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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARcH 6, 2019
OPINION
Founded in 1873
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
GUEST COLUMN
Cap-and-trade bill will cost local jobs
A
s the president of the United
Steel Workers, Local Union
1097, I work alongside 600 hard-
working union members at Georgia-Pa-
cific’s Wauna paper mill. We are proud
of what we do, how we do it and why
we do it.
We work in facilities that were green
before being green was cool. Ore-
gon-based mills rely
largely on carbon neu-
tral biomass and hydro-
electric power, are ener-
gy-efficient and operate
with the best-available
control technology. Sim-
ply put, we are lean,
BILL
KERR
mean, paper-making
machines.
However, Oregon’s
proposed cap-and-trade legislation
places hardworking men and women liv-
ing here in Clatsop and Columbia and
counties at a competitive disadvantage.
It will force local mills to secure pulp
from outside the state and remove one of
our few competitive advantages.
It is essential that local mills stay
competitive with those in other states,
and even other countries. Production can
and will shift internally from company
to company. If one mill stops pulp pro-
duction, they will simply shift that work
to a location outside Oregon. The overall
company doesn’t suffer. Instead, it’s the
individual mills that shut down — lead-
ing to job losses and economic peril for
the surrounding communities.
Between our members and additional
150 salaried personnel here at our mill,
$370 million is spent annually on labor
as well as other goods and services crit-
ical to our area. That figure doesn’t even
account for charitable donations and
volunteer work that we do in our com-
munities, including the fact that Wauna
mill employees are the largest contribu-
tors to the local United Way.
A United Steelworkers Union econ-
Wikimedia Commons
The Wauna mill as seen in 2015 from Bradley State Scenic Viewpoint, just west of Westport.
omist has estimated that the total loss
of jobs to our surrounding communi-
ties from the closure of the Wauna paper
mill could be as high as 2,500 due to the
rippling effect of lost revenue by closing
a mill of our size. State and local gov-
ernments can expect losses exceeding
$20 million in decreased revenues from
their tax base — negatively affecting our
schools, public safety and other tax-reli-
ant entities.
What our mill means to this region
isn’t unlike the contribution other mills
make in communities across Ore-
gon. Pulp and paper mills are regularly
among the largest employers in the com-
munities where they operate. Shifting
production from Oregon mills to those
in other states will devastate local econ-
omies and will actually increase global
greenhouse gas emissions. That’s right,
the proposal — as currently drafted —
will cost local jobs and lead to higher
carbon emissions globally.
It’s a lose-lose.
Our neighbors to the south have
already been down this road. No pulping
mills operate in California since enact-
ment of their cap-and-trade legislation.
We know that Oregonians would pre-
fer to buy paper made at Oregon mills,
by Oregon workers, and support their
local economy. Without a local pulp and
paper exemption from the proposed leg-
islation, jobs will shift to mills in other
states and countries that rely on much
more carbon-intensive power sources —
often from fossil fuel resources like coal.
People who work here at Georgia-Pa-
cific’s Wauna mill have tremendous
pride and passion about what we do and
the contributions that we make to our
community. But workers here at our mill
are the ones who lose if pulp and paper
production isn’t exempted from pro-
posed cap and trade legislation.
We applauded the leadership of state
Sen. Betsy Johnson and state Rep. Brad
Witt to protect our jobs and oppose the
cap-and-trade proposal. We urge Gov.
Kate Brown and Rep. Tiffiny Mitch-
ell, as well as the 87 others representing
communities across Oregon, to follow
their lead. As you finalize cap-and-trade
legislation, do what’s right and protect
our environment and protect local jobs.
Bill Kerr is president of the United
Steelworkers, Local Union 1097 and an
employee of Georgia-Pacific’s Wauna
mill in clatskanie.
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2009
Even Betsy Johnson’s usual broad smile held a tinge
of fear at what is ahead for Oregon.
“We are staring down the barrel of a $3 billion
out of balance (budget) for ‘09-11,” the North Coast’s
state senator told an audience in Astoria Sunday
afternoon.
“We are in desperate financial times,” she said, in
answer to a question from Steve Hawks of Warrenton,
who pleaded for support for seniors and disabled. “Prob-
ably no program will be held inviolate in the next round
of cuts.”
Sea lion traps are in place on the Colum-
bia River, and today the states of Oregon and
Washington will begin trapping and possibly
killing animals that follow the spring Chinook
salmon run to the base of Bonneville Dam in
search of an easy meal.
For the sea lions, it could be their last trip up
the river.
“Targeted” California sea lions are those
who have been seen eating salmon at the dam.
Many of the fish are protected by the Endan-
gered Species Act.
The ballot measure allowing physicians to
prescribe lethal medication for terminally ill patients
becomes law Thursday, but Ocean Beach Hospital
and Medical Clinic in Ilwaco will not be participating,
announced Joe DiPalo, chief executive officer of the
hospital.
Initiative 1000, the Washington State Death with Dig-
nity Act, allows patients diagnosed with less than six
months to live to request and self-administer lethal med-
ication prescribed by a physician.
Martin Nygaard’s proposed development
behind the Les Schwab tire center on U.S.
Highway 101 in Warrenton, which has been in
the works for a long time, is picking up speed.
Rumors abound. Some have speculated
it might be a Walmart. But Nygaard has not
revealed the identity of the tenant he has lined
up for the vacant 17.5-acre site.
A return of more than 1 million Columbia River coho
salmon — the largest run since 2001 — is expected to
brighten fishing prospects this year from the coast to the
upper Columbia River.
1969 — A special Astoria Chamber of Commerce committee released a report on alternatives for rerouting Highway 30
in the Astoria area. The committee gave the most favorable rating to Routes A and D. Route A heads west from the John
Day bridge and ties in with Highway 202 and Route D follows the present highway route nearly to Tongue Point; and then
heads southwest up Mill Creek to 202. Both routes would take traffic to west Astoria to provide access to the Youngs Bay
and Astoria bridges. Route B goes southwest and goes into the Walluski Loop Road and then follows 202. Routes C and
C1 follow generally the present Highway 30 route.
50 years ago — 1969
75 years ago — 1944
A state highway department official said
today rerouting Highway 30 south of the Asto-
ria hills would be a major, highly expensive project
and extensive study will be given to all the
alternatives.
Fred Klaboe, assistant state highway engineer,
said by phone from Salem that construction of an
improved Highway 30 south of Astoria might cost
between $750,000 and $1 million a mile. He also said
that if traffic studies show that the large majority of
cars coming into the area on 30 are going to Astoria,
there wouldn’t be much point in routing the highway
around the city.
Approximately 75,000 young Port Orford cedar trees
will be planted by next weekend along the new Wolf
Creek highway throughout the Tillamook burn, so suc-
cessful was the initial planting this weekend by a crew of
50 high school boys.
Despite snow on the ground in some places, the youths
averaged about 400 trees apiece each day, under super-
vision of officials of the state highway commission and
forestry department. The lumber operators of Columbia
and Clatsop counties donated the trees in a move to hide
the ugly scars of the disastrous 1933 fire, which swept
over 300,000 acres.
The trees line the highway in 10 rows on each side for
a distance of nearly 80 feet. About a foot high now, they
will establish roots this winter and begin growing a foot
or two each year thereafter.
The season is so late no more planting will be
attempted now, but more trees will be planted each year
until the burned area is screened. Boys from neighbor-
ing high schools are hired on the work because men are
not available.
Armed with search warrants, state
police, deputy sheriffs and city officers
from Cannon Beach and Seaside raided
four fraternal organizations Monday night,
arrested four persons and confiscated 11 slot
machines.
Targets of the raids were Seaside Moose
lodge, three machines; Seaside American
Legion club, three machines; and Cannon
Beach American Legion club, one machine.
A group of private citizens Monday night launched
a drive to keep a section of the popular Klaskanine
fishing river open to the public by putting up a small
amount of money to “hold” property for sale near the
Klaskanine fish hatchery.
Age records for marriage licenses at the
Cowlitz County auditor’s office were shattered
Monday, when an Astoria couple giving their
ages as 82 and 78 were granted a license.
The groom, Victor Mikkola, who said he was
a retired farmer and former Clatskanie resi-
dent, gave his age as 82, while the bride, Mrs.
Kristian Savolainen, listed her age at 78.