7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017
Tankers: River mile 39 riskiest place for ships Airbnb: ‘We’ve got to
curtail this a little bit’
Continued from Page 1A
Nearly 40 percent of the
risk of spills came from ves-
sels grounding while powered,
while one-third of the risk was
from collisions with other ves-
sels. Tankers are at greater risk
than articulated tug barges,
which are more likely to have
redundant propulsion and
steering systems that kick in
after a failure.
The riskiest place for ships
was at river mile 39, near
Skamokawa, Washington, and
the Julia Butler Hansen Ref-
uge for the Columbian White-
tailed Deer, because of a turn
in the channel and rock haz-
ards. Several groundings have
occurred nearby in recent
years, most recently the meth-
anol and glycol tanker Argent
Cosmos in July. Kirk said the
study looked at stationing a
tug nearby but found it not to
be cost-effective.
“Even though it appears as
a spike in the data, we’re still
talking about small numbers,”
Kirk said. “The risk of any-
thing bad happening on any
transit is very low.”
Given the relatively low
amount of oil traffic on the
river, the work group put-
ting together the report rec-
ommended following existing
safety rules.
“The big things coming out
of the study that there was a lot
more safety collaboration than
Ecology and legislators were
aware of,” said Dan Jordan, a
Columbia River Bar Pilot who
helps guide ships over the bar
Continued from Page 1A
Washington Department of Ecology
The last major cargo spill on the Columbia River was when the SS Mobil Oil ran aground
near Warrior Rock in Columbia County, spilling 200,000 gallons of heavy oil.
and helped in the study.
If traffic increases from a
new terminal, however, the
report recommends develop-
ing new policies to recom-
mend a tug tethered to oil-
laden tankers. Oil tankers do
not currently require a tug
unless there’s a mechanical or
other safety issue, said Marine
Science Technician Jeffrey
Deronde with the Coast Guard.
Barges towed by tugs often
require a smaller “tag” tug at
the stern to assist with steering.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy was directed to produce
the report after the passage by
the Washington Legislature of
the Oil Transportation Safety
Act of 2015. The department
contracted risk management
consultant DNV GL to con-
duct the study.
Much of the work was
through the Lower Columbia
Region Harbor Safety Com-
mittee, an industry stakeholder
group focused on safe and effi-
cient river transit. The group
includes the Coast Guard,
regional ports, local govern-
ments, Columbia River Pilots,
Columbia River Bar Pilots,
shippers, oil spill responders,
bulk terminal operators, ship-
ping agents, the Merchants
Exchange of Portland and
other stakeholders in the mar-
itime industry.
“We wouldn’t wait until
those tankers actually showed
up on the river,” Kirk said. “We
think that starting work on that
guideline sooner rather than
later will help people under-
stand how to best escort tank-
ers on the Columbia River.”
hosts in 2016, up from the
$1,400 the year before. But it
is nowhere near what the city
should be collecting, Finance
Director Susan Brooks said.
“When we were speaking
with Airbnb they indicated
that based on the sales that
were booking through their
site in 2015, they would
have collected and turned
over about $20,000 worth of
transient room tax versus the
$1,400 that we saw and that
was just Airbnb,” Brooks
said.
A list of properties
offering Airbnb-type or
homestay rentals, generated
by Councilor Cindy Price
and amended by staff, lists
more than 60 properties,
only some of which appear
to be in compliance with
city codes. It is by no means
an exhaustive list, Ferber
said.
Though Ferber and the
city’s building codes per-
mit technician, Lisa Fergu-
son, have been working with
Clatsop County to further
identify illegal rentals and
bring them into compliance,
the city does not have a clear
sense of how many Airb-
nb-type rentals are active.
“It’s a landscape that
changes daily,” Brooks said.
Designing it
Price and Councilor Zetty
Nemlowill
commended
the staff for their work, but
argued that Astoria should
also consider capping the
number of short-term rent-
als allowed, saying such
rentals exacerbate a short-
age of workforce housing.
Price suggested also put-
ting a limit on the number
of nights people could rent
rooms out to visitors, saying
it would discourage people
from buying second homes
only to rent them out as
vacation rentals year-round.
Mayor Arline LaMear
and Councilor Bruce Jones
were not convinced a cap
is necessary, or that people
who rent out on a short-term
basis would ever be inter-
ested in opening those same
rooms to long-term renters.
Jones suggested implement-
ing staff’s suggestions and
taking additional steps as
needed.
Councilor Tom Brown-
son challenged the idea that
Airbnb is as negative a force
as Nemlowill and Price indi-
cated. He said he was open
to talking about a cap, but
agreed with Jones that it
would be best to implement
a permit first and wait to see
what more is needed.
The city is lucky Airb-
nb-type rentals are a rela-
tively new phenomenon, he
said.
“We’ve got to curtail this
a little bit and control it a lit-
tle bit … and design it for
our community,” he said.
Davis: Confident he will be able to work with current commissioners
Continued from Page 1A
Davis touts his data ana-
lyst experience as a signal that
he can reach compromises. In
a county that depends largely
on timber revenue, for instance,
commissioners must be able
to make decisions that balance
economic development and
environmental conservation, he
said.
“I fall maybe on the envi-
ronmental end of the spectrum,
but somewhere in the middle,”
Davis said. “I think I’ve taken
people’s thoughts and opinions
and information from research
and synthesized it into some-
thing that’s good and meaning-
ful to people.”
In May, Davis lost a close
race for an Astoria School
Board to incumbent Jea-
nette Sampson. The issue that
prompted that run — as well
as his upcoming commissioner
bid — is an ongoing county
Homespun
Quilts
and Yarn
study examining the feasibil-
ity of privately funded univer-
sal preschool. Commissioners
approved the study in March.
“I have concerns about the
wisdom of using private fund-
ing techniques to create these
public programs that may well
be needed,” Davis said.
A general supporter of uni-
versal preschool, Davis pro-
poses letting residents decide
through a bond measure.
Though taxpayers would pay,
the measure would still have a
solid chance of passing, he said.
“People want preschool
programs in their community,”
Davis said. “My suspicion is
that school funding measures
are one of the easier sells as far
as bond measures go.”
Davis also may push for
commissioners to be more
involved in policymaking
rather than delegating author-
ity to the county manager, he
said. In what has become a
Forsythe
¯ a
Available Again
contentious county issue, Com-
missioners Lianne Thompson
and Kathleen Sullivan have
expressed similar sentiments
this year, while others on the
board have pointed to limita-
tions to their roles under the
county charter.
“I find myself wanting to
see them making policy that
more actively, sort of, sets an
agenda,” Davis said. “Even
within the model that Clat-
sop County has, there might be
room for a more active role for
the commission to be setting
the agenda.”
Davis is confident, though,
that he will be able to work pro-
ductively with any of the cur-
rent commissioners.
“I agree with 90 percent of
what they decide to do,” Davis
said, “and the few things I
maybe don’t agree with at first
blush, I’ve got to think there’s
more information I don’t
know.”
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