| Subject: Bradwood: How Much Cost To 30 Miles Of Security Up-River |
Author:
Patrick McGee
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Date Posted: 07/ 9/06 8:50am
Shut up and eat it
Stephen Forrester Editorial - 'The Daily Astorian'
Homeland security is an excuse to ignore public concerns about LNG
David Addington is hardly a household name. But as Jane Mayer reveals in the current issue of The New Yorker, Addington is the architect of President Bush’s drive to usurp congressional authority and hijack time-honored military justice procedures in a time of war.
In a similar vein, only a handful of Clatsop County residents knows of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). But FERC has the unfettered power to change our lives at the mouth of the Columbia River. FERC may site a liquefied natural gas terminal without deferring to the state of Oregon. Amendments to give the states a role in the LNG siting process failed in the House and Senate.
The only recourse for the state of Oregon, Astoria, Warrenton and Clatsop County is to become an intervenor in the LNG siting process. Today marks the deadline to file as an intervenor in the application by Northern Star Natural Gas to site a liquefied natural gas terminal at Bradwood.
Today also marks the deadline for the public comment period. The state of Oregon is asking that the comment period be extended for 30 days.
How does exclusion of the people closest to a proposed LNG terminal resemble the Bush administration’s exclusion of constitutional and military precedent? Both are about supreme, unfettered executive authority, which is a theme in Washington these days.
The LNG process is also about the marginalization of remote, rural places.
You are a less-empowered American if you did not give a campaign contribution to the president or if you’re not living in a major metropolitan area or if your safety is trumped by homeland security.
That’s what’s happening to the Columbia-Pacific region as FERC takes up Northern Star’s application to build an LNG terminal at Bradwood.
The disconnect for residents of Clatsop and Pacific counties is twofold. We have virtually no say in the process. Secondly, the U.S. Coast Guard’s discussions about transporting LNG up the river have been shrouded in secrecy.
As with so many things these days, the feds are able to turn public matters into secret matters once they declare that homeland security is at stake. Of course, the topography surrounding the Columbia River is no secret. Rand McNally and other more sophisticated Web-based mapping sites offer detailed information on the lower Columbia.
The Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office reportedly has been asked to escort LNG vessels upriver. We also hear the Astoria Bridge will be closed when LNG ships are passing underneath. If there would be an LNG ship arriving every two days, as is predicted, that would be a significant disruption of traffic.
Given the apparent disruption of river traffic by LNG ships, it is a reasonable conclusion that if it is proved both necessary and safe, any LNG terminal should be sited west of the Astoria Bridge, not upriver at Bradwood.
But it is difficult to have that kind of discussion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, because it is merely looking at applications without any comprehensive look at the effect these siting decisions will have on localities.
Secrecy disguises ignorance. Mayer’s article in The New Yorker notes that the Bush administration has had little dialogue about the Constitution, because the Bush White House has no one at a high level with a constitutional law background.
Similarly, because the Coast Guard safety document is secret, it is impossible to know whether Northern Star is giving the Coast Guard the whole story.
The third thread that is critical in LNG siting is the Bush administration’s eagerness to do the bidding of large corporations, even if the outcome risks the health and safety of common citizens.
The message to Clatsop and Pacific counties is very simple: Shut up and eat it.
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