Sadly, the details outlined in Al Sandine’s 2003 book Plundertown, USA: Coos Bay Enters the Global Economy wherein Weyerhauser and GP logged old growth at a rate that exceeded regrowth rates and then abandoned the area to repeat the process in Indonesia and Brazil, is about to be replayed. This time the resource is chromite and other metals to be taken via strip mining from Coos County forest lands for a paltry royalty of 3%. ORC the foreign owned corporation tasked with extracting the ore and a mineral lease from the County is now discouraging the County from doing any due diligence such as test drilling and has even refused to reveal the results of their own test drills. In other words, ORC wants Coos County to sign a mineral lease without knowing what is in the ground.

Guess what? Commissioners Nikki Whitty and Kevin Stufflebean are keen to take the word of ORC and just sign a deal possibly giving up millions or even billions of dollars of public resources for the promise of 70 jobs (minus the 22 from the road crew, so really less than 50 jobs). Only Bob Main is keen on doing the necessary research to protect public assets. Dan Smith, discouraged the commissioners from doing their own test drilling at a cost of $70k as unnecessary and then refused to share their own core samples without a signed lease first. ORC’s survival as an entity is dependent on outside funding which is contingent upon Smith extracting an inexpensive mineral lease from Coos County.

Write, call and raise your voice at the next BOC meeting in April
Next BOC meeting – April 6th – 9:30 a.m. – Coos County Commissioner Courtroom, Coos County Courthouse.

Bob Main:
(541) 396-3121 or (541) 756-2020 ext 770
bmain@co.coos.or.us

Nikki Whitty:
(541) 396-3121 or (541) 756-2020 ext 247
nwhitty@co.coos.or.us

Kevin Stufflebean:
(541) 396-3121 or (541) 756-2020 ext 281
kstufflebean@co.coos.or.us

Apparently, without any public discussion, the City of Coos Bay plans to vote on a resolution banning the use of wind power conversion systems within city limits tonight.

The analysis and resolution are hereCoos Bay Wind Resolution. The analysis is not what you would call very analytical and is comprised primarily of general guidelines from ODOE’s website. Other communities were contacted to ask how they handle wind energy to mixed effect leading the author of the analysis to suggest taking a wait and see approach to urban turbines.

The last point is so very typical of Coos County as a whole. Why be an innovator or take the lead in anything when it is so much easier to be a follower and wait and see what other cities do? Nowhere in the analysis is there mention of having spoken to anyone in the industry for qualified answers to the questions raised about citing wind in commercial, industrial or residential areas.

So while the city has taken a neutral position on siting an LNG terminal and building a 36″ gas pipeline why, all of a sudden do they have a fire burning to ban wind? Any ideas, anyone?

Recently, I read the SCDC submission to the AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) committee which seeks to…

provide a road map for communities seeking to improve their sustainability—as defined by a community’s ability to meet the needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs [emphasis mine]

The submission gives a pretty clear picture of who SCDC blames for the County’s economic woes these last thirty years.

From its founding, Coos County grew and prospered through its natural resources and the timber, agriculture, milling, shipping and commercial fishing industries. But the 1970’s saw the beginnings of these industries’ ebb. The environmental movement, the spotted owl controversy, government regulations and technological advances in production [emphasis mine] saw a gradual but unstoppable decline in timber harvest, lumber mills, shipping and commercial fishing. The area slumped into major economic hard times. Today, Oregon is second in the nation in unemployment, due in large part to this region, with an unemployment rate of 15%.

The ‘technological advances in production’ must mean ‘cheaper labor in China’. As to the environmentalists and the regulators, unfortunately they weren’t here to stop Weyerhauser from choosing profits over stewardship of the local resources. Nor were they here to stop Weyerhauser from leaving when it became more profitable to move on.

For a reference I read two of the other submissions, Bridgport, CT and Allentown, PA and it was noticeable the authors didn’t seek to place blame or, more accurately, pass the buck. Truly, it is a feather in the cap of SCDC to have submitted an application and I am pleased they did so and more pleased the area was chosen. Kudos!

There are some seeming omissions from the application, however, that make these closing statements in the introduction letter below not quite accurate.

Our clearly-defined objective, identified as the key issue in each of the three aforementioned meetings, is that our citizens will be able to look forward to — and believe in – a sustainable future, through a vision created together.

Namely, while the Port and its future railroad, Jordan Cove and its LNG and ORC and its strip mining, The Mill Casino and its gambling are listed as bright possibilities for the future of Coos Bay there is no mention of any real sustainable industries. (The opposition to the LNG is given passing mention and attributed to retirees that don’t like change). There appears to be no input from any environmentalists or proponents of sustainable industry in the application at all.

Also receiving glowing mention are SCDC members Bandon Dunes and The World with nary a word about The Sentinel or The Bandon Western World (unless you count it as The World).

In Joseph Tainter’s, ‘The Collapse of Complex Societies’, it is pointed out again and again from the collapse of the Romans, the Mayans to the Chacoans that resource depletion is not the cause of collapse in complex systems. Rather it is the leaders of these societies inability to adapt to resource depletion and changing conditions that brings about economic and societal failure.

Coos County is a glowing empirical example of the truth of Tainter’s conclusions. Nothing could punctuate the reason for 15% unemployment and empty storefronts more than the City of Coos Bay’s inability to adapt to a changing environmental and economic landscape than this proposed resolution to ban wind energy until another city models for them what to do!

Coos County has no leadership. The county and its cities are governed by followship and the economic depression that has prevailed these last 30 years will continue unless as Thomas Homer-Dixon hypothesizes in ‘The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization” the local electorate are finally catalyzed to do something about it and stop repeating the same tired old schemes and try something new

The gang at SCDC (South Coast Development Council) are hot to aid and abet Oregon Resources Corp to begin strip mining for chromite and other minerals (supposedly no gold or platinum, they will put that back???).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued the definitive operating permit, giving the Portland-based firm approval to mine chromite, zircon, high-iron and garnet off Seven Devils Road between Charleston and Bandon.

‘Everything fell into place,” said Dan Smith, Oregon Resources’ chief operating officer.

Watching the video of a January 28, 2010 SCDC meeting shows Sandy Messerle (I think) absolutely gushing about 70 new jobs in the county as Smith downplays the potential environmental issues, explains how badly they have been treated by the various permitting agencies and mocks Oregon for having an international reputation for being tough to strip mine in. He also emphasized that funding for ORC was being held up pending permits and the future of the foreign owned corporation was in dependent upon expediting the go ahead. One thing is certain, not a single person present at the meeting even questions the possible long term effects if even the slightest thing goes wrong with ORC’s operation.

Remember the 12″ gas pipeline and that debacle. The same movers and shakers presiding over that mess are supporting this venture despite a large local fishing community and the potential to damage already diminished salmon runs and wetlands. [Photo courtesy of Larry Van Elsberg]

Jobs are critical but of the 70+ positions how many will be filled with local workers, how many are really family wage and what happens in 18 years when ORC is done pulling public resources out of the ground? No one at the meeting considered the 22 road workers laid off to afford the $450K cost of upgrading a perfectly serviceable county road to ‘industrial grade’.

Also, during the January 28 SCDC meeting, Port Director, Jeffrey Bishop discusses the odd land lease arrangement with Weyerhauser. Did I hear right? Was the lease arrangement based on a future property value IF the LNG terminal was built? If someone has time to watch, please let me know what that is about.

**Received a note from a reader that correctly noted the Port had a purchase agreement (actually paid $25M?) and now they are in a pure option agreement (Weyerhauser gave back the money.. with interest???) So, did the port make a purchase of land based upon an appraised future value? Would a legitimate appraiser do such a thing and would it be legal for the port to make such an arrangement without an appraisal? **

The funny thing about SCDC is I am sure if they believed there was a billion barrels of oil under the ground they would fall all over themselves trying to drill for it. There is the equivalent of a billion barrels of oil under the ground in wind resource in this county and money to be made and saved in renewable energy but these guys only want to entertain another Weyerhauser business model. They want to be dependent on some outside plunderer who will take the public resources and then pack up and leave taking their jobs with them. It is not like it hasn’t happened here before.

Little Trinity Fett joined us about 5:30 today but her first two hours were a bit rough. A great team of nurses at McKenzie Willamette Hospital worked to help the baby, stunned after a tough birth to keep her oxygenated until she could breathe on her own.

Great staff and we now have a beautiful baby and happy mom.

AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) is in a snit over proposed legislation that would mandate federal tax credits be denied if a project doesn’t include products made in America.

The truth is, by law, Recovery Act grants can only be used to finance projects that are being built in the United States.

What AWEA ignores is the high number of foreign manufacturing jobs subsidized when most of the components of an American based wind farm are manufactured in China instead of the US.

Senator Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and three other Democratic senators have joined to propose legislation that would place limitations on the grant in lieu of tax credits for renewable energy projects under section 1603 of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The concern expressed by Senator Schumer and the other sponsors is that a significant portion of the grants paid so far have gone to non-U.S. companies.

The above quote is from an email sent by the firm of Stoel Rives who go on to deny the truth of the statement above. To read more on US tax dollars subsidizing foreign manufacturing jobs, look here and then read Michael Trebilcock’s argument against industrial wind turbines.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in 2008, on a dollar per MWh basis, the U.S. government subsidizes wind at $23.34 – compared to reliable energy sources: natural gas at 25 cents; coal at 44 cents; hydro at 67 cents; and nuclear at $1.59, leading to what some U.S. commentators call “a huge corporate welfare feeding frenzy.”

Presently, China is the primary supplier of generators for traditional multi-megawatt wind farms. According to Rebecca Smith in the Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2009, a proposed 600MW wind farm in Texas relying heavily on federal subsidies, grants and tax credits for funding, is expected to create 2,800 jobs with only 15% of those jobs in the US and the rest flowing to China.

Write your Senator and Representative and ask them to support the Senator Schumer’s legislation.

Not a surprise that Karl Rove, ‘Bush’s brain’ would have a view of the lead-up to the Iraq war totally out of sync with proven facts.

“Scheherazade Rehman discusses the likelihood of Greece receiving a bailout from the European Union” Arguments are strong that Goldman Sachs contributed to the fall of Greece just to make a buck…

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country’s already bloated deficit….

Creative accounting took priority when it came to totting up government debt.Since 1999, the Maastricht rules threaten to slap hefty fines on euro member countries that exceed the budget deficit limit of three percent of gross domestic product. Total government debt mustn’t exceed 60 percent…

Greece’s debt managers agreed a huge deal with the savvy bankers of US investment bank Goldman Sachs at the start of 2002. The deal involved so-called cross-currency swaps in which government debt issued in dollars and yen was swapped for euro debt for a certain period — to be exchanged back into the original currencies at a later date.