Coos County
Coos Bay bans wind pending writing an ordinance
The vote was unanimous! Coos County holds the equivalent energy potential of billions of barrels of oil under the ground in wind resource. So local leadership pulls some general information off the ODOE website, calls a few other cities for ‘due diligence’ and without speaking to industry experts says no to wind. They may have well said no to methane, or oil, or heaven forbid, LNG because they are cutting themselves out of the energy market and cutting off badly needed funding for the area.
Presumably, the city will work with Patty Gouveia and Jody McCaffree to help write an ordinance but one has to ask the question. In the absence of any applications for wind, why are they now lit up to ban wind? What is the rush to judgment all about?
City of Coos Bay considering a ban on wind energy within city limits?!?!
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
Strip mining coming to Coos County? UPDATED
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.
Deer Hunting With Jesus in Coos County
After at least seven different people suggested I read Joe Bageant’s, “Deer Hunting With Jesus. Dispatches from America’s Class War”I finally gave in and downloaded it to my Kindle several months ago where it stayed unread. This week, while working up in Portland I gave it a try hoping to put myself to sleep in the hotel room and though it didn’t put me to sleep and I haven’t finished it, I am really glad I started it.
One of the biggest quandaries besetting my fellow progressives and me is what mechanism exists that allows working class Americans to consistently vote against their own interests. More specifically, I have watched it happen here in the almost seven years I have lived in Coos County despite all my efforts to provide data, both empirical and statistical to my fellow working class citizens, proving the folly of this or that course of action. Willful, prideful ignorance I have proclaimed and speculated while the objects of my frustration accuse me of liberal elitism.
The World Forum (if you can call heavy handed moderation of non conservative ideas a forum) is rife with the kind of pro-big-business, anti-Islam, anti-environmentalists, anti-taxes, anti-entitlements, all welfare mothers drive Cadillacs and eat lobster. All union workers are lazy, overpaid and priced themselves out of the market and that’s why mill jobs left Coos County and went to China. People here really believe the unions are to blame for Weyerhauser baling out in the eighties while they ignore the multimillion dollar bonuses of the CEOs running major corporations. They think nothing of the fact the working poor pay higher taxes and their taxes subsidize jobs in foreign lands by virtue of offering ‘enterprise zone’ exemptions, property tax exemptions (remember NW Natural) and tax credits and federal grants all while white collar crooks like Ken Lay didn’t pay a penny in taxes.
Progressives like me stand in stunned amazement as the working class not only stand there and take it in the shorts but bloody hold ‘tea parties’ extolling the rights of the rich to stick it to the poor, and “oh, and by the way keep the goddam government out of my medicare!” I don’t read The World Forum anymore because it makes me sad and it makes me want to wrap myself in my liberal elitism like a thick blanket against the bitter cold and escape the hell out of here.
While Bageant doesn’t offer solutions (so far anyway) he makes a really good point
I don’t mean to reinforce the false neocon-generated label of Brie-eating, microbrew-sucking, Volvo-driving wimps. I’ve done all those things and more – except for the unaffordable Volvo. Besides, if liberal America has been somewhat too smug of late, my working-class brethren have been downright stupid to be so misled by the likes of Karl Rove, Pat Robertson and the phony piety of George W Bush.
The fact is that liberals and working people need each other to survive the growing economic calamity delivered to us by the regime that promised to “run this country like a business.” Sooner or later, despite the Democrats’ wins in the 2006 midterm elections, the left must genuinely connect face to face with Americans who do not necessarily share all of their priorities, and especially with Americans who have not been voting, if the left is ever to be relevant again to working America. If the left is not about class equity, what is it about?
With that in mind, I would like to take the reader someplace closer to the lives of America’s homegrown working folks than our media ever ventures, closer to those whose kids’ high school trip is to Iraq, who are two paydays away from homelessness yet in their pride cling to the notion that they are middle class Americans.
A year ago, New Year’s Eve, twenty two road workers were laid off from the Coos County Road Department in an undeniably underhanded way and I had the opportunity to sit in on the meeting where Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean effectively gave them all the ax. The event triggered an unusual but encouraging opportunity for me to get a snapshot of what I had previously viewed as the ‘other side’, even though I regard myself as working class, and while we will never see eye to eye on everything we found common ground. From that experience I believe we proved the highlighted point of Blageant’s graf above… we need each other and together we changed the political landscape of Coos County.
Blageant, a former redneck conservative turned liberal elite, (he even lived in Oregon for a time) returned to his hometown of Winchester, VA to live and his political transition coupled with the homecoming prompted him to write the book and I am glad he did because it has helped me understand what I am really up against.
Upcoming commissioners elections with two incumbents facing multiple opponents will mark just how much the landscape has changed but one thing I know we all have in common is a real sense of fairness. The thread that binds that fairness, I believe will be jobs. Not temporary jobs as created by building a pipeline or an LNG terminal but real long term family wage jobs that only can come from independence and sustainability in communities that have learned to shake hands and disagree but still work together and have a dialog.
Everyone, redneck and liberal alike should read this book!
Does the local tea party have an air corp?
Hard to say but the ultralights are patrolling our waterways and bike routes. We should all feel safer knowing the Iron Cross is on the lookout.
Commissioner Candidate Larry Van Elsberg campaign site up
Visit Larry ’s site here
Transparency vs Opacity, will be issue in forthcoming commissioners’ race
Despite narrowly surviving a recall effort for what even The World referred to as the undeniably “stealthy” manner in which twenty two county road workers were laid off, Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean is still curtailing public access.
…Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean outlined his new vision for board meetings. First step was to rearrange the courtroom, secluding employees to one side of the room…Next, he addressed how employees interact with audience members and the board. From now on, all public questions will be directed to the board. Commissioners can either answer them or give the person at the podium permission to take the floor… Stufflebean reminded the 20 or so department heads in attendance they do not have to respond to inquiries by the media and can filter responses through the commissioners’ office.
Stufflebean has been the center of controversy relating to public transparency and public access for some time and a strong case has been made the county, with the apparent approval of County Counsel, Jaqui Haggerty, misuses the executive session. Prior to the meeting Bob Main refused to attend an executive session claiming he didn’t feel comfortable keeping the details from the public. Whitty had no qualms about holding the executive session.
Further, Stufflebean wants to further complicate public access, thereby impairing the public’s ability to participate in its own governance by taking over the video taping of BOC meetings raising many eyebrows
The following was sent to the Editor. It refers to an article printed on January 27th.
It is the same sentiment that I share along with other volunteers at Coos Community Media Center.I was apalled to note Commissioner Stufflebean’s comment reported in Wednesday’s World, quoting a cost
to the county of $30-50,000 to record county meetings and place them on the web. Channel 14
currently records these meetings at a rate far lower than that. Channel 14’s subscription rates are
determined by hours of service rendered to the subscriber. Should the Commission continue to hold two
public meetings a month, that subscription cost would be around $7000 per year. For that sum, Channel 14
records 24 meetings, posts them on the web (where they remain for at least two months),
provides one week of “air” time (at least 12 repeats) on Charter Cable Channel 14 in the Bay Area and environs and on Comspan Channel 73 in Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point, and Reedsport, and provides a
DVD archive copy if requested. Additional meetings are charged at $90/ hour.
When the website went active in September of 2009, all the agencies who subscribe to Channel 14
were invited to place a link to it on their site. No government agency (or anybody else) has ever paid
a dime to have their meetings or programs posted to the web by Channel 14.
The care and maintenance of that website costs around $3000 per year.
During the county’s negotiations for the year’s contract with Channel 14, Mr. Stufflebean suggested
that the meeting content was the property of the county and that the commissioners should have
ownership of the sole DVD copy of each meeting. This smacks of censorship and all
citizens need to be wary of such attempts. Public meetings are public domain and can
be recorded by anyone and distributed at will.Gordon Young
Channel 14
So to recap, Stufflebean still wants to control the message and apparently doesn’t trust his own department heads to answer questions about their own departments. (We can all understand why he wouldn’t want Colby talking) Aren’t the commissioners busy enough without vetting questions and answers about ongoing county business? Does he really feel they are incompetent or is he hoping to disguise his intentions and actions from the public as it appears he did with the road department layoffs?
Again, where is Whitty in all of this? Does she share Stufflebean’s apparent contempt for the department heads skills? Does she share his apparent contempt for the public’s right to know? It sure seems like it.
Dietrich Trucking company involved in pile up on 101
So who is Dietrich Trucking and why does it matter? Well I am not exactly sure but I do have information that suggests they are hauling trash from the Beaver HIll Disposal Site to California in anticipation of the County selling the property. From an email forwarded to me…
The father-in-law of one of my co-workers drives long haul, a couple of days ago he pulled into a truck stop next to two trucks with Waste Connection logos, after engaging in conversation with the drivers he was told that they were employees of Dietrick Trucking in California and that they were contracting with Waste Connections to haul garbage from Coos Bay to Fairfield Ca. They told him that they were residents of Coos Bay and that they were currently hauling out of the Waste Connections transfer site. They told him he should put in an application with Waste Connections because they were going to increase the number of trucks as soon as the sale of the BHDS was completed. They told him that the Commissioners had already agreed to sell the site but that they had not yet agreed on a price. I would not have given much weight to this information except that my co-workers father-in-law got the drivers names and a company phone number. I just placed a call to the number and spoke to a receptionist named Tammy from Dietrick Trucking, when I mentioned the two drivers names she said “oh, our Coos Bay drivers”. I told her I was interested in a job and she connected me to a gentleman who told me they were taking applications at the Waste Connections Transfer Site in Coos Bay.
Does anyone know if there are plans to sell Beaver Hill Disposal Site? Are there plans to privatize waste management in Coos County? The accident above blocked 101 for hours above Gold Beach with Coos County garbage, who pays for the clean up? Did Dietrich bid for the hauling rights?
After ten years, message to killer of Leah Freeman, “The law is coming and hell’s coming with her”
Great news for the family of murdered teenager, Leah Freeman, was released during a press conference at the Coquille City Hall today. After a fifteen month effort on the part of new Coquille Police Chief Mark Dannels, a joint agency task force comprised of CPD, Coos County Sheriff, Coos Bay PD and Oregon State Police is reopening the unsolved murder case. The family has been asking for outside assistance into the cold case even before it was cold but the previous chief, Mike Reaves, stood in the way.
The timing of the press conference was indicated to coincide with a new series of witness and possible suspect interviews to begin within and around the community. Since taking over as chief, Mark Dannels has indicated a personal determination to bring some closure for the family and solve the crime and once again, I will take this opportunity to say what a difference a real cop makes to a community. Congratulations, Cory, I hope the bittersweet resolution of this crime brings you peace.
Though tempted I am going resist the urge just now to poke at the city manager and the council for retaining the previous chief and save it for a separate post. Better to bask in the glory of knowing that the killer’s ten year holiday is finally coming to an end…
Oregon Jobs and Economic Growth Forum
Last Thursday, I participated in a forum in Salem put on by the US Department of Agriculture related to economic growth in rural America.
The USDA is leading an effort nationwide to listen to Rural America’s thoughts and ideas about what is needed to create jobs and stimulate economic development in rural communities across the country. These forums follow the lead of President Obama’s December 3, 2009, national roundtable discussion. So, plan to attend and share your thoughts and ideas about job creation and economic growth.
In Oregon, the following Community Forums have been scheduled:
> ALBANY, January 21, 9AM-Noon; Linn County Fair & Expo Center, Conference Center Rooms 1 & 2
> REDMOND, January 28, 1-4PM; Central Oregon Community College, Hitchcock Auditorium
Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty was there along with Sandy Messerle director of the South Coast Development Council (does anyone know what, if anything, SCDC has successfully developed?).
The forum consisted of two panels, the second putting some focus on energy, hence the reason I was invited. ODOE was represented on the second panel by Bob Repine, Assistant Director, Energy Incentives who began by talking about the opportunities for jobs in Oregon relating to the wind industry. Repine noted that many parts break on big wind turbines and while, “…Oregon will never compete with Europe”, Oregon can manufacture the replacement parts and create jobs.
Oregon could manufacture the generators. The Shepherd’s Flat wind farm awarded a $1.4B contract to GE to ‘assemble’ the turbines with China being the primary manufacturer of components. Shepherd’s Flat like all big wind farms is heavily subsidized with US taxpayer money, so why are we providing jobs for China?
State Senator Chris Edwards, representing part of Lane County, also on the panel, proudly advised that Oregon can trade with China producing fine wood products and other sundries. Now that China has all the jobs, it is no wonder they can afford to import our turned bowls our trinkets.
Naturally, I saw red and leaped up to give my opinion about what the government can do to help with jobs creation, such as insisting taxpayer funded projects be manufactured in the US. Oregon has the manufacturing infrastructure and the technology in place all it appears to lack is the political will.
Neither Messerle or Whitty contributed anything to the forum conversation but when I spoke to Whitty she told me she thought everything “was so interesting”.
New Year’s catch up #1 Van Elsberg running for County Commish
NORTH BEND, OR, DECEMBER 28, 2009: After much thought and the support of my family and friends, I have decided to seek the office of Coos County Commissioner. I do not take this decision lightly, as there will be many challenges ahead for Coos County and its citizens.
Larry Van Elsberg has opted to run for Position 2 against the very popular and some consider, unbeatable Nikki Whitty. Van Elsberg made quite a name for himself when he headed the recall effort that narrowly failed to unseat Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean but whether that fame will garner him votes will depend upon his platform, not the least of which is public safety and transparency.
Whitty did herself a lot of harm in my view by aligning so tightly with Stufflebean and participating in the public obfuscation of details leading up to the sudden layoff of twenty two county road workers on New Year’s Eve 2008. Hopefully, the bizarre manipulation of the road department budgets wherein the media released worksheets used to justify the layoffs showed the road dept operating in the red for eight of the last ten years (not possible by the way and Whitty should have known that) compared to the budget worksession versions handed out to the public in March showing ample funding for the road department and a balanced budget for the past ten years will be explained. Whitty has distanced herself from Stufflebean even to the point of moving her chair away from him during public hearings, but I don’t think she can totally cleanse herself in the eyes of the public.
The campaign will be an opportunity to bring out details of Whitty’s and outed commissioner, John Griffith’s handling of the NW Natural pipeline issue, of which Van Elsberg, then County Road Master was intimately aware of and might illuminate the legislation, hold onto your hat Roblan, that relieves NWN from paying its fair share of taxes to the county.
With luck the local media will start covering these issues with a level a detail they ignored at the time. We will certainly do our best, as time permits, to bring these facts to light here as the campaign progresses.
Larry Van Elsberg to run for county commissioner
Larry called me yesterday to let me know that he is throwing his hat into the ring to run against Nikki Whitty as a county commissioner. More on this as I learn more about Larry’s platform, part of which I know, will be transparency… amen to that!
Why I am not a Democrat (or a Republican)
Many of us that deem ourselves progressives have long held that there are not two parties anymore, that the lines between Republican and Democrat are so blurred as to be almost indistinguishable. So contemptuous am I of the so called ‘two parties’ that I have voted for third party candidates in major elections since 1992 just to voice my disgust and almost regardless of who the third or fourth party candidate was. Not so in 2008. In 2008 I voted for a third party because neither Barack Obama or John McCain spoke to my values although at the time, I was greatly relieved that Obama and not McCain took the election.
Today, I read an editorial in the local Coos County Advocate, the local Democratic party periodical and found proof positive right here in River City that the party lines are merged.
Democrats and liberals are disappointed that their president is not pushing a left agenda. President Obama
has the political capital and won’t spend it. Republicans and Fox News viewers jump on every statement out of the president’s mouth like it’s food for a pack of starving wolves, to be gobbled and spit back out without digesting. No one
is happy, and apparently no one is listening.President Obama is not a liberal. Candidate Obama wasn’t either. Barack Obama said he wanted to be president not of Blue America, nor of Red America, but president of the United States of America. We liked the sound of that. Most Americans are sick of the division in this country. We long to be united again. Our president is alone in his ability to accept what that means. Striving for consensus means seeking the middle ground.
One of the main reasons I didn’t vote for Obama is because I was listening and the author is right, he is not a progressive liberal president. What is confusing to me is why, if consensus is the aim, bother with the facade of having two parties? Why fight tooth and nail to elect a centrist? Really, what is the bloody point?
Obama has disappointed me greatly from his Bushian fear inciting bromides about freedom and democracy and evil and al Qaeda and terrorists to justify the occupation of Afghanistan to the complete and utter sellout to Wall Street.
Barack Obama ran for president as a man of the people, standing up to Wall Street as the global economy melted down in that fateful fall of 2008. He pushed a tax plan to soak the rich, ripped NAFTA for hurting the middle class and tore into John McCain for supporting a bankruptcy bill that sided with wealthy bankers “at the expense of hardworking Americans.” Obama may not have run to the left of Samuel Gompers or Cesar Chavez, but it’s not like you saw him on the campaign trail flanked by bankers from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. What inspired supporters who pushed him to his historic win was the sense that a genuine outsider was finally breaking into an exclusive club, that walls were being torn down, that things were, for lack of a better or more specific term, changing.
Then he got elected…
As far as I can tell, from the utter failure to pass significant health care reform that reins in the 30% insurance company profit and makes health care affordable for all Americans, to the Wall Street bailout, Dems and Repubs, outside of feigning populism or pimping free trade are just different breeds of fox working out how to guard the hen house.
Voting for a centrist isn’t bridge building, it isn’t a way to mend great divides, it is a lazy sellout, it is like teaching class to the one third student body in the middle while ignoring the rest, it is a sure fire road to group think banality, stale and mundane status quo and bloated inertia . Mostly, it is downright undemocratic.
V-LIM Power curves
The first power curves for the V-LIM are done and I will publish them here after some additional verification soon. We have learned a lot from these tests, have changed the magnet topology for a more focused flux and will segment the stator for faster saturation in the production models. Even without these changes we outperform our competitors and after such a long hard struggle, I can’t tell if I am happy or just relieved to be past this point. Am definitely exhausted.
More data soon to come, here and at Rogue River Wind.
Thank you for this M. I've been asking on The World and The Forum for the Editorial Board at The ...
http://www.larryvanelsberg2010.com/index.html 
Thanks, Den, this is very useful 