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.