WEEKEND
2018 ASTORIA REGATTA MARKS 124th SEASON COAST
INSIDE
146TH YEAR, NO. 24
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018
Log
fight
ends
at Port
Lawsuits after a
partnership soured
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A multiyear legal battle between
Astoria Forest Products and Westerlund
Log Handlers over log exports at the Port
of Astoria has been settled.
The U.S. District Court in Port-
land posted a notice online that lawyers
for the two sides had reached a settle-
ment, giving the parties 60 days to rein-
state the lawsuit before the dismissal
becomes final. Lawyers for the compa-
nies could not immediately be reached
for comment.
Westerlund, owned by David West-
erlund and Roger Nance, began export-
ing logs to Asia from the Port in 2010.
State-owned China National Build-
ing Materials Corp. bought much of the
timber and loaned Westerlund money
for equipment. By 2014, the two sides
were embroiled in lawsuits, with China
National putting liens on Westerlund Log
Handlers’ equipment.
Dennis Murphy, the former co-owner
of Eugene-based Murphy Timber Co.,
stepped in, allegedly paying more than
$2.5 million to settle the case and release
the liens on the equipment. His com-
pany, Astoria Forest Products, signed a
contract for Westerlund Log Handlers
to handle logs procured by Murphy for
export.
But the partnership soured and the
two companies filed dueling lawsuits
against each other.
Westerlund and Nance, who was later
removed from the lawsuit, claimed they
were unfairly pushed out of the partner-
ship and a profit-sharing agreement. The
Murphy parties claimed they had cov-
ered the expenses of Westerlund Log
Handlers, whose lease was later termi-
nated and transferred to Astoria Forest
Products in exchange for past-due bills
being paid off.
Astoria Forest Products has since
developed Pier 3 into a log-processing
yard, with exports done from Pier 1. The
company was recently awarded Clat-
sop Economic Development Resources’
economic impact award, five years after
Westerlund Log Handlers received the
group’s job creation award.
The details of the settlement, and of
Nance’s earlier removal from the suit,
have been kept confidential.
Westerlund and Nance had origi-
nally sought at least $30 million each for
lost business assets, opportunities, com-
pensation and profits; $1 million each
for emotional distress; and $10 million
for Westerlund Log Handlers from the
log-handling agreement.
Murphy had sought $1.5 million in
mitigation damages from Westerlund,
claiming David Westerlund was also per-
sonally liable for the damages as a guar-
antor of the log-handling contract.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Kerry Lyons and Marc Ward sift sand at Cannon Beach to remove plastic debris. BELOW: Marc Ward, of Sea
Turtles Forever, lets freshly cleaned sand fall through his fingers at Cannon Beach.
‘IT’S NOT A
GETTING
BETTER’
Environmental group to use North Coast microplastics
data to push for water quality standards
‘BEACH CLEANUPS ARE GREAT, BUT
ULTIMATELY WE HAVE TO FIGURE
OUT HOW TO STOP (PLASTIC) BEFORE
IT GETS INTO THE WATERWAY.’
Blake Kopcho | oceans campaigner for the Center
for Biological Diversity, a West Coast nonprofit
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
fter years of surveys and beach
cleanups, microplastics data col-
lected at Fort Stevens State Park
and Crescent Beach near Ecola State Park
will be at the forefront of an environmen-
tal group’s push to influence state policy.
The Center for Biological Diversity, a
West Coast nonprofit, is submitting data
from several Oregon beaches to the state
Department of Environmental Quality
in an attempt to list the nearby water as
contaminated.
“If the beach is contaminated, there’s
good reason to believe the water nearby
is, too,” said Blake Kopcho, the center’s
oceans campaigner.
Doing so would empower the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to
require the state to find ways to keep
the water cleaner. The center ultimately
hopes this will lead to reduction efforts to
keep plastics out of the ocean.
“The goal is to get action to get to the
source,” Kopcho said. “Beach cleanups
are great, but ultimately we have to fig-
ure out how to stop (plastic) before it gets
into the waterway.”
No states on the West Coast have
water quality standards that directly
address microplastics, which studies
show bioaccumulate carcinogenic com-
pounds that can be released into the water
and air.
Microplastics are detrimental because
they can transfer into the marine food
chain and eventually into people.
“There isn’t a narrative for microplas-
tics. States set limits on other contami-
nants, like mercury, for example. If levels
are exceeded, the state has to find a way
to mitigate,” Kopcho said. “There are no
water quality standards that say ‘there
can’t be this level of microplastics in the
water.’”
Finding solutions
For better or worse, the North Coast
has gained a reputation for a micro-
plastics problem, as well as solutions to
address it.
See MICROPLASTICS, Page 7A
Tobacco sales to underage smokers still widespread
New state law
raised smoking
age to 21
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — State public
health officials say the rate of
tobacco sales to underage con-
sumers has increased slightly
since the state raised the min-
imum age to buy tobacco from
18 to 21.
The Oregon Legislature
passed the new minimum age
law, known as Tobacco 21,
last year. It went into effect in
January, making Oregon the
fifth state in the nation to do
so.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity says that in the first six
months of the year, 18 percent
of attempts to buy tobacco
products by minors — coordi-
nated by the agency as inspec-
tions — were successful.
The rate of underage sales
during similar inspections last
year was 16 percent, when the
minimum age was still 18, the
agency’s public health division
says.
“Selling tobacco to people
under 21 years old is illegal,
but these data show that nearly
1 out of every 5 tobacco retail-
ers in Oregon still sells to peo-
ple under the legal age,” Tom
Jeanne, deputy state health
officer, said in a prepared
statement. “Tobacco remains
the No. 1 preventable cause of
death and disability and kills
nearly 8,000 people in Oregon
each year.”
Tobacco use costs the state
$2.5 billion in medical costs
and lost productivity, state
health officials say.
Retailers that sell tobacco
to customers younger than 21
face a fine of up to $500 for
the first and second violations
of the law, and a fine of up to
$1,000 for the third and subse-
quent violations.
See TOBACCO, Page 7A
EO Media Group
The Oregon Health Authority says that in the first six
months of 2018, 18 percent of attempts to buy tobacco
products by minors — coordinated by the agency as in-
spections — were successful.