The ranks of those fighting to preserve the last of Cascadia's wildlands will wince at this one: The Oregon Roundtable on Sustainable Forests will hold an all-day forum Jan. 10 to discuss issues related to local forests. Those of us following the fate of Oregon's forests have doubtless taken note in recent years that the very agencies tasked with protecting the last of our trees are in fact sold out to timber industry lobbyists. Some are actually former timber industry insiders. The Roundtable is an open network that allows what The Oregonian breezily refers to as "stakeholders" to discuss forest conditions and trends. This coming Monday's meeting will include reviews and evaluations of reports regarding: indicators of sustainable forest management in timber harvest trends, the biological integrity of forest streams, tree mortality, invasive species trends, and protected area categories. Got questions? I'm sure you do. The forum will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., January 10, in the Gregory Forum Building at Clackamas Community College, 19600 Molalla Avenue, Oregon City. The agenda for the day is available on the the Roundtable's website. For more information, contact the forestry department's David Morman at 503-945-7413 or dmorman@odf.state.or.us.
LNG Strings: On December 21, 2010 at 10 a.m. the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay Commission had a special meeting. Very special…Caddy McKeown was the only Port Commissioner that attended in person, the rest of the Commissioners attended by phone. There was no public comment time allowed on the meeting agenda and without public input the Commissioners agreed to change the Weyerhaeuser/Jordan Cove Land Option contract agreements rather significantly. They plan on bringing back the Land Option extension agreements ready for final Commission approval at their January 20th Port Commission meeting.
Coos Bay port officials' recent renegotiation of a land agreement involving liquefied natural gas development is basically real estate not regulate. Either way, developers are promoting the project as a job generator for the shit-out-of-workers whose unemployment checks shriveled and died. The port holds an option to buy 1,300 acres of Weyerhaeuser property for possible development of Jordan Cove Energy Project's proposed LNG terminal. And all for the agreed-upon $25 million, or part of it at a lesser cost.
Jody McCaffree objects to the revised deal. A key concern for her is the 5.6 million cubic yards of dredge spoils that would be dug up for a proposed slip dock. Where will the port pile all the dug-up muck if it decides to buy a smaller portion of the land? Where is the environmental impact statement? And how many living-wage jobs can realistically be expected to result? At what cost to the coast?
- KBOO