the wan- ing drive for transparency reforms in the state capital. Gov. Kate Brown succeeded in some small efforts directed at situations arising from the Kitzhaber/Hayes scandal. But more meaningful improve- ments have died on the vine. A legislative leader told our reporters that a key reform stalled this year because city and county governments opposed deadlines and fee lim- its in the bill. ,WLVDOZD\VSRVVLEOHWR¿QG H[DPSOHV RI JDGÀLHV VWUHWFK- ing open-records laws by mak- ing overly broad or burden- some requests. However, the American system of govern- ment deliberately vests the news media and citizen activ- Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Protesters use signs to shield themselves from the rain during a rally before the Oregon Liquefied Natural Gas permit public hearing at the Warrenton Community Center. Meanwhile, the Department of Land Conservation and Development has yet to deny Oregon LNG’s pro- SRVDO ZKLFK FOHDUO\ FRQÀLFWV ZLWK Oregon’s Coastal Zone law. We urge you to support agency actions that reject the Oregon LNG project — at the earliest possible opportunity. Such a statement from you would be timely and appropriate, since both proposals are faltering badly. Jordan Cove was denied by FERC in a land- mark decision. Oregon LNG lacks By CHERYL JOHNSON and control of the terminal site, and it has LAURIE CAPLAN failed to obtain local permits for a ter- Columbia Paci¿c Common Sense minal or a pipeline. Now is the time he state of Oregon is in a uniquely for the state to intervene decisively to powerful position to end the issue uphold county and state law. 2Q0DUFKWKHKHDULQJVRI¿FHU of LNG export altogether. We urge you, as the State Land Board, to sup- hired by the city of Warrenton denied port state actions that stop proposals the Oregon LNG export terminal pro- posed for Warrenton. to export LNG from Oregon. • Oregon LNG does not have use As the State Land Board, you have of its proposed site. In the authority needed to 2015, a federal mag- protect Oregon from It’s time late istrate judge dismissed LNG export. This Oregon LNG’s attempt DXWKRULW\ZDVFRQ¿UPHG to stop to overturn the 60-year- by Federal Energy Reg- old easement held by these ulatory Commission the U.S. Army Corps of (FERC) Commissioner Marc Spitzer. Voting to proposals Engineers on the site in approve the Bradwood and put Warrenton. • FERC’s denial con- Landing LNG proposal, he wrote on Sept. 18, Oregon ¿UPV WKDW WKH SURSRVDOV do not serve the public 2008, that Oregon has back on interest. The speculators “an effective veto over backing these reckless LNG projects.” track. proposals are willing to Last month, FERC VDFUL¿FHOLYHVORFDODQG denied both the Jordan &RYH /1* WHUPLQDO DQG LWV 3DFL¿F regional economies, and our natural Connector pipeline, concluding that world for their own gain. • Both proposals depend on using the adverse effects to landowners and communities outweigh the pub- eminent domain to take private prop- HUW\IRUSULYDWHSUR¿W0RUHWKDQ OLFEHQH¿W The case against Oregon LNG is percent of landowners along the route similar and increasingly clear. Last year, for the proposed Jordan Cove pipe- Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals line oppose it, and have refused to upheld Clatsop County’s unanimous sign easements. The State Land Boar- 5-0 decision in 2013 to deny a permit dand Oregon’s natural resource agen- for Oregon LNG’s proposed pipeline. cies should protect Oregon families Clatsop County successfully defended from these unnecessary projects that the denial against multiple court chal- cannot demonstrate a plausible mar- ket or public interest. lenges by Oregon LNG. This is a condensed version of a letter sent by 22 organizations from 14 counties to the State Land Board, urging it to stop the Jordan Cove and Oregon liTue¿ed natural gas ter- minals proposed for Oregon. The Land Board, comprised of Gov. Kate Brown, Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins, and Treasurer Ted Wheeler, has the power to stop both projects now. T • Each proposal would become the largest greenhouse gas polluter in Oregon. LNG is not “clean energy.” It appears that natural gas is equal to, or worse than coal as a greenhouse gas polluter. • The projects would have a huge industrial footprint — including the destruction of farms, forest, water- ways, and our natural environment — to construct and operate pipelines and terminals. The Oregon LNG proj- ect would dramatically degrade criti- FDOVDOPRQKDELWDWDQGGLVUXSW¿VKLQJ in the Columbia River. • Both proposals violate Oregon’s land use laws, planning goals and guidelines. • Both proposals involve con- structing and operating dangerous facilities on unstable soils in Ore- gon’s infamous subduction earth- quake and tsunami zone. Oregon should reject the proposals to con- struct high-pressure, nonodorized gas pipelines through steep, erosive Coast Range soils, in our often inaccessible forests and mountains. Please support our commit- ment to a thriving sustainable Ore- gon economy — one that relies on fair treatment for Oregon landown- ers, protection for our scenic estuar- ies, and the ongoing cultivation of VXVWDLQDEOH ¿VKLQJ DQG VKHOO¿VKLQJ industries. Finally, please support the thou- sands of Oregonians who have been devoting time, talent, money, and heart to stop these proposals since 2004, almost 12 years. As FERC Commissioner Spitzer said in 2008, ³VLQFHQR/1*IDFLOLW\KDV been built over opposition from the local community.” We are counting on you to use your authority to deny LNG export proposals in Oregon. Please let us know how we can help you do the right thing. It’s time to stop these proposals and put Ore- gon back on track to lead our coun- try into a resilient, sustainable future. ists with a large role in mak- ing certain the public knows what civil servants are doing and saying. Inconvenience and expense are never valid excuses when an agency fails to live up Police disappoint tor, and someone to look up to when I believe her experience and pro- to fundamental expectations. fessionalism is what Clatsop County arly one morning recently, I con- QHHGLQJDSRVLWLYHLQÀXHQFH Without a doubt, I know that needs for a Circuit Court judge. tacted the police to report an ille- The rise of email — and a gally parked vehicle blocking my David will go above and Join me in voting for Dawn trend of government employees neighbor’s private driveway. The beyond Goldthorpe for Clatsop County. He will McIntosh. and elected leaders using per- police informed me that they can only ¿JKWDJDLQVWDOORGGVDQGZLOOGHOLYHU KERRI WHITTEN respond to this if the property owner justice professionally and equipped HOAGLAND sonal accounts to conduct what submits the report. with care for what is best for our Astoria is supposed to be public business Now if I understand this pol- community. By electing David Goldthorpe, — makes it particularly import- icy correctly, as a concerned citizen who witnessed a violation, the police we can expect to see a brighter future Give old papers ant that transparency laws keep won’t respond unless I’m the vic- for Clatsop County for generations to o you purchase or subscribe to up with changing technology. It tim. This policy is interesting. Does it come. The Daily Astorian, Columbia apply to all crimes or violations? SHAYLYN Press, Seaside Signal, The Orego- LVUHDVRQDEOHWRUHTXLUHRI¿FLDOV CONNELLY-FRENCH nian, or any other newspaper? Do you JOHN SIRI to promptly submit such emails Warrenton shop at or donate goods to the War- Astoria renton Goodwill? If so, after reading IRURI¿FLDODUFKLYLQJ your paper, instead of putting it into Beyond the issue of govern- Elect Goldthorpe McIntosh for judge the recycling or garbage, put it into a ment documents in all formats, hen I moved to Clatsop County, am supporting Dawn McIntosh for bag or box and give it to Goodwill the I had a lot of odds against me, Circuit Court judge. I am a retired next time you go. some public entities in Oregon They always have a need for and at times I could have sworn that I 30-year employee of Clatsop County routinely shut the press and would never catch a break. courts. I have had the experience of unsoiled newspaper with which to Then I met David Goldthorpe, working with all three candidates, wrap breakable purchases. The only public out of meetings, or fail way they get the paper is if you give it ZKR FKDQJHG P\ OLIH LQGH¿QLWHO\ and I have respect for all of them. to publicize them. This is never , H[SHULHQFHG ¿UVWKDQG ZKDW LW¶V I feel Dawn McIntosh is the best to them. They do not get it from any- acceptable. OLNHWRKDYH'DYLG*ROGWKRUSH¿JKW candidate. She has the experience, where else, and are not given money Oregon prides itself on for me and feel undeserving of it. I dedication and knowledge needed E\ WKH FRUSRUDWH RI¿FH WR SXUFKDVH H[SHULHQFHG ¿UVWKDQG ZKDW KLV SUR- to be a fair and impartial judge. I paper, so they run out sometimes. It strong adherence to democratic fessionalism and public service con- have witnessed her abilities both as doesn’t cost you anything, and I bet a prosecutor in the district attorney’s you get a big smile and thank you to principles. Our leaders must do sisted of. I was honored to arrive to the other RI¿FH DQG LQ SULYDWH SUDFWLFH 'DZQ brighten your day. much better at living up to these side of my endeavors and have the is always prepared for her cases, and DIANA TALARSKY blessing of calling him a friend, men- works very hard to present the facts. Warrenton aspirations. Open forum E D W I
