Astoria, Guy Boyington Building – Wednesday evening the meeting hall at the Guy Boyington Building was full as members of the public voiced their reactions to the outcome of the recent vote on ballot measure 4-131. The crowd was split into different factions – all wishing to state their side of the referendum issue. Those who saw the no vote as a clear message that Clatsop County constituents don’t want liquefied natural gas (LNG) corporations siting holding terminals in the area spoke out calling for a resolution to be signed. Another faction were concerned that the vote on pipelines was now being referred to as a vote on LNG in general stated that no conclusion should be drawn from the vote. Finally, there were those who saw what they called deceitful tactics being used in the campaign to get a no vote letting off steam.
Deb Twombly, a chief petitioner for the referendum and one of those who led the opposition against it, stated that she felt that the pipeline was unfair to go across any land where it wasn’t wanted.
“With 58% of the people voting and 68% of them voting no, the outcome of the vote on the referendum makes it clear that the people of Clatsop County do not want LNG in any way, shape, manner or form,” declared Lori Durheim, an opponent of the LNG corporations since Calpine first made an appearance in Warrenton.
Tom Stanley stated that he felt that the referendum was a clear indication that the majority of people who cared enough to vote on the LNG matter did not want LNG in Clatsop County, “or on our beautiful Columbia River.”
“I am one of the 42% that didn’t vote,” stated Jim Neikes, “It was a vote about nothing. It returns a county ordinance back to 3.80, there is nowhere in there that it says we can’t have pipelines, as a matter of fact it says we must bury pipelines.” Neikes went on to say, “I’m kind of confused as to what we were voting on. As to our commissioners going back east it probably took one fifth of the money this nothing vote based on emotionalism was wasted on.”
Christine Bridgens read her letter aloud to the board stating that she felt the campaign against referendum 4-131 was one of the most deceitful campaigns she had ever seen in Clatsop County. She quoted instances that opposition had said that the referendum was about the pipeline, “yet they are now trying to use the vote to bully the county and get rid of Bradwood once and for all.”
Rosemary Elfering brought an ad from the Daily Astorian and read her letter to the commissioners in which she said that she was there to support the commissioners in their attempt to bring new economy to the region. “I am also here to contradict any assertion that the result on the referendum can be construed to mean a deviation by local citizens against the facility.” Pointing to the ad she stated that it was an example of the type of advertising used to convince people to vote no on the referendum. “It states ‘only you can save our children.’ Nowhere in this ad does it say anything about the receiving terminals for LNG! It implies that without a no vote some dangerous element could blow-up underneath the very feet of our children.” She said the public was assured repeatedly that the referendum had no bearing on LNG facility itself only on where the pipeline should go. Elfering finished by saying, “I ask the commission not to bow to pressure to use the referendum as a mandate to take any action whatsoever.”
Jimmy Beckwith stated that he thought the referendum was very clear. He stated that the county voted on one issue, which was made very clear in numerous newspaper and radio interviews, “It was about pipelines and just about pipelines.”
Pete Hackett, a local resident and spokeperson for Bradwood Landing, played a recording of Marc Auerbach (a chief petitioner for the referendum) on a radio interview stating that the referendum was straightforward about pipelines in parks and not about the LNG facility itself.
Peter Huhtala said, “My concern is with the 1/3 that voted the other way.” Although he didn’t clarify why he was concerned with those voters he went on to say that he was disturbed on two accounts. The fact that a corporation would call Clatsop County citizens liars and the fact that they would say citizens didn’t understand what they were voting on. “What, did they think they were voting on condos on the waterfront or the sale of parkland next to the ocean? There were newspaper ads that went on forever.” he finished by saying “It’s insulting when people who want to do business with us call us liars and say we don’t know what we are voting on.”
“I wanted to comment tonight that I support Bradwood Landing because they are good members of the community,” Les Morgan began, “I want to point out that we have had two LNG plants in Oregon …” but before he could go into many statistics Clatsop County Counsel, Blair Henningsgard, stopped him and told him that he cannot testify to facts. Morgan nervously soldiered on but his statement was full of too many factual statistics and he was stopped again by Henningsgard.
Carol Newman said that in talking to the public, as she canvassed the area informing people about the referendum, it became clear to her that people were against LNG in general and this would be the first time they could take a public vote on the matter. She believed that the board of commissioners should be responsive to the majority of the public who didn’t want LNG in Clatsop County. Newman also stated that she felt the board should prioritize the needs of the local community when it makes decisions to travel, using county funds to do so when those funds could be used towards programs such as the Healthy Start program that recently had to be discontinued. (It was clarified that the travel expenses for the trip amounted to approximately $2,400 and the Healthy Start program needed over $30,000 to continue).
Dave Ambrose and Don West also expressed concern that two commissioners went to Washington, DC with county funds. Ambrose asked that a written report be submitted for constituents to read. He hoped that he will read at least two lines of what was accomplished in Washington in the minutes of BOCC meeting. West also stated that while the referendum didn’t stop Bradwood he believed that it did slow them down.
Bernie Bjork thanked the board for sending representatives to Washington, DC, and thanked Commissioner Ann Samuelson for giving him a call before going in regards to the fishing industry. Bjork stated that he was amazed that there was a local politician running for an office who was opposed to the trawler’s position on the quota system for harvesting fish. He thanked the board for signing the resolution supporting local trawlers. Bjork stated that the fishermen he represented and most of the fishermen he knew supported having LNG in the area and felt it would be good for the economy.
“I am here to say I support the resolution you are being asked to sign tonight,” Helen Westbrook pleaded, “it is your duty to follow the clear wishes of the people you were elected to represent.” Westbrook went on to make a counter statement to a quote she said appeared in the Daily Astorian about people putting their energy into a product, “the product they want is a well functioning, responsive local government.”
James Coghlin, Cheryl Johnson, and Marc Auerbach read parts or whole resolutions that the Democratic Party of Oregon and five other governmental bodies in the state have signed asking that legislators “do everything in their power to stop all LNG import terminal development on the Columbia River and resulting pipelines through Oregon.”
Ellen McDonald spoke about dangerous hazardous material being on the river and the fact that sailors, being bored on long trips, smoke a lot, and sailors on foreign ships do not have to be trained seaman.
Rick Balkins spoke on the need to work with the board of county commissioners and to stop trying to undermine and oppose them.
Laurel Caplan was the final speaker of the evening and asked that the board of county commissioners put the resolution that was brought to them on the next regular meeting agenda or in a work session. She felt that the room was full of people who wanted to talk in a peaceful and civil manner about the issues that concerned them and, in her opinion, it was the “first” of many more meetings to come where people could come together to discuss their concerns.
Clatsop County Counsel, Blair Henningsgaard, explained to the audience at the beginning of the public statement period that they could not give testimony of facts dealing with the application of Bradwood Landing that was before the Oregon Land Use Board of Advisory. He had the onerous duty of monitoring the speakers and asking them to stop if they began giving what could be determined as testimony.
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