The Ruby Pipeline - Rivalling Current Proposed LNG Terminal Projects - On Track For Spring Start

Ruby gas pipeline -- that would rival proposed LNG terminals in Oregon -- on track for spring work

From: Oregon Business News
By The Oregonian staff and wire reports

April 07, 2010, 7:37PM

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- El Paso Corp. said today that construction of the $3 billion Ruby gas pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon is on track to begin later this spring following Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of the project.

Read Full Oregonian Report

Bradwood Landing - The Next Round Of Hearings: You Want to Be Heard You Damned Well Better Be There Today At 1:00 P.M To Get Your Name On The List!!!.

....."Notice is hereby given that the Clatsop County Hearings Officer will conduct a public hearing, from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, in the Judge Guy Boyington Building, located at 857 Commercial Street, Astoria, Oregon, to consider the following consolidated application:"....

You don't get your name on the list to present your view today, you won't get on at all so, don't think if the hearings continue to the next day or next week you can sign-up to speak that day!!

Staff Application Recommendations

Shoreline Monitoring Plan - Denied With Conditions

Dredged Material Disposal Plan - Approved With Conditions

Park And Ride Lot - Denied With Conditions

Mitigation Plan - Denied With Conditions

Bradwood Landing Erosion Control Plan - Approved With Conditions

Conditional Use Permit - Approved With Conditions

Decommission Plan - Denied With Conditions

Riparian Vegetation - Approved With Conditions

(Bottom Line...County Says Meet All County, State And Federal Requirements And We'll Talk. NSNG/Bradwood Implies..."Trust Us We'll Get To All That Stuff Later")

Go Here For All Staff Findings And Recommendations

Read Northern Star/Bradwood Landing's Spin

Debra Birkby Challenges Samuelson Replacement Mushen For District Five Clatsop County Board Of Commissioners Post

Visit Birkby's Site For More Background And Platform Information

Peter Huhtala Vies For John Raichl's Clatsop County Board of Commissioners Seat - District 3

Visit Huhtala's Campaign Site For More Voter Information And Background

Scott Lee Takes On Jeff Hazen For Clatsop County Commission - District One Seat

Read About Scott Lee For Clatsop County Board Of Commissioners - District One

Clatsop D.A. Marquis And Other State D.A.'s Say Suspended Measure 57 Numbers Inflated By State Law Makers

From: KATU.COM

PORTLAND, Ore. - A tough-on-crime measure passed by Oregon voters was suspended by state lawmakers because they said the state couldn’t afford it, but according to a preliminary report by district attorneys, legislators made their decision on bad data.

Measure 57 was passed by a strong majority of voters and called for cracking down on criminals habitually breaking into homes and stealing cars.

Read Full Article And Watch Video

Astoria: Derelict, Abandoned, Delapidated Properties: A Cure Or A Curse?

Tonight April 5, 2010, The City of Astoria plans to unveil the result of Acrchitects input on the remodel/renovation of our City Hall and also host a discusiion on what to do with our fine city's delapidated, abandoned and derelict properties.

An interesting irony here is that our own City Hall is adjacent and attached to an abandoned, delapidated building in the old Waldorf Hotel, itself in a forced exile for lack of an investor or real plan to bring it back to life.

Add to this the controversial downtown Flavel properties among others and other properties to east and west, we have a real mess and a very touchey situation as to how to enforce some movement remedying these, what some would call blights on our cityscape.

The big question is...Do we punish these property owners or help them and then how do we enforce the final resolution?

Just on my side of town there are several properties that alone riase some serious enforcement question of which I will let you decide and here they are.

31st & Marine: A property with a structure more commonly called "The Bunkhouse" and by the way, listed on the National Historic Register,still languishing under the ownership of a local and prominent businessman and is still a virtual, unuseable shell of a building with no indication of it or any of the other parts of the property but, one, a habitable house, progressing any further that it is now.

Empty, Unkempt Property On Marine Drive Between 30th & 31st: Just as described with no hint of any future improvement or immediate improvement.

31st & Marine Drive: More Commonly called "The Wolf House" and a onetime beautiful home left to die simply because of lack of any ind of money to bring it back as much as the owner would love to. There has been some recent work by, I would guess, Community Action, a Non-Profit assistance group that has, through grants, upgrade the entries for safer entry and exit. The owner of the property immediately behind has been restoring his own home but, Money to finish is that obstacle there.

Hauke Landslide Property: sits there,after massive mitigation of a careless and destructive mistake on somebody's part of which we will likely never, just growing rocks and Alders with no hint of any kind of use or improvement whatsoever other than a convenient place to post temporary, uncontrolled signs for whatever group that may have some event going on at the moment.

33rd and Franklin: At the gateway into the Uppertown-Adair neighborhood

that is, from all appearances, a terribly mismanaged and neglected rental property with a growing reputation of being a place of nefarious activity.

So, who and how do we punish and reward these properties and under what criteria?

NSNG/Bradwood Landing LNG's Salmon Enhancement Intiative: Debunking Views From The Other Side Of The Story

Read Some Views From The Other Side Of The Story

Alaska Endorses 1500 Mile, 48 Diameter TransCanada NG Pipeline Overland To Alberta Over Denali Pipeline Group's Scheme

By Tim Bradner - Alaska Journal of Commerce

"The state is offering a set of special natural gas royalty and tax terms as inducements for North Slope producers to sign pipeline capacity contracts during an open season set by TransCanada Corp. that will begin May 1, state officials told state legislators in a briefing.

The incentives could be worth more than $20 billion in value to producers over the life of capacity agreements signed, assuming the entire 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of capacity is subscribed, according to estimates by Black & Veatch, a consulting firm working with the state.

TransCanada is proposing a 1,500-mile, 48-inch pipeline from the North Slope to its Aeco hub in Alberta that could cost as much as $41 billion, the pipeline company estimates.

The state endorsed TransCanada over the rival Denali pipeline group led by BP and ConocoPhillips after the Calgary-based pipeline company agreed to meet certain state goals regarding tariff structure and expansion terms."

Read Full Alaska Journal Of Commerce Article

Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area Feasability Study Released For Review

Read The Full Study Report

New York Times: Text Of Obama Speech On Offshore Drilling - March 31, 2010

.."Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Please have a seat. I've got a few introductions that I want to make very quickly before I start my remarks. First of all, I think that by the end of his tenure we're going to know that Ken Salazar is one of the finest Secretaries of Interior we've ever had. So please give him a big round of applause. (Applause.)"....

Read The Full Text

Campaign Launched Against Nestle' Cascade Locks Bottled Water Plant

By Scott Learn, The Oregonian - Oregon Environmental News

March 29, 2010, 5:33PM

Opponents of a proposed Nestlé Waters North America bottling plant in Cascade Locks launched their campaign today, handing fish and wildlife officials petitions with 3,700 signatures from Oregonians against the project.

Nestlé's first Pacific Northwest plant would tap a nearby spring that supplies an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery. The agency is evaluating whether replacing the spring water with Cascade Locks well water would harm the hatchery's fish or a creek the hatchery feeds into.

Read The Details

Is Bottled Water Any Purer Than Tap Water?

Define The Term - "Port"

Port (pôrt, prt)
n.
1. Abbr. Pt.
a. A place on a waterway with facilities for loading and unloading ships.
b. A city or town on a waterway with such facilities.
c. The waterfront district of a city.
2. A place along a coast that gives ships and boats protection from storms and rough water; a harbor.
3. A port of entry.

Maybe the terms..."Business Park" and "Marine Service Center" were overlooked in developing the definition of a "Port" but, they don't seem to be a relevant part of that definition.

So, are we "The Port of Astoria, Oregon", doing what a "Port" is supposed to do or do we just want to limit ourselves to just being another "Business Park"?

And by the way, how is it The Mayor of Astoria, Oregon can make promises to anybody regarding "Port Business" and is it prudent business practice for any wise business owner to use that kind of judgement in relocating his/her business?

And another question would be....How many new, family wage jobs did those business moves provide to our community workforce?

And now Westerlund wants to move in a long-term Log Export operation with 50 new jobs, jobs that we can damned well qualify for and I still believe these are non-longshoreman jobs and the biggest issue is Housekeeping and we cannot work out a solution to this?

Governor Kulongoski's March 25, 2010 Letter To FERC Over Appropriate Jurisdiction And Lack Of Accurate Pipeline Information For Bradwood Landing

(Excerpt) "The NMFS fails to acknowledge, however, that the Coast Guard has specifically advised FERC and NMFS that it has exclusive jurisdiction over the screening issue and that, at present, it would not allow the use of the screening required by the FERC order or proposed by the applicant. See attached letter from J.G. Lance, US Coast Guard to Kimberly D. Bose, FERC, dated May 1, 2009.

If the Biological Opinion is to be useful, consistent with NMFS's assessment of the relative roles of the FERC and the Coast Guard, and comply with the Endangered Species Act, NMFS's Biological Opinion must consider the impact on the Columbia River fisheries of unscreened ballast and cooling water withdrawals on LNG tankers. The Draft Description should be revised accordingly.

The State of Oregon also notes that the project description does not clearly identify the final pipeline route. The Bradwood Landing EIS and FERC's order approving the project generally identify the route of the pipeline, but appear to also leave room for alternations to the route due to facts on the ground. The project description should identify the final pipeline route with sufficient detail to identify the locations that pipeline construction and maintenance will impact specific waterbodies."

Read Letter and Attachment

KMUN - "The Last D.J." - Presents: A Conversation With Clatsop County D.A. Josh Marquis & Paul Logli

Sunday, March 28, 2010

7:00-8:00pm, on "The Last DJ"
KMUN 91.9FM KTCB 89.5 FM
on the web at: http://www.coastradio.org/
questions & comments to: asktheradio@gmail.com

* How communities can have good jails and good schools.

* How non-profits contribute to healthy communities.

* Prosecutorial ethics.

* The media and the law.

* Your questions and comments.

Join Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis and Paul Logli, former president of the National District Attorneys Association, in a lively and wide-ranging conversation about public safety.

Bio: Paul Logli
Currently: Chief Executive Officer , United Way of Rock River Valley, Rockford, IL

In 2008 Paul Logli took on the position as CEO of the United Way of Rock River Valley after having been actively involved with many human service and professional organizations. He has over 30 years of legal experience serving as an assistant state's attorney, state's attorney, judge and an attorney in private practice. He is the longest serving State's Attorney in Winnebago County (Rockford, IL) history, holding the position for five terms from 1986 to 2007. Logli also held several judicial appointments. First, in 1981, as Associate Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit serving Winnebago and Boone Counties, and later in 2007 by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court to the 17th Judicial Court as Circuit Judge presiding over all civil cases in Boone County. His appointment concluded in 2008.
Logli received his Bachelor's Degree in English in 1971 from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and his Juris Doctorate Degree in 1974 from the University of Illinois. He has volunteered for the Boy Scouts, Rosecrance Treatment Center, Illinois Growth Enterprises and the United Way. Logli has been nationally recognized as a prosecutor and served as President of the National District Attorneys Association in 2005 and 2006. Logli also previously served as President of the Illinois State's Attorneys Association and is the Past President of the Winnebago County Bar Association. He was an instructor for the Illinois State Bar Association and served on the faculty of the National College of District Attorneys for over 20 years.

Bio: Josh Marquis
Currently: Clatsop County (Astoria, OR) District Attorney
Josh Marquis has been District Attorney of Clatsop County (Astoria) Oregon, since 1994, and is currently running unopposed for this fifth term. He is a former president of the Oregon District Attorney's Association and has served on the Board of Directors of the National District Attorneys Association since 1997.

A graduate of the University of Oregon's Honors College and Law School, he has worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles, speechwriter to California's Attorney General, and in his 18 months as a criminal defense lawyer represented three defendants in capital murder cases.

Josh is an active Democrat, serving as a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the NDAA's Board of Directors, serves on the Board of Directors of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the University of Oregon Law School Alumni Association. In July 2009 he was appointed to the Leadership Council of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section.

California Terminates Northern Star's Cleawater Project For Failure To Submit Required Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts:
March 16, 2010 Linda Krop, EDC: 805-963-1622
Kira Redmond, SBCK: 805-452-8647
LOCAL GROUPS CLAIM VICTORY AT END OF LNG PROJECT
Clearwater Port application terminated after company fails to submit required
information to permitting agencies
SANTA BARBARA, CA---The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Santa
Barbara Channelkeeper (SBCK) celebrated today after learning that the application for
NorthernStar’s Clearwater Port Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project was terminated by
the California State Lands Commission. The application, which would have allowed
construction of a massive LNG terminal offshore Carpinteria and Oxnard, had been
suspended since

Read The Details

U.S. District Court Judge, Michael W. Mossman Orders Port of Astoria To Finalize OLNG Lease

So, it wasn't an order, just a strong suggestion?

So, says OLNG's Peter Hansen?

From KAST-AM 1370 News and Talk

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
PORTLAND DIVISION

LNG DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, LLC,
dba OREGON LNG,
No. CV 09-847-JE
Plaintiff,
OPINION & ORDER
v.
PORT OF ASTORIA, an Oregon Port; DAN HESS,
an individual; LARRY PFUND, an individual;
WILLIAM HUNSINGER, an individual;
JACK BLAND, an individual; and FLOYD
HOLCOM, an individual,
Defendants.

MOSMAN, J.,
On February 3, 2010, Magistrate Judge Jelderks issued Findings and Recommendation
("F&R") (#126) in the above-captioned case recommending that I GRANT plaintiff's Motion for
Preliminary Injunction (#101). Defendants filed objections to the F&R with a request for an
evidentiary hearing (#129) and plaintiff responded (#130).
DISCUSSION
The magistrate judge makes only recommendations to the court, to which any party may file
written objections. The court is not bound by the recommendations of the magistrate judge, but
PAGE 1 - OPINION & ORDER
Case 3:09-cv-00847-JE Document 132 Filed 03/11/2010 Page 1 of 2
retains responsibility for making the final determination. The court is generally required to make
a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified findings or recommendation as
to which an objection is made. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). However, the court is not required to
review, under a de novo or any other standard, the factual or legal conclusions of the magistrate
judge as to those portions of the F&R to which no objections are addressed. See Thomas v. Arn, 474
U.S. 140, 149 (1985); United States v. Reyna-Tapia, 328 F.3d 1114, 1121 (9th Cir. 2003). While
the level of scrutiny under which I am required to review the F&R depends on whether or not
objections have been filed, in either case, I am free to accept, reject, or modify any of the magistrate
judge's F&R. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C).
Upon review, I agree with Judge Jelderks's recommendation, and I ADOPT the F&R (#126)
as my own opinion. Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction (#101) is GRANTED as described
in Judge Jelderks's F&R. Defendants should take immediate steps to provide the additional thirtyyear
term specified in the sublease, and to make the land subject to that sublease available to plaintiff
LNG for its use.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED this 11th day of March, 2010.
/s/ Michael W. Mosman
MICHAEL W. MOSMAN
United States District Court
PAGE 2 - OPINION & ORDER

9:00AM Today(March 11, 2010) On OPB - Controlling LNG: A Conversation On States Control OF LNG Decision Over FERC's Control

From: Daniel Serres dserres@gmail.com
Date: March 10, 2010 8:14:09 PM PST

Listen To A Complete Replay Think Out Loud's Presentation, Controlling LNG

Fifth Amendment, Pipelines, Energy Speculators And Eminent Domain

Eminent domain
The Supreme Court has held that the federal government and each state has the power of eminent domain—the power to take private property for "public use". The Takings Clause, the last clause of the Fifth Amendment, limits the power of eminent domain by requiring that "just compensation" be paid if private property is taken for public use. The just compensation provision of the Fifth Amendment did not originally apply directly to the states, but the federal courts now hold that the Fourteenth Amendment extended the effects of that provision to the states. The federal courts, however, have shown much deference to the determinations of Congress, and even more so to the determinations of the state legislatures, what constitutes "public use". The property need not actually be used by the public; rather, it must be used or disposed of in such a manner as to benefit the public welfare or public interest. One exception that restrains the federal government is that the property must be used in exercise of a government's enumerated powers.
The owner of the property that is taken by the government must be justly compensated. When determining the amount that must be paid, the government does not need to take into account any speculative schemes that the owner claims the property was intended for use in. Normally, the fair market value of the property determines "just compensation". If the property is taken before the payment is made, interest accrues (though the courts have refrained from using the term "interest").
The federal courts have not restrained state and local governments from seizing privately owned land for private commercial development on behalf of private developers. This was upheld on June 23, 2005, when the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Kelo v. City of New London. This 5–4 decision remains controversial. The majority opinion, by Justice Stevens, found that it was appropriate to defer to the city's decision that the development plan had a public purpose, saying that "the city has carefully formulated a development plan that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including, but not limited to, new jobs and increased tax revenue." Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion observed that in this particular case the development plan was not "of primary benefit to . . . the developer" and that if that was the case the plan might have been impermissible. In the dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor argued that this decision would allow the rich to benefit at the expense of the poor, asserting that "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms." She argued that the decision eliminates "any distinction between private and public use of property—and thereby effectively delete[s] the words 'for public use' from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment". A number of states, in response to Kelo, have passed laws and/or state constitutional amendments which make it more difficult for state governments to seize private land. Takings that are not "for public use" are not directly covered by the doctrine,[8] however such a taking might violate due process rights under the Fourteenth amendment, or other applicable law.
The exercise of the police power of the state resulting in a taking of private property was long held to be an exception to the requirement of government paying just compensation. However the growing trend under the various state constitution's taking clauses is to compensate innocent third parties whose property was destroyed or "taken" as a result of police action.[9]

Open House To Meet CCB0fC District-1 Candidate Scott Lee

OPEN HOUSE to meet SCOTT LEE
Candidate for District 1 Clatsop County Commissioner
Sunday, March 14 from 4-6 p.m.
1684 Irving Avenue
You don't have to live in District 1 to want the best people in county government - check out Scott! District 1 includes Hammond, Warrenton, and Astoria east to roughly 5th Street. The D1 Commissioner is Jeff Hazen, who has filed for re-election.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME - - PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL.