This story was too good and potentially too relevant to our area not to bring to everyone’s attention. We know this already, of course, but Coos County is not alone in being run and manipulated by small cabals of development ideologues who consistently and persistently conflate self-interest with the public interest.
Panoramio
Anyone who even casually follows the exploits of the North Coast Railroad Authority has seen a particularly absurd example of government folly — a state agency led by a cabal of evangelical cargo cultists with an unfunded mandate to resurrect an insolvent rail line.
In recent years, two members of the agency’s board of directors have tried tactfully but persistently to suggest that the emperor is starkers. One of those, Humboldt County representative Bill Kier, resigned from the agency in May. The other, Marin County representative Bernard H. Meyers, announced yesterday that after six years on the board, he won’t be seeking reappointment. His resignation letter and an accompanying Q-and-A are, in a word, badass — the epistolary equivalent of this.
Among the charges alleged in the 7,000 word resignation letter are that the railroad is on the verge of bankruptcy, has cut deals with the operator that will never show a return to the taxpayer, is black hole for taxpayer money and (drum roll) hides details of its contracts and leases not only from the public but from the board.
Read the post here it is well worth it. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/Blogthing/archives/2013/10/10/ncra-director-gives-agency-a-withering-indictment-on-his-way-out-the-door
Cargo is a very non-descriptive word. This port uses the word cargo to disguise the one and only plan they are working on. An LNG plant can produce other products that need that train. The Jordan cove supporters don’t want you to think about the plan to extract valuable natural gas liquids (NGLs) to be sold in separate markets. The train is mandatory for this to happen. Arnie, Caddy, and Peter Defazio have always known this fact. That’s why they have worked so hard to save this line.
Read this report to help understand why this is a very bad idea. Our local democrat party refuses to accept the truth about LNG because they need to lay political cover for Arnie and Caddy who have been working very hard for this LNG project for the last 10 years.. They will be the last ones to accept the truth about the dangers of this project.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NatGasVsWWS&coal.pdf
All you would have had to do was change the names to our local port people and read the history that fortunately can be read at this site with a little bit of link trailing. There is no denying that the same sort of manipulation of public resources and money has been occurring at this port. No matter how much PR they do to service our 19th century railroad, they cant make the numbers work for the public benefit. Logs, wood chips and a few car loads of miscellaneous products, will never add up to a number anywhere close to the amount of tax dollars they’re spending. They have always known that fact. They always spew the jobs rhetoric when they have to defend the cause, but if it was about jobs they don’t want you to consider the trucking jobs lost to the RR.
The truth is they are still planning to use this RR for tanker cars. They have lost the coal train battle, but they still need the RR for Jordan Cove to have the potential to ship liquid gas products to market. Without the train that possibility goes away. That’s why they have tasked our elected politicians to save this line at our expense.
I think it would be worth obtaining the full text of this commissioners resignation because it would probably give us clues as to where to dig at the port and what to watch out for.
Please! I look to you for news that will never be seen in the World paper. I note the article in the RG this am about Clapsop County rejecting the LNG pipeline. A long from over matter. What’s up with Jody McCaffree and her effort to stop the local LNG pipeline?