For a good laugh download the first issue dated, September 9, 2009, of The FONSI Report, that’s FONSI as in ‘Friends of Sustainable Industry’, not FONSI as in the more commonly used acronym for ‘finding of no significant impact’, nor is it to be confused with The Fonz or Fonzi from Happy Days. Within the bowels of this premier publication, just past the image of a bloated LNG tanker at sea you find this tidbit
First, a bit about FONSI.
FONSI has been around for more than a dozen years and you may remember its work in advocating for the Coos County Pipeline or the formation of the Coos County Airport District. When there is a project of significance that affects our local economy, FONSI is generally pretty close by, often working behind the scenes to make things happen. FONSI’s work
is generally done by its board of directors, which is currently about a dozen in number. All are local business or professional people with a keen desire to see our community
prosper and enjoy the quality of life benefits that come with a stable and sustainable economy.
Can you imagine taking credit, actually crowing about being instrumental in bringing about the Coos County Pipeline? THE PIPELINE, you know, the one that went horribly bad and cost the County millions of dollars for their share of permit violations and still leaves us with 15%+ unemployment. The one where Nikki Whitty spoke at a public meeting in 2001 assuring the citizens that“We don’t set the tax rate, but believe the Oregon Department of Revenue would put NW Natural on the tax roll,” and yet any taxes paid have been passed on to the handful of natural gas users. That disaster still isn’t settled and there is a nice slide show on the FONSI handy work here. How many sustained jobs did FONSI bring to Coos County with that $50M fiasco?
Then there is the airport district. Surely, they don’t want us to thank them for the $30M+ executive jet parking lot built solely to benefit The Bandon Dunes? Within the same issue you will find this…
Air traffic and commercial passengers have declined year over year by 40% due to the recession and the discontinuation of Horizon’s service to Portland [in itself a story of complete ineptitude]…The coalition successfully negotiated a guaranteed revenue contract with Sky-West Airlines to continue service to Portland utilizing a United Airlines code share. Throughout the fall, winter and spring, the Coos County Airport District paid out nearly $500,000.00 in subsidies to guarantee continuation of the Portland service.
The report goes on to mention that your tax dollar ‘investment’ has paid off, and that bookings are up and are no longer subsidized, yet this KCBY report says
Airport Commissioner Joe Benetti, says they’ve been working with SkyWest for a while to add these two flights, after the airline scaled back northbound service last fall to just one flight a day.
“Now they’ll be be leaving at 5:40 a.m. and getting up there approximately an hour later. Then they’ll also have a 7:35 a.m. flight, which they have now. And then they’ll have one coming back from Portland at 7:30 p.m., getting here at 8:30 p.m. Another one leaving at 9:30 p.m, getting here at 10:30 p.m. And then San Francisco, they’re adding a third flight for the summer also.”
The airport is also working on improved connectivity on those northbound flights.
“We’re in the process of trying to get a Connect Oregon III grant with Klamath Falls and Salem. By doing that, we’ll get a grant that will help and assist SkyWest to have a reservation system. By doing that, then they’ll be able to connect, besides just United up in Portland, with hopefully Alaska Airlines and also with Delta, which will make the flights northbound even more favorable,” says Benetti.
None of the flights will be subsidized.
A ConnectOregon grant is without argument a form of subsidy and within every ticket is a tax. These people who take credit for this incredible economic disaster and try to sell it as if it is a success are the ones now pushing for LNG and chromite strip mining and some other dirty industrial jobs no one wants anywhere else. Why is Coos County still listening to them and letting them hold positions on public boards? Still electing them to councils and commissions?
The Bandon Dunes, despite being an ongoing and successful business got a taxpayer funded boost when the Coquille Valley Enterprise Zone was expanded. According to Nikki Whitty “In 2004 another boundary amendment was completed that added the Bandon Dunes property.” The Bandon Dunes currently pays the lowest property tax rates in the county. How has FONSI, the Coos County Pipeline and the Dunes supporting airport district helped Coos County?
You can read issue number two here, also a howler and number three here.
Issue 3 has many remarkable claims, not only about FONSI but also SCDC and The International Port of Coos Bay and the ORC.
SCDC also worked cooperatively with the Port in smoothing the way for Oregon Resources Corporation to secure permits from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The results were swift and ORC has commenced work on their processing plant in Eastside.
This is interesting on several counts. Number one during a public meeting of the Port Commissioners and recorded in the November 19, 2009 minutes, it was determined the Port would take a neutral position regarding ORC.
Upon a motion by Commissioner Scott (second by Commissioner Smith) the Board of Commissioners authorized staff to explore the record surrounding the Oregon Resources Project and come back to the Commission at a later date concerning advocacy.
Nevertheless, at a January 28, 2010 SCDC meeting available online ORC COO, Dan Smith is bemoaning the struggles they have encountered getting permits to extract minerals from within Coos County. Port Director Jeff Bishop is also present. Only three weeks later during a public meeting of the Port Commission, that can be watched here, Dan Smith of ORC stands to thank Bishop and port staff for their help in securing a permit from the US Army Corp of Engineers. A review of the minutes of subsequent port meetings yields no mention of the Port taking a pro-active or advocacy stance on behalf of ORC. Was this decision made without benefit of a public meeting and who made the decision for a publicly owned entity like the Port to advocate on behalf of a privately held corporation? Why is an organization that receives public funds such as SCDC lobbying on behalf of a private corporation? Why are FONSI and SCDC, both with such miserable track records still trying to manipulate Coos County economics? Is it merely a coincidence that Port Commissioner Kronsteiner, owner of West Coast Contractors gets the contract to drive pile at the ORC processing plant?
An email to both DEQ and the US Army Corp of Engineers asking just exactly how one goes about ‘smoothing the way’ has DEQ denying any prior knowledge of SCDC and the Army Corp recommending I file a FOIA request at a link here. So is FONSI just blowing more smoke, trying to justify their existence when they are really a ‘finding of no significant impact’? Is SCDC, locally famous for only creating two jobs, those within SCDC, misrepresenting its capabilities to justify its existence? Is Dan Smith grateful for ‘smoothing’ that port director Jeff Bishop never did, and if so why gush in public? Something isn’t right here and hopefully many will follow the FOIA link and ask for all communications, every sticky note, every phone call, every letter or conversation to find out.
Back to Bandon Dunes for a moment. SCDC has referred to the golf resort in their SDAT application as a ‘remarkable community partner’, however, when the Dunes learned ORC was going to be strip mining near the resort the Dunes had a very NIMBY moment.
Despite a belief Oregon Resources Corp. wouldn’t mine for chromite next to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, company officials haven’t erased that plan.
Oregon Resources Chief Operating Officer Dan Smith said Tuesday the company never abandoned its interest in what’s known as the Shepard site, a sixth mining pit in the original plan.
Bandon Dunes attorney Al Johnson said it’s news to his client. He first heard about Smith’s comments Wednesday afternoon and immediately called and left a message with Oregon Resources’ attorney Steven Abel, of Stoel Rives in Portland. As of this morning he hadn’t heard back.
“Obviously it’s of concern,” Johnson said. “We had no advanced knowledge and we’re still in the dark.”
The resort is constructing a new 18-hole championship golf course at the northeast corner of its holdings — the area closest to the Shepard site…
…In August 2007, the company had announced it no longer was interested in the site, just one day prior to the Coos County Planning Commission’s approval of the company’s conditional-use mining permit. At that time Bandon Dunes General Manager Hank Hickox said there had been dialog between Oregon Resources representatives and Bandon Dunes attorneys for weeks about the site that is located about a mile and a half from the resort. He said then he was relieved the company had lost interest.
“We were concerned about the 24-hour activity,” Hickox told The World in August.
Remarkable community partner that they are, now that they are no longer threatened by the industrial strip mining the Dunes has left Bandon Woodlands Community Association to fend for themselves.
By the way, if anyone really feels sorry for miners like Dan Smith or Oregon Resources or their Australian owners read up on the Mining Act of 1872 and see just how much common public treasure has been scooped up and how many superfund sites they have left in their wake for working class taxpayers to clean up. Read ‘Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of our Common Wealth’ by David Bollier, who calls the Mining Act of 1872 the ‘granddaddy of all corporate giveaways’ and notes mining companies extract $2B to $3B each year from federal lands without paying a cent to the federal government.
The Dan Smith’s and their ‘woe is me’ act as exhibited at the SCDC meeting isn’t only unmanly it is downright pathetic and while they aren’t partaking of the federal act on state and county lands they arise from that 140 year old tradition of privileged plunder and think nothing of offering only a handful of jobs and few shekels to a county barely able to keep its schools open or provide adequate public safety.
Bob Main is right, there is no net increase in jobs trading logging for mining, certainly not enough to justify the risks and the potential damage to the fishing industry and waterways is irreparable as studies have shown and I have linked to here
We have roughly 30 days to get public comments in on the 1200-A storm water permit. The failure of just one permit could save the public from this plunder…
More info coming soon
Okay, I am a bit more alert this morning, Bandon Res and that is a really good question about the heavy rain events. Look what Myrtle Point and Coquille do with their sewage during a heavy rain event.. they just flush it into the river, ugh!
Chromium may be a naturally occurring product as are many other carcinogens, but just like coal, when you dig it up it is no longer sequestered safely underground. Eventually, despite all efforts to avoid it, substances are going to enter the waterways.
Not sure about fresh air but at least a modest counterweight to some of the local media. Several readers have advised me an ‘Orc’ is running damage control on the local forum but it makes me sad to go there so I avoid it if I can.
Thank you for your well documented and well written article. You are a breath of fresh air to Coos County with competent and responsible journalism.
We live within 2 miles of one of ORC’s mine sites. I have so many issues that need to be addressed, but will focus on just a couple here.
First: The BOC’s need to research their options for good use of forest acres i.e. carbon credits and wind energy etc. Due diligence should be on the front page. The BOC are “elected” officials to protect and represent the county and our best interests. Not the interests of a foreign owned company from Australia. My question: When does loyalty trump duty? or vice versa, When does duty trump loyalty? Our commissioners have a “duty” to represent the people of this county and their loyalty should be with the best interest of the people reflected in the use of the forest lands.
Second: 1200A Permit. This permit has not been issued and still open for public comment. Two fo the four emails, that we know of, that were not delivered, included organizations that represent several hundred people through out the state and 200+ families living in the Seven Devils/West Beaver Hill area. ORC claims they will be pumping the storm water uphill. That’s interesting. Everything flows downhill.
How is ORC actually going to pump out all the storm water from the pits during a rain event after it has been mixed into a chemical soup containing toxic minerals? And, not impact Three and Five Mile creeks?
With that said, thanks for allowing me to post my concerns on your blog.
This from Ruralite:
My concerns are many. However, at the forefront of my concerns lives the phrase from ORC that because of this area’s coastal environment, hexavalent chromium can not exist. That eased our minds until ORC drilled a few test wells and all wells brought small, but varying, levels of this toxic substance. Shouldn’t more testing be done? Of course it should. We are on the brink of beginning a strip mining operation that is a coin toss whether or not we turn this pristine coastline into a Superfund site.
So were these tests made public Ruralite? Was this information reported in the local paper?
Thanks.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with you. As a reference, The League of Oregon Cities recommended that city managers not make a career of one city, but move on every five years. This allows fresh ideas and new thinking. All I am pointing out is, as an example, our city council in Coquille has allowed the same city manager to have a ten year run. There is a fear of innovation and change.
With all due respect, the Port situation is drastically different in that the leadership is appointed, not elected, and the executive director is not an employee of the County. Also, even though you may have disagreed with the firings of City Managers by Coos Bay, the point is they could. Right or wrong, they felt a change was needed and they acted quickly to make a change. Had they perhaps done a better job hiring the replacement and fantastic things were happening in Coos Bay because of the new City Managers efforts, perhaps you would feel more strongly that the model works better?
I would encourage all to look outside of the immediate area to find success stories where new leadership has brought about positive change in their City or County and spread this positive news.
We need to encourage capable people to provide LEADERSHIP.
From Wikipedia: Leadership is stated as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech states that, “Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.
Hey BandonRocks, these are excellent suggestions and the local municipalities run on that model, sort of. Alas, there are problems with any system naturally but a good example is the Port. The port has an executive director, Jeff Bishop, overseen by governor appointed commissioners. As one regular port observer notes, Bishop has his commission so ‘mesmerized’ they effectively question nothing. Reading some of his rationale to the port can be painful to any competent researcher but he ‘smooths the way’ for commission approval regularly.
Then there is the sad tale of the city managers hired to administer Coos Bay (five in three years I think) who are run off by the mayor and council for doing their job and trying to apply city ordinances as written… there is a lot to this story.
Even with an educated, trained public administrator, without competent oversight we still have problems. The electorate is slowly starting to wake up.
Ruralite hits the nail on the head with the comment about ORC’s lack of financial strength given the potential damage that could be caused to County Forestland as a result of their mining. They (ORC) should be required to post a significant cash security deposit before the County let’s them start strip mining County owned land. Any prudent landlord would require this of it’s tenant.
The County Commissioners are clearly not experienced in these areas and don’t know when to bring in experts to help them run the County. This is a perfect argument for changing the way the County is managed. Coos County should hire a County Administrator to act as “CEO” of the County. This person would have, hopefully, been educated in Government Administration and have experience running a County. This person would be an employee of the County and be held accountable for her (or his) day-to-day performance, unlike the Commissioners.
It’s time to bring Coos County in to the 21st Century!!!
Welcome, Ruralite and thank you. The risk of ground water contamination is so high in any mining operation whether hex chromium is there or not. Altering ground water and wetlands runoff can have many unforeseen consequences and though the permitting agency is bound by regulations that enable an applicant to gain a permit if they meet criteria, both enforcement of conditions and cleanup can devastate a local economy.
DEQ will send out notice soon of where to submit comments and how much time is available. We will post that information when known. I have a copy of the 1200-A and will try and put a link to it in the post above sometime today
Thank you for a well written article. As someone raising a family near the strip mining (and trying to write this while a two-year old is demanding his attention – so this won’t be a long post) I am discouraged by this entire situation. The Bandon Woodlands Community Association (BWCA) consists of over 200 homes in the mining area. The BWCA has paid for independent tests and reports to learn what the potential implications of the proposed mining could mean for this area. It isn’t good. Perhaps one of our members could link to those reports?
My concerns are many. However, at the forefront of my concerns lives the phrase from ORC that because of this area’s coastal environment, hexavalent chromium can not exist. That eased our minds until ORC drilled a few test wells and all wells brought small, but varying, levels of this toxic substance. Shouldn’t more testing be done? Of course it should. We are on the brink of beginning a strip mining operation that is a coin toss whether or not we turn this pristine coastline into a Superfund site.
What is equally disturbing is the company responsible for this (Oregon Resources Corporation) isn’t based in Oregon at all. They are a penny stock on the Australian Exchange, currently trading at .12 a share. Any public company trading at .12 is an incredibly risky investment. To let this company try and mine this area is irresponsible at best.
Thank you for your continued posts about what we can do to shine some light on this subject. More info on the 1200-A permit and how to post our public comments would be appreciated.