December 27, 2010, may mark a significant turning point in the shift of power and influence in Coos County. For too long, a relatively small tight knit group consisting of members of FONSI (Friends of New and Sustainable Industry) and SCDC (South Coast Development Council) and a few members of local chambers of commerce have dominated the public dialog regarding how to go about digging Coos County out of its funk. Divisive industries like strip mining, ship dismantling and liquefied natural gas terminals are favored over sustainable business models like renewable energy and community owned power generation and burgeoning cottage industries.
Jon Barton, president of FONSI and chairman of the board of SCDC has labeled citizens who do not share support for companies like Oregon Resources (a strip mining company) and Jordan Cove, LLC, a company formed to develop an LNG terminal on the north spit along Coos Bay NIMBY’s (Not In My Back Yard) and CAVEs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) and anti-business or anti-development and other less savory names. Barton and his ilk have succeeded with the help of the local newspaper, The World, in dividing the community into classes of citizens – pro business people vs anti business people – and ignored the very real concerns and criticisms raised by people affected by these companies.
Not every industry is compatible with or suitable for Coos County, a designated coastal zone, and the businesses already supporting the area.
This divide and conquer strategy may have backfired last night when Hank Hickox, manager at one of the county’s largest employers, The Bandon Dunes Resort, came “out of the closet”. Hickox informed the commissioners they did not support Oregon Resources or the mining practices and that their business stood to suffer from the noise, disruption and lost tranquility critical to the ambiance for which the resort has become famous.
SCDC has previously touted The Dunes in their literature and listed them as a ‘remarkable community partner’. Will the resort now be subjected to name calling like the Bandon Woodlands Community Association?
Last night’s meeting of the commissioners turned out to be very revelatory for many reasons. Jon Barton and other ORC supporters were discovered not to have actually read the lease they were promoting and Barton even penned a letter to the editor claiming benefits to the county, such as a $25,000 per acre payment, that did not exist in the lease. Bob Main dispatched, Timm Slater, speaking in favor of signing the lease by educating he and the public with the facts as opposed to the list of talking points Slater was quoting.
FONSI and SCDC are proudly associated with some real economic howlers in Coos County, including the disastrous and expensive $51M 12″ pipeline. Maybe they didn’t read all the fine print in that case either, but it didn’t stop them from trumpeting another white elephant.
Jerry Fish, lawyer for ORC, repeated the claim the company is investing millions of dollars in Coos County. This isn’t really true. The millions of dollars are being invested into the company and even its improvements will be tax exempt for five years. If ORC goes belly up, the millions of dollars will be taken by its biggest creditor, Macquarie Bank and there will be nothing left for the county.
Worse, as is often the case with a company with weak financial statements, Macquarie Bank wants additional collateral in the form of assignable mineral leases. This means ORC might decide to flip the lease to anyone else, or in the event of a default on loan terms, the bank may force the county to do business with anyone else they choose – even if the mining has proven detrimental to the area.
Hopefully, new voices are beginning to be heard and some old voices will soon be quieted.
