the Port, with the assistance of the local paper, has sold the non-competitive bidding process employed under a declared state of emergency to make the repairs as a quick way to create thousands of jobs. In a form of economic blackmail, a job hungry public are held hostage to economic development schemes believing there is no alternative but to pay up.
Read MoreA working rail line was a condition of the $60 million in dredging funds set aside by the legislature for the Port of Coos Bay. CORP was very clear that the line needed expensive repairs before the Port bought the line for $16.6 million. While CORP has been painted as a villain in this transaction, APM terminals did not sign on to build a container dock as advertised and CORP probably realized there was insufficient shipping revenue to justify the repairs.
Read MoreWe now know APM Terminals chose Vancouver, Canada over Coos Bay and while everyone from Ron Wyden and Peter DeFazio have ridiculed CORP for pulling out without six months notice it is hard not to speculate that CORP got a look at the August, 2007 “commercially reasonable agreement” with APM and found it lacking in substance and not consistent with what the Port had been claiming.
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