A7
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2020
Facebook cable plan hits resistance on coast
Tierra del Mar
takes on tech titan
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
TIERRA DEL MAR — A
battle playing out in Oregon
is pitting residents of a tiny
coastal town with no stop-
lights or cellphone service
against one of the world’s
biggest tech companies.
Locals in Tierra del Mar
are trying to stop Facebook
from using property in their
quiet community to build a
landing spot for an undersea
cable connecting America
with Asia.
Representatives of the
social media giant say
Tierra del Mar is one of
the few places on the West
Coast suitable for the ultra-
high-speed cable. It will
link multiple U.S. locations,
including Facebook’s huge
data center in Prineville,
with Japan and the Philip-
pines, and will help meet an
increasing demand for inter-
net services worldwide, the
company says.
But locals say vibra-
tions from drilling to bring
the submarine cable ashore
in this village of some 200
houses might damage home
foundations and septic sys-
tems. They also point out
that Tierra del Mar, arrayed
along a pristine beach, is
zoned residential. If the
project is allowed, they say,
more commercial ventures
will come calling.
“This is a huge prece-
dent. Once you open the
shores to these companies
coming anywhere they want
to, Oregon’s coast is pretty
much wide open season,”
resident Patricia Rogers told
county offi cials in written
remarks.
The Tillamook County
Board of Commission-
ers voted 2-1 in favor of
the project after hearing
testimony.
“Once it is done, it is my
hope that the community
is not going to even know
it is there,” Commissioner
David Yamamoto said. He
noted the project is similar
to other uses, like electri-
cal facilities, that have been
permitted.
Residents plan to appeal
to a state board.
Tierra del Mar is home to
a mix of professionals and
retirees who share a love of
the unspoiled beach that is
fringed with coastal pines
and the deer, bald eagles and
rare seabirds that inhabit the
area. It has two businesses,
a rock shop and antiques
store, and no cell service,
apparently because provid-
ers don’t consider it profi t-
able enough.
In recent years, locals
fi ercely opposed a plan
by investors to turn a for-
mer farm just to the north
into a high-end golf course.
The site ultimately opened
instead as a state nature area.
Beachfront property
Residents’
attention
turned to Facebook in 2018
when a subsidiary bought
the empty lot for the cable
landing from former NFL
Andrew Selsky/AP Photo
The oceanfront lot bought by Facebook for the site of its proposed landing spot for a submarine fi ber-optic cable that would connect America with Asia is seen
in Tierra del Mar.
and University of Ore-
gon quarterback Joey Har-
rington. County records
show Edge Cable Holdings,
USA, paid him $495,000
for the beachfront property,
about the size of 10 tennis
courts.
Locals worry the project
will pave the way for cell
towers, power junctions and
additional cable sites.
Rogers, who owns a
house adjacent to the Face-
book lot, stood on the beach
in stormy weather Wednes-
day as waves charged the
shore. A sign apparently
toppled by the high tide said
“Keep Facebook off our
beach.”
She pointed to two other
empty lots nearby.
“If
Facebook
gets
(approval), well, two com-
panies will get those, and
we’ll have three of these
drilling projects within a
half a mile of each other,”
Rogers said.
Others feel the tech titan
is trying to steamroller resi-
dents’ wishes.
“I am extremely angry
about and opposed to the
cavalier attitude that an
amoral multinational, mul-
tibillion dollar corporation
has taken to this tiny resi-
dentially zoned portion of
Tillamook County,” resident
Carol J. Griffi th said in writ-
ten comments.
Facebook representatives
told county offi cials the hor-
izontal directional drilling
will last about a month, and
all that will remain is a man-
hole cover. They said they
carefully chose the Tierra
del Mar site, avoiding areas
where fi shermen trawl and
keeping to places that allow
SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
burial of the cable so nets
won’t snag on it. They also
had to skirt undersea can-
yons and federally protected
fi sh habitat.
The company declined
to provide other details
about the project but told
The Associated Press in a
statement: “With more peo-
ple using the internet, exist-
ing internet infrastructure
is struggling to handle all
the traffi c. These new cable
projects help people connect
more effi ciently.”
Internet use by the
world’s population has
reached 4.1 billion people,
or 54% of the global pop-
ulation, up from 1.6 billion
people in 2008, according to
the International Telecom-
munication Union, a United
Nations agency.
Almost all of that mes-
saging and internet brows-
ing goes through fi ber-optic
cables, not satellites in the
heavens, said Kristian Niel-
sen, vice president of Sub-
marine Telecoms Forum,
a Virginia-based trade
magazine.
When data, including
phone calls, goes intercon-
tinental, say between North
America, Europe and Asia,
undersea fi ber-optic cables
are used 99% of the time,
Nielsen said in a telephone
interview.
“The reality is that the
cloud is actually under the
ocean,” said Nicole Starosi-
elski, associate professor of
media, culture and commu-
nication at New York Uni-
versity. “Files in the cloud
are typically housed in a
data center. But it doesn’t
become a cloud unless there
are cables.”
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Landing points
Undersea cables have
around 800 landing points
around the world, accord-
ing to Submarine Telecoms
Forum. Nielsen said opposi-
tion to them is rare.
The one Facebook wants
to put in Tierra del Mar
splits off in the Pacifi c
Ocean from the Jupiter
cable that Facebook, Ama-
zon and telecommuni-
cations companies from
Japan, the Philippines and
Hong Kong are invested in.
The main trunk would land
in Hermosa Beach, Califor-
nia, with the Oregon branch
solely owned by Facebook.
Under the ground, the
fi ber-optic cable would con-
nect with another one run-
ning down the coast 4 miles
to a cable landing site in a
bigger coastal town, Pacifi c
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
REGIONAL FORECAST
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
48 42
A couple of
showers
47 36
41 29
30 27
30 27
29 29
Very cold with Very cold with
Rain and snow
Snow showers
Windy with rain
snow
snow
showers
38 37
A chance for
snow
Aberdeen
Olympia
46/41
46/39
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Thursday
Tonight’s Sky: January full moon
(11:21 a.m.) is known as the Wolf
Moon or Old Moon.
Astoria / Port Docks
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 45/31
Normal high/low .................. 49/38
Record high .................. 60 in 1941
Record low .................... 15 in 1974
Precipitation
Thursday ................................. 0.18”
Month to date ........................ 5.48”
Normal month to date ......... 3.14”
Year to date ............................ 5.48”
Normal year to date ............. 3.14”
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Time
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
2:03 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
7.7 7:25 a.m. 3.4
9.7 8:19 p.m. -1.1
Cape Disappointment
1:36 a.m. 7.7 6:27 a.m. 3.7
12:38 p.m. 9.7 7:21 p.m. -1.4
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 7:56 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 4:51 p.m.
Moonrise today ............. 6:05 p.m.
Moonset today ............... 8:52 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
1:49 a.m. 7.8 6:50 a.m. 3.4
12:48 p.m. 9.9 7:41 p.m. -1.5
Warrenton
1:58 a.m. 8.1 7:09 a.m. 3.5
12:55 p.m. 10.0 8:03 p.m. -1.0
Knappa
2:40 a.m.
1:37 p.m.
Depoe Bay
Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 Feb 1
7.9 8:26 a.m. 3.0
9.9 9:20 p.m. -1.0
12:51 a.m. 7.7 5:56 a.m. 3.7
11:49 a.m. 9.9 6:52 p.m. -1.7
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
71/49/t
63/55/c
34/18/i
45/33/pc
44/23/pc
80/72/r
59/37/pc
64/44/s
83/75/pc
64/58/c
62/38/s
57/44/pc
68/61/c
67/55/pc
65/41/r
28/19/pc
61/40/pc
43/22/pc
82/73/c
64/47/pc
65/44/s
83/74/pc
68/44/r
63/41/s
55/47/pc
71/47/r
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
37/30
Kennewick Walla Walla
45/36 Lewiston
47/39
44/33
Hermiston
The Dalles 49/40
Enterprise
Pendleton 37/26
45/37
48/38
La Grande
39/30
48/42
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Hi/Lo/W
Pullman
45/28
45/41
Salem
37/28
Yakima 42/34
Longview
48/42 Portland
48/42
Spokane
39/26
45/38
45/38
Astoria
ALMANAC
City, where four cables are
already in place. Facebook
says that site cannot fi t a
fi fth cable and cited a risk of
crossing cables.
But
residents
are
dubious.
“I don’t know why they
chose this place when the
could have taken the cable
down to Pacifi c City,” said
Lee King, owner of the Pier
Avenue Rock Shop.
Corvallis
48/40
Albany
46/41
John Day
Eugene
Bend
48/41
40/30
39/30
Ontario
47/31
Caldwell
Burns
39/27
46/33
Medford
44/35
Klamath Falls
38/26
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
38/26/sn
48/40/r
48/43/sh
46/41/sh
48/42/sh
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
39/24/sn
49/41/sh
46/37/r
47/36/r
48/38/r
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
50/43/sh
46/41/sh
48/43/sh
47/41/sh
46/41/sh
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
50/41/r
48/39/r
46/36/r
47/37/r
47/35/r