Yesterday, the Coos Bay Downtown Association facilitated in the marketing campaign to turn millions of dollars in property taxes over to a few self-appointed overlords. 
The organization forwarded an email from BS Oregon signed by Brooke Walton to their mailing list. The email highlights the “community enhancement plan” which includes “waterfront revitalization” and entails giving the CEO of the Int’l Port of Coos Bay, the city managers of North Bend and Coos Bay and a county commissioner carte blanche to do whatever they want without public scrutiny. The plan also requires handing a $750 billion tax break to a foreign company, in this case Veresen, Inc., owner of the Jordan Cove LNG project. Put another way, this plan allows a handful of schemers to gamble with public money and deprive the taxing districts of badly needed funding. Notice the use of the term “Our community” below-
Our community has submitted a proposal to Veresen – the owner of the Jordan Cove Energy Project – that would have the company pay a community service fee totaling nearly $500 million dollars to our region over 19 years.
Specifics of the proposal include allocating funds to:
• Increase funding for public safety and emergency response in addition to the proposed Southwest Regional Safety Center
• Funding for the County to help with priorities like expanding health care and nutritional programs for pregnant women, infants, and children
• South Coast Community Foundation for things like education program improvements and class size reduction
• Southwestern Oregon Community College will receive funds to distribute in the form of grants and scholarships
• Bayfront Waterfront Revitalization and economic development that helps attract tourists and new businesses and jobs
• Expanding commerce and attracting more businesses by improving the waterfront development and the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport
Together with the Jordan Cove Energy Project, this proposal will boost our economy and help our community thrive.
“Our community”. Really? How many of you were consulted? Did you get a chance to vote? The proposal claims to bring in “$500 million dollars to our region over 19 years.” However, without the proposal the number would be more than double it just wouldn’t be controlled by the local power brokers. Will be posting much more on this over the next few days as I gather some more information, like who is funding BS Oregon?
Please contact your elected city and county officials and tell them to slow down and let the public weigh in on this scheme.
Bob Main
(541) 396-7540
John Sweet
(541) 396-7541
Melissa Cribbins
(541) 396-7539
Wassup you are exactly correct. All one has to do is look at what Shell did to the people on Sakhalin Island with the LNG export project that was built there. The gas industry uses the same play book everywhere and in the end will not deliver on their empty promises while they leave a trail of destruction and deceit for the local communities to have to deal with.
The industry has mastered how to scam and take over small communities. It is all about the money and if people knew ahead of time what was coming no one would be in favor of what they do and THEY KNOW IT.
Locals get shafted and take on all the risk, hazards and destruction leaving foreigners to make billions of dollars at the local communities expense. Dollars that quickly go out of the country.
And don’t be fooled by their BS Oregon lobby firm out of Portland. That is just all a part of the facade and scam.
PLEASE friends of MGX, never lose sight of the fact that once the Jordan Cove facility is approved, Braddock, then a very wealthy man, will be gone. His promises are like offering the sleeves from his vest – there are none. His ten years of promises that have not been reduced to writing that our gullible elected and appointed representatives have bought will be gone also. Veresen will sell out Jordan Cove to a global fossil fuels company. Those familiar with Novation type agreements know that any Veresen promises, oral or written, will never be enforced in a court of law. And, sadly, the good ol’ boys will survive and return with another wonderful venture for us to financially support.
Veresen figured out how easy it was to manipulate and control Coos County by controlling only a few people:
The City Administrators of North Bend and Coos Bay, two Coos County Commissioners and,
the Port of Coos Bay’s executive director.
When people are paid to represent the public’s interest and don’t, it is their heads that are on the line not Jordan Cove’s.
I am guessing that Veresen is just as amazed as the rest of us at how incompetent and inept Coos County public officials and paid leaders are. You can’t blame them for trying to swindle the best deal they possibly can. If they are really serious about their project, however, they would be foolish to sign on to something this terrible. Particularly since FERC and other entities are watching and they are not so dumb. Neither is the general public once they are informed.
It’s obviously well beyond time that the county commissioners dissolve and re-absorb all special taxing districts. It’s time they step up and end all the years of foolishness and money wasted on “growth” schemes. If there’s a legitimate business that wants to settle in this county then let them come here on their own merit and pay their fair share of taxes. Why is that so much to ask?
It’s all starting to add up isn’t it? Is it just a coincidence that the Commissioners have not sent Wyden a letter demanding to correct tax oversights in his bill and then they hatch this scheme. Could it be that if Coos County is in more of a tax crunch, they can make an easier sell of this scheme. It is insulting that our representatives are hatching this type of scheme against the people that elected them. But that is the rub, they represent Veresen/Jordan Cove.
A fool and his money are soon parted and these schemers are nothing but fools who can’t do math.
If Jordan Cove is so great why are they working so hard to rip off Coos County tax payers? Why don’t they agree to pay taxes just like the rest of us are required to do? Why are they not supporting our county?
Not only should they be paying taxes at the same rate as the rest of us, which would amount to around 1.2 Billion over the course of 19 years, they should also be paying (in addition to this) for the necessary safety and security measures their facility would require and stop pawning that off on the Cities and County to do.
A 2003 Congressional report estimated a public cost of $80,000 per shipment to secure a transiting LNG vessel and that figure excluded costs incurred by the terminal owner. That adds up to around 274 million over the course of the same 19 years.
Combine that with the losses the project would inflict on our fishing industry, timber industry, shellfish industry, tourism and recreation – We are talking a huge negative here while the few self appointed lords gamble away and squander precious dollars helping Jordan Cove screw us over…
I am wondering if criminal charges would be able to be brought against those involved in this scheme when the facts all come to light because eventually they will. This is nothing short of criminal what these schemers are doing or attempting to do.
Who’s “negotiating” for Coos County residents?
Hell if that exploiting gas company wants to negotiate then lets take a play from Alaska’s playbook. How about we start with them sending each household in the county $20K a year.
A blind man can see that Boost Southwest is Veresen / Jordan Cove. Portland based and funded, led by an outsider, with very deep pockets. This is hardball time. Doesn’t it piss you off when these ruby slipper wearing sheeple being led by Veresen speak for you – even if you are pro LNG. How stupid do they believe that you are? How much is being paid for that daily half page bullshit advertising in the daily garbage can liner? Every time that Jody McCaffree scares them, they boost the number of jobs. Soon they will double the size of North Bend overnight. Yet no politician demands that Jordan Cove justify those numbers. Sure, there may be 2,000 one day jobs plus 1,000 several month jobs. Originally the number was 1,000 temporary and 40 permanent. Does Madam Ruby Slipper not understand that it would be impossible for 4,000 to work concurrently on any Jordan Cove site? And, for those of you who have not been near a major construction site like the planned Jordan Cove; GOD help you when the contractor from elsewhere brings in his experienced team from elsewhere, many from outside the US, and they have nothing to do at night but hit the bars. You people do not have enough public safety! Find Robocop soon.
Have to agree with you, BS Oregon has gone full on into oversell mode.
750 million (or billion) in taxes would go through the system we all agreed to support when we grew up and entered the workforce and became taxpayers. That amount would be owed to our system without any form of tax breaks, that should be a given, not even questionable and then if this group were able to squeeze this slush fund aka payoff, from Veresen, then you might be able to believe that this group is working for us, not working us.
If this bribe to the local merchants doesn’t work then we can watch them up the ante. If it does work these merchants will have sold out their community far cheaper than necessary. These Jordan Cove players will have completed their local plan to completely take over the whole local system of government and now they just need the big players in the game to spend more money on gas commercials to convince the rest of America that this will be good for them as well.
If they get this local part done by bribing the locals with grants in lieu of taxes, then these children here are screwed if the fracking continues and the oil companys buy all the national politicians of both parties, oh crap, they already did that, didn’t they.