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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2012)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 27, No. 14 THE FREE INDEPENDENT The Voice Voice of of the Upper Nehalem River The River Valley Valley for for Over Over 25 27 years years July 18, 2012 Among the volunteers helping Vernonia School District on moving day were a work crew from South Fork Forest Camp. The Lions Club made lunch for all the volunteers and State Senator Betsy Johnson, flanked by inmates in this picture, served the meal. The work crew is shown above, after lunch, enjoying a visit with dogs Thor and Molly. Grade School Princi- pal Aaron Miller and Superintendent Ken Cox are standing in the rear at the right corner. For more information on the event, see Chalk Talk on page 12. Right; John Dass and Bo Clark, Vernonia High School student volunteers, were setting tem- perature data loggers in Rock Creek as part of a DEQ project on July 5. Photo by Aaron Miller. Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity hold Coal Forum by Jack and Nancy Phillips A proposed coal export ter- minal at the Port of St. Helens was the topic of conversation, July 11, at one of a series of popular Kitchen Table Conver- sations held by Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity (CCCHD), a community service organization. The lively event, held at St. Wenceslas Catholic Church in Scappoose was moderated by CCCHD member David Schaarf. Introductions and welcoming statements were made for par- ticipants from both government and private groups, but there were no representatives from the Governor’s office, the Corps of Engineers, Kinder- Morgan (Coal) Company, Port- land & Pacific Railroad, or the Oregon Department of Trans- portation. Columbia County Commissioners Tony Hyde and Henry Heimuller were in atten- dance, but did not seek or take questions from the community A panel of four speakers in- cluded Brian Gard of Gard Communications, a Portland PR firm representing Amber Energy Company of Australia; Brett VandenHeuvel, an attor- ney and Executive Director for Columbia Riverkeepers; Pat- rick Trapp, Executive Director for the Port of St. Helens; and Bethany Cotton, an attorney and spokeswoman for Green- peace. According to Gard, a large coal terminal would bring bene- fits to Columbia County, includ- ing 25 permanent jobs. VandenHeuvel spoke of an overwhelming increase in barge (Amber Energy Compa- ny) and rail (Kinder-Morgan, Inc.) traffic along the Columbia River which, he said, would cause coal dust pollution of air and water, as yet unheard of in Oregon. He also cited opposi- tion from a panel of 180 physi- cians because of potential harm to public, and especially children’s, health. Trapp explained how the Port of St. Helens finds and processes prospective lease tenants for port facilities. Cotton emphasized the toxi- city of Powder River Coal, and that it is a soft, powdery miner- al, not hard rock, in its mined state. According to Cotton, it is highly friable and easily ignited, at rest or in transit, posing dan- gers for Columbia County resi- dents, firefighters and the county’s already strained infra- structure and emergency as- sets. She cited insufficient as- sets in Columbia County to handle a derailment, explosion or large, coal-fed fire, and asked who would pay for such a catastrophe? Coal can be shipped to Asia and the Far East for profits, but its pollu- tants come back to the West Coast in stratospheric wind streams that contain lead and 30% of our mercury poisoning. After panel members initial statements were completed, the forum broke up into over a dozen round table discussions. This resulted in a series of pri- oritized questions being asked of the panelists and, following their answers, follow-up ques- tions and measured discussion from the community members. The response from commu- nity members was vigorous. Most people were demonstra- bly upset with the dangers to clean air, clean water, public health, public safety, and emer- gency response capabilities, plus mile-long, 124 car coal trains along Hwy 30, Scap- poose and St Helens (12 a day); and a 100% increase in barge traffic. In addition to these issues, community mem- bers were concerned that lease options had been negotiated by the Port of St. Helens without public notice, and that port commissioners met individually with coal companies, avoiding a quorum and notice require- ments. The main idea put forward from The final discussions em- phasized that community mem- bers not wanting toxic coal in Columbia County, should con- tact the agencies issuing per- mits, and oppose the issuance of such permits for the reasons discussed. If no permits are is- sued, the coal corporations and the terminals would be stopped. At one table, a man com- mented loudly, “What I want to know is, who the heck thought this (coal) was a good idea, anyway?” Look for the Jamboree Pull-out Section in the August 1 issue
