A short agenda didn’t mean the meeting was going to be a boring one. One of the items on the consent calendar was a letter to the Oregon Department of Justice Natural Resources Section in reply to their letter. The letter was pulled from the consent calendar for discussion. Chairman Roberts asked why none of Columbia River Keepers’ staff attorney’s issues had been addressed in the response to the Department of Justice and stated that she would be more comfortable if the county’s land use attorney, Andy Jordan, were present to answer the boards questions before the board made a decision on sending a response to the Department of Justice’s letter.
A member of the audience did not agree with this suggestion and shouted that the board should just send a letter to the Department of Justice. Chairman Roberts asked that audience members not yell from the audience. The same audience member, later identified as Olivia Schmidt, again yelled that the board should be able to read a letter and respond to it without consulting a lawyer. All the letter wanted to know, in Schmidt’s opinion, was if the vote of the referendum invalidated a part of the Bradwood LUCS.At this point the Chair of the Board told the woman that yelling from the crowd would not be listened to, if she kept it up she would be escorted from the room. Roberts said, “You are out of order.” Schmidt yelled back, “YOUR OUT OF ORDER!” and kept yelling that the Board wasn’t acting in the best interests of its constituents. Chief Deputy Paul Williams stood beside the woman and asked her to leave, which she did, while she told the board what she thought of their reluctance to act without consulting further. “You don’t need to consult with anyone on this. It doesn’t matter whether or not you answered Columbia River Keepers it matters if you answer the Department of Justice.”
Commissioner Patrick asked clarification on the letter that was going back to the Department of Justice. Transportation and Development Services Director Ed Wegner answered that the letter from the county’s lawyer explained how the failure of the referendum changed the LUCS. Chairperson Roberts asserted her concern that Columbia River Keeper’s concerns were not addressed especially since the agreement with Bradwood was very specific in how it related to the pipelines.
Cheryl Johnson spoke during business from the public and asked that the county commissioners stick a resolution on the agenda to oppose all LNG terminals and pipelines.
Very passionate about her work Olivia Schmidt travels around the Pacific Northwest. In May of 2008 Olivia Schmidt was in Carlton, Oregon, at it’s city council meeting representing Oregon Citizens Against the Pipeline. She asked the city council there to pass a resolution opposing the pipeline. In October of this year, Schmidt represented the Columbia River Clean Energy Coalition as a speaker at the Olympia Washington NO LNG Rally. She is also listed as the contact person for Columbia River Keepers in their work to keep LNG off the Columbia River.
When asked what she hoped to accomplish by confronting the Clatsop County Commissioners at their board meeting Schmidt replied that she just wanted them to promptly respond to the Oregon Department of Justice. She was asked if delays weren’t actually something her organization would be for as that would delay the state in their permitting process Schmidt said that she wanted the state to get on with the permitting process and that the County Commissioners weren’t doing their job when they wait a month and a half to respond to a letter from the state. It was, in Schmidt’s opinion, a simple letter requiring a simple reply. When pressed further as to why one week, more or less, was that important to her organization, Schmidt said she wasn’t going to discuss tactics, because this had nothing to do with tactics, it had to do with conducting government business in an expeditious manner, which the county, once again, was failing to do.
Back inside, a local activist decided she wanted to also be asked to leave. Sitting down in Schmidt’s seat she, too, began hollering at the County Commissioners that they needed to get the letter sent to the Department of Justice. Carol Newman was also asked to leave and Newman replied she would be happy to as she had volunteer work to do “for the community” at the Liberty Theater. Most of the other audience members took a pass on leaving escorted and left shortly after Newman’s departure.
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