October 6, 2007
Board of County Commissioners for Clatsop County
800 Exchange Street, Suite 100
Astoria, Oregon 97103
Re: Consolidated Land Use Application from Bradwood Landing LLC
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Commission;
Below is a comment, obviously from someone who, it seems, believes that LNG in Clatsop County is the right thing for us and that anybody against LNG in Clatsop County is against development and growth in our community and that concerns about our "Public Safety", "Well Being" and its "Dangers" is frivolous in light of the magnitude of what you five are about to commit us to, one way or the other on the issue of this one Energy Speculation and Development Corporation, Bradwood Landing/Northern Star Natural Gas.
“And since there are hundreds of LNG facilities all over the world and not a one has been bombed or a tanker destroyed, that tells me that the whole “Terrorist Target” idea is simply another scare tactic by the anti-LNG, anti-progress, anti-development of any kind crowd.”
Considering the fact a cell group of "Al Qaeda Terrorists" could establish themselves in, presumably, the “Mightiest Nation in the World”, The United States of America, and commandeer 4 Commercial passenger aircraft, have enough skill to fly two of them into the World Trade Center, the symbol of Imperialist World Trade and Commerce in the U.S., circumvent all security of, supposedly, the "Mightiest Military in the World" and fly one directly into the symbol of all that power, "The Pentagon" and almost, as theorized but, thwarted, make a successful attempt at driving another plane into the symbol of, supposedly, "The Most Powerful Government in the World", The Nation's Capital or The White House; what makes anyone, even here in lowly little old Clatsop County, so naive as to think that a well trained and skilled "Terrorist Group" could not, on the high seas, commandeer just one LNG Tanker in transit to the mouth of the Columbia River, off the crew and all on board (These tankers operate with a minimal crew and whatever passengers may be onboard), approach the mouth, take on a Bar Pilot, who would likely not know the difference or expect anything suspicious of the crew, likely from some third world nation as seems prevalent in ship crews these days, operating the ship as usual, pass off to the River Pilot about the waterfront of Astoria or under the Meglar Bridge, a symbol of our lifeline between the two states, and trigger the release of three full tanks, about 36 million gallons of gasifying LNG and then light her up?
How long would it take USCG, Clatsop County Sheriff, Oregon State Police, Astoria Police, Warrenton Police, The Members of The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners to pack their bags, all involved, to figure out something was deathly wrong before anybody could react?
Of course this would never happen right because it has never happened before because this is the U.S.of A.
You think we are merely providing Al Qaeda a new and effective weapon to use against us? After all, the key advantage of Terrorism is “Time”.
All this negative potential for 3 to 5 years of a Construction Phase for each one of these kind of projects with intense profiteering for all the “Local Players” in on the opportunity and then an unspecified number of “End-Jobs” and a projected, flashy, Property Tax Revenue that, when diluted, really will have no significant punch, weighed against the, still unknown, Cost of Security with no current clarity at all of who will pay the guestimate of $8-10 Million a year and finally, decades of enslavement of our Community Infrastructure to these Corporation for decades to come?
I don't envy your position because of the weightiness of the decision that will impact all 5 of your lives for years to come and still there are way too many unanswered questions out there and in this application that, in my, view need to be specifically satisfied before any further movement at all on this project.
Now, "Development" and "Growth" in "Our Community" is a good thing as long as it is sensitive to the betterment to all that live in it and provides to all the "Maximum Opportunity" to the best, long-term Life Quality and Security possible. I do not believe this project, Bradwood Landing/Northern Star Natural Gas or any other competing development, of this sort, is the right thing for us on both sides of The Columbia River and I think in your own hearts you know it also, it's just common sense.
When Coos Bay, Oregon can entertain the prospect of a "New Mega-Port Facility", Costing $700 Million (A $100 Million less than the projections of this Bradwood Project in question) with the opportunity of 2500 family wage,end jobs(Working Taxpayers,all) and a spin-off of 10,000 more, it certainly makes me wonder if you should not table this current scheme confronting you, in
our trust, step back, take that $200,000 we get a year for Economic Development, mount-up a Task Force to explore our options before we move forward with anymore of this LNG Speculation.
I encourage you all to refuse and reverse this "Consolidated Land Use Application" across the board in support of Staff's original Findings of Fact at the least.
I also request County Counsel to review and rule on Commissioner Hazen's position in these deliberations on the grounds of possible "Prejudicial Bias" in support of LNG Development as publicly expressed in the Rezoning Hearings for Skipnanon Peninsula's proposed LNG Transfer Facility sometime back. I would also like to request review and ruling on all the Commission's potential Ex Parte and Conflicts of Interest conduct prior to any deliberations on this Application.
Thank you and best of luck,
Patrick McGee
697 34th Street
Astoria, Oregon 97103.
