OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Port right to exit
Tongue Point
P
ort of Astoria commissioners took the right steps with
a “win-win” proposal to begin the process of walking
away from an unprofitable lease at North Tongue Point.
Commissioners voted 3-0 with one abstention on Tuesday
to send a letter asking the Washington Development Co. to ter-
minate the Port’s remaining lease and allow Hyak Maritime,
a tug- and barge-builder, to negotiate to buy the former World
War II-era U.S. Navy base.
Terminating the lease would create a “win-win” scenario
for the Port, Washington Development, Hyak and the com-
munity. If Washington Development accepts the proposal —
and all indications are it will — the Port will be able to walk
away from an unprofitable lease that runs into 2019 and is cost-
ing taxpayers an estimated $250,000 a year with little hope
of reversing that long-term trend. For its part, Washington
Development will be able to sell a property it has wanted to
divest. Hyak, meanwhile, will get land that over time will
allow it to create a “full-service marine construction and repair
facility that services the commercial fishing fleets and com-
mercial tug and barge fleets,” according to Robert Down, its
CEO and co-owner. The North Coast will benefit through fam-
ily-wage jobs the deal would create and public land that would
be returned to the tax rolls through additional development. It
also benefits the region by attracting a company that can pro-
vide vital services for the maritime industry.
Close relationship
At Tuesday’s meeting, Dorn shared his company’s plans and
described its close relationship with shipbuilder and Port tenant
WCT Marine.
Hyak, registered in Delaware, builds and charters tugs and
barges for operating companies and has been looking to cre-
ate a shipyard, he said. He added that he has known WCT
Marine’s Willie Toristoja for about 20 years and has been
impressed with the marine contractor’s growth, including buy-
ing out next-door neighbor J&H Boatworks.
Commissioner James Campbell, who operates Campbell
Marine Towing and Construction and was a former Port tenant,
said he has seen numerous failed attempts over the past 55
years to develop the property. Campbell was once stationed at
Tongue Point while in the Navy. “What they’re proposing here
is a perfect fit for the start of an industrial park,” he said.
The property includes two large seaplane hangars, about 30
acres of paved land and five dilapidated finger piers fronting a
channel of the Columbia River. It is backed by a derelict rail
spur owned by Portland & Western Railroad.
Tongue Point advocates, including Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger, a former longshoreman, have been staunch support-
ers of pushing the Port to acquire the property with the hope of
turning it into a cargo terminal. Hunsiger, who abstained from
voting, said “I don’t understand the Port giving up its future.”
He called for alternatives such as negotiating a long-term sub-
lease with Hyak or allowing other people to come forth with
proposals.
Reality test
But those alternatives and that vision for Tongue Point are
unlikely when they are put to the reality test.
The enormous costs of upgrading Tongue Point’s infra-
structure to attract tenants and then sublease are prohibitive
and make that type of development unrealistic, Port Executive
Director Jim Knight said. In the first eight years of the 10-year
lease, the Port entertained a parade of development propos-
als and none came even close to panning out, Knight said. The
Port’s position as an economic generator also does not necessi-
tate the agency owning North Tongue Point, he added.
Campbell and Knight are right, and if this deal does close,
it’s certainly a win for the Port and the region.
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Wash-
ington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202-
225-0855. Fax 202-225-9497.
District office: 12725 SW Mil-
likan Way, Suite 220, Beaver-
ton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-
6010. Fax 503-326-5066. Web:
bonamici.house. gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D):
313 Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone:
202-224-3753. Web: www.merk-
ley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
221 Dirksen Senate Office Build-
ing, Washington, D.C., 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.
wyden.senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court Street
N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301.
Phone: 503-986-1431. Web:
www.leg.state.or.us/witt/ Email:
rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone
(D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-
986-1432. Email: rep.deborah
boone@state.or.us District office:
P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR
97110. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Web: www.leg.state.or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy John-
son (D): State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem,
OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-
1716. Email: sen.betsy johnson@
state.or.us Web: www.betsyjohn-
son.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056.
Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-
543-5296. Astoria office phone:
503-338-1280.
Climate shifts aren’t
limited to the weather
By THOMAS FRIEDMAN
New York Times News Service
I
have a simple view of governing
today: We are in the middle
of not one but three climate
changes at once to
which government
must help citizens
respond — and
Donald Trump
doesn’t have a clue
and China does.
Here is what I mean: We are
in the middle of a change in the
climate of the climate. We are going
from “later” to “now.” In the past
you could fix any climate/environ-
mental problem later or now. But
today later is officially over. Later
will be too late. At some point, the
deforestation of the Amazon is not
reversible.
We are in the middle of a change
in the “climate” of globalization. We
are going from an interconnected
world to an interdependent one, and
in such a world your friends can
hurt you faster than your enemies:
Think what happens if Mexico’s
economy fails. And your rivals’
falling becomes more dangerous
than your rivals’ rising: We will be
hurt a lot more by China’s economy
tanking than its putting tanks on
islands in the South China Sea.
And lastly we’re in the middle
of a change in the “climate” of
technology. We’re moving into a
world where machines and software
can analyze (see patterns that were
always hidden before); optimize
(tell a plane which altitude to fly
each mile to get the best fuel effi-
ciency); prophesize (tell you when
your elevator will break and fix it
before it does); customize (tailor
any product or service for you
alone) and digitize and automate
just about any job. This is trans-
forming every industry.
Governing today is all about
how you prepare your society to
get the most out of these three
climate changes and cushion the
worst. Sadly, that’s not our society’s
priority right now. In the age of
Trump we are treating governing as
entertainment.
Some conservatives argue that’s
fine. The less D.C. does, the better.
Let the market rule. I disagree. What
actually made America great was a
government that prepared the right
soil in education, regulation, immi-
gration, research and infrastructure,
and a dynamic private sector that
grew all kinds of flowers in that soil.
Which brings me to China.
China takes governing seriously —
in a cruel way and in an impressive
way. Its leaders wake up every
morning and ask themselves two
questions. First, how do we stay in
power? Their answer, which I find
reprehensible, is: We’ll use technol-
ogy to repress our people. I think
in the long run depriving China’s
people of freedom, a basic human
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump listens in the Roosevelt Room of the White
House on Wednesday.
right, will undermine their ability to
realize their full potential.
But it has worked better than
expected, up to now, because
China’s leaders are just as focused
on asking a second question: What
world are we living in? Which leads
to: What are the biggest forces shap-
ing this world? And what kind of
national strategy do we need so our
people can get the most out of these
forces and cushion the worst?
When the pace
of change
accelerates
in climate,
technology and
globalization
all at once,
small errors
in leadership
navigation
can have huge
consequences.
They know we’re in the midst
of these three climate changes
and have formulated a strategy —
“Made in China 2025” — to thrive
within it. It’s a plan for building
the infrastructure, investments,
education and regulations that will
enable Chinese companies to lead
in supercomputing, new materials,
computer-controlled machine
tools, industrial robotics, space and
aviation equipment — including
drones — clean cars, clean energy,
biomedicine and next-gen medical
devices.
Only time will tell how much
what China has wrong about gov-
erning will undermine what it has
right.
By contrast, Trump hasn’t even
named a science adviser. He pulled
out of the Paris climate accord
without any input from scientists,
and he proposed a budget for fiscal
2018 that eliminated the Department
of Energy’s innovation lab (the
“Advanced Research Projects
Agency — Energy”) and slashed
funding for all of our key national
science and medical labs, which
provide the basic research for the
very next-gen technologies in which
China is now massively investing.
He’s spending the money instead
on a wall against Mexico. Is there
anything more stupid?
And then you watch the health
care debate. And then you realize
that in addition to the executive
branch, one of our two parties has
gone nuts. For seven years the GOP
made replacing Obamacare, which
needs improving, its top goal, and
when it finally controlled all the
levers of power, it was clear that it
had done no homework on a better
plan or built any intraparty consen-
sus for it. It was all a fraud.
And then you look at all the
knife fights between rival Trump
aides and you realize that none of
these fights were over how to thrive
in a world challenged by these three
climate changes. They were all
about who could get closest to and
flatter our Dear Leader most. But
our Dear Leader — as we saw in the
health care debate — has done no
homework on the future, either. He’s
been too busy promising to restore
the past.
This is so dangerous. When
the pace of change accelerates in
climate, technology and global-
ization all at once, small errors in
leadership navigation can have huge
consequences. It’s like a 747 pilot
who enters the wrong navigational
coordinates. You can find yourself
so far off course that the pain of
getting back will be staggering.
We have such a pilot. It is time
for the adult Republicans and
Democrats in Congress to come
together and take the helm.
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