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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2017
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
Water
under
the bridge
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
in the Coast Range traffic was hampered by packed snow and
ice.
State police in Astoria were advising callers to use chains
but to stay home “unless they must” cross the mountains.
Major petroleum companies have all but given
up a multi-million dollar exploration effort for oil
off the Oregon coast, it was learned today.
State Land Board Director Dale Mallicoat said
the companies have dropped all exploratory leases
for state-owned off-shore tracts and have kept only
eight of the 101 federally-owned submerged lands
leased in 1964. Ten companies paid $35 million for
oil and gas exploration rights on nearly 600,000
acres of federal land off the coasts of Oregon and
Washington.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2007
Mayor Willis Van Dusen staged a celebration at Astoria
City Hall Monday night — recognizing the dozens of people
whose efforts helped Astoria weather the devastating storm
that walloped the North Coast exactly two weeks earlier.
The crowd packed the small Council Chambers.
Invited to share in celebration and address the city Council
were Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin and representatives
from the U.S. Army National Guard, Oregon Air National
Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, Tongue Point Job Corps Center,
Pacific Power, amateur radio organizations, the Red Cross and
radio stations KMUN and KAST.
City employees also received kudos.
“All of us have just experienced history in this commu-
nity,” Van Dusen told the overflow audience, which required
two extra rows of chairs to be hastily brought in. “Words are
not going to be adequate to thank some of the heroes and hard-
working team members who helped us get through these past
unforgettable days.”
The howling storms that knocked out power
along the Washington and northern Oregon coasts
also brought a windfall, you might say, Grays Har-
bor Paper LP.
Cleanup since the storms hit at the start of the
month has yielded a bumper crop of blown down
trees and tree limbs to burn as “hog fuel” to pro-
duce steam for generating electricity at the mill in
Hoquiam, company president Bill Quigg says.
The holiday season seems to have sneaked up on us.
That’s understandable, when considering that people’s
minds have been on very serious matters following the Dec.
2-3 storms.
But it’s probably also a combination of warm evenings —
it was 50 degrees in Astoria Wednesday evening — radio sta-
tions having to act as emergency broadcasters, interrupting
Perhaps the last freighter to load lumber in Westport for
some time to come will be the vessel Yorkmar, due tonight
at the Port of Astoria terminals to begin loading cargo that
will be completed in Westport. The lumber is destined for east
coast ports.
75 years ago — 1942
efforts to play holiday music, and a number of people either not
being able or choosing not to display Christmas lights this year.
It wasn’t that long ago that anticipation of the holidays
would begin to build when Christmas products began appear-
ing in stores.
Maybe it’s age, but now that holiday products are marketed
long before even Halloween, the marketing doesn’t have the
same effect.
50 years ago - 1967
The Union Oil Tanker Santa Maria was pulled
free from a Columbia River sandbar Monday after
a collision with a lumber laden barge Sunday night
west of Longview.
Earlier, the American freighter Wellesley Victory
and the Indian vessel Gotomu Jayanti collided near
Tongue Point. Both were at Swan Island for repairs.
Snow began sticking on the ground in Astoria and other
low-lying areas of Clatsop County at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, while
The University of Oregon faces off against the
powerful and threatening Portland Boilermaker
team, former all Americans and collegiate stars in
the USO pavilion tonight at 8 o’clock, in the first
game of a double header hoop attraction opening
Astoria’s 1942-43 basketball season. Oregon will
meet the Astoria All-Stars in the pavilion Saturday
night.
Tonight’s game will introduce an expected capac-
ity crowd to one of Oregon’s finest basketball courts.
There will be seating for more than 2000 per-
sons and a top capacity of about 2500, which is
greater than any other pavilion in the state exclud-
ing Eugene’s McArthur Court.
Like the battleship Oregon, the old Smiley-Lampert mill
at Warrenton is playing its part in another war. In 1916 the
Warrenton mill was turning out the spruce for army airplanes.
Now the machinery that turned out the spruce is on its way to
the fighting front in the shape of ammunition in another war.
The wreckers are busy today getting out the scrap metal,
250 tons of it, while incidentally putting the finishing touches
to a community building idea of several Warrenton pioneer
residents.
In the early 1900s the late Dan K. Warreen, father of
George Warren, conceived the deal of organizing a saw mill
company and erecting a mill in Warrenton.
GUEST COLUMN
To pass on Oregon’s
natural resource heritage,
pass Clean Energy Jobs
S
ome of my earliest memories are of my
dad and me exploring, foraging and
hunting throughout Oregon. From stur-
geon fishing on the Columbia River, to razor
clamming in Seaside, and steelhead fishing on
the Nehalem River, the Oregon Coast was a
key location for our adventures.
Now that my dad is gone, I treasure the
memories of our experiences even more.
Continuing to enjoy Oregon through fishing,
crabbing, and hunting — and passing on my
dad’s legacy by teaching my own daughter
these things — helps me hold onto him.
It’s because of the deep sense of place
I feel for Oregon that I am so troubled by
changes I’ve observed in recent years.
Crabbing season has been delayed again for
the third consecutive year,
and Oregon salmon and
steelhead have hit record
low returns. And I can’t tell
you the number of times
I’ve observed a perfectly
full moon on a clear night,
Bryce
with low tides that set the
Baker
stage for perfect razor clam
hunting conditions — yet a
marine toxin has closed the beaches.
Just earlier this year, The Daily Astorian
wrote that researchers believe these beach
closures, due to biotoxins making shellfish
unhealthy to eat, will become a more regular
occurrence. Domoic acid is a naturally
occurring toxin, but its prevalence increases
when the ocean is too warm. In recent years,
it has increased substantially along the Pacific
Coast. Razor clamming throughout the
beaches and bays below Lincoln City is still
closed as of today.
These particular impacts are fueled by
unseasonably warm rivers and oceans, which
are caused, at least in part, by climate change.
Luckily, the Oregon Legislature is working
on a bill that can help to slow the impacts
of climate change, and establish Oregon as
a national leader in the movement to reduce
emissions and transition our state to a clean
energy economy.
Clean Energy Jobs is a policy to cap and
price climate pollution and reinvest proceeds
from that price into Oregon’s clean energy
economy. It’s a flexible, efficient mechanism
for reducing climate pollution at a low cost.
Oregon has been working on varying forms
of legislation to reduce its greenhouse gas
emissions with a limit and price on pollution
Bryce Baker
Fishing the Lewis & Clark River in 2007.
for well over a decade. Clean Energy Jobs is
the final product and it’s ready to be passed in
2018.
Ten states already have successful policies
in place that are similar to Clean Energy
Jobs. California is part of the North American
Carbon Market, and the Canadian provinces
of Quebec and Ontario also have an econo-
my-wide cap and price on climate pollution.
In the Northeast, nine states (soon to be 10
since Virginia plans to sign on) are all part
of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a
cap and trade system for the utility sector. If
passed, we’d be enacting a policy that’s tried-
and-true elsewhere.
Under Clean Energy Jobs, polluters
would pay for every ton of climate pollution
they emit. Proceeds from the cap would be
invested into clean energy projects and jobs,
and a minimum of 35 percent of the proceeds
from the bill would be invested to reduce pol-
lution and climate impacts as experienced by
low-income, communities of color, impacted
workers, and rural communities in Oregon —
communities like Astoria.
Oregon coastal communities stand to
gain a great deal from Clean Energy Jobs,
and equally stand to lose a great deal if we
fail to act on climate change. The health of
our oceans is directly tied to the health of
our communities. We’re already seeing the
impacts of climate change on the Oregon
coast. If we are to pass on Oregon’s natural
resource heritage to our children, as my dad
passed it on to me, the Oregon Legislature
should pass Clean Energy Jobs into law in
2018.
Bryce Baker is an avid outdoorsman
who has spent more than two decades fish-
ing, hunting, and crabbing along the Oregon
Coast and Coastal Range. He lives with his
wife and daughter in Forest Grove.
LETTERS WELCOME
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Send via email to editor@dailyastorian.
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ters, in person at 949 Exchange St. in Astoria
or 1555 North Roosevelt in Seaside, or mail
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ria, OR 97103.
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 439
Cannon House Office Building, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax
202-225-9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil-
likan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005.
Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326-5066. Web:
bonamici.house. gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Sen-
ate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: www.merkley.sen-
ate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirk-
sen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.,
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.
wyden.senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capi-
tol, 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 Johnson (D): State Capi-
tol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301.
Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy
johnson@state.or.us Web: www.betsyjohnson.
com District Office: P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR
97056. Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-
5296. Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.
• Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10
Pier 1 Suite 308, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone:
503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.
com
• Clatsop County Board of Commis-
sioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange
St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone:
503-325-1000.