By John Stark
With emotions running high for the Saturday, Oct. 27 public session on a prop0sed Cherry Point coal export terminal, key leaders of the pro- and anti-coal export movements have joined in a call for civility.
Crina Hoyer, executive director of RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, and Mark Lowry, president of the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council, issued this statement:
“As community leaders, we value public process, civil discourse, and the open exchange of ideas. For the upcoming scoping process for the Gateway Pacific Terminal project, we commit to behaving with the utmost respect, professionalism, and civility to each other and to the government officials involved in this process. We ask you to join us and commit to the same set of standards.”
Environmentalists say they expect more than 1,000 people to gather for a 10 a.m. rally outside Squalicum High School, 3773 E. McLeod Road, in advance of the 11 a.m. -to-3 p.m. Saturday “scoping meeting” to give interested people a chance to weigh in on what environmental and economic issues should get study as part of the lengthy process of deciding whether the Gateway Pacific Terminal can be built in conformance with local, state and federal environmental regulations.
Labor unions and others who support the terminal for its jobs and tax revenues are also expected to turn out.
Mark Lowry and Crina Hoyer are both class acts, through and through, and recognize that good public process means careful inquiry, lots of public input and honesty on both sides. I commend both of their characters and level-headed judgement.
Please do tell the men and women wearing those union shirts to please be nice. Their bad behavior at the Dems meeting where they shouted at Mr. Ferris and the union’s bullying behavior at the council meeting when Larson and the union was trying to pass an out of order resolution in support of the GPT is well remembered. People also remember the union man Warren’s mad shouting at the crowd at the mayor’s meeting concerning the GPT.
I doubt bad behavior by our democratic party, has ever been explained to the democratic party.
9-0 United States v. Locke, starring Christine Gregoir Attorney General, who obviously had quite a bit of difficulty, in her bad behavior at Law School. Democracy Now, from those Articles of Confederation, tossed in the trash quite a while ago.
“The State of Washington has enacted legislation in an area where the federal interest has been manifest since the beginning of our Republic and is now well established. The authority of Congress to regulate interstate navigation, without embarrassment from intervention of the separate States and resulting difficulties with foreign nations, was cited in the Federalist Papers as one of the reasons for adopting the Constitution. E.g., The Federalist Nos. 44, 12, 64. In 1789, the First Congress enacted a law by which vessels with a federal certificate were entitled to “the benefits granted by any law of the United States.” Act of Sept. 1, 1789, ch. 11, §1, 1 Stat. 55.”
Call the NYPD!
Thanks for doing your part to spread the love, Owl.
Great Boudou, NYPD’s finest headline news today Officer Valle.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman ordered Officer Valle held without bail.
Spreading his love, Classic Public Employee!
Everyone should show up because this issue is huge. But for those not able to comment orally (and most will not be able to, so take a deep breath now; I am), PLEASE submit a written comment via:
• Mail to GPT/Custer Spur EIS c/o CH2M HILL, 1100 112th
Avenue NE Suite 400, Bellevue, WA 98004
• Email to comments at eisgatewaypacificwa.gov
• Via the web form at eisgatewaypacificwa.gov
The agencies are asking us to help them narrow the scope of the EIS to the significant adverse impacts. Save opinions for a letter to the editor! A comment should ask the agencies to measure the risk of a negative impact that would occur if the terminal were permitted. If that risk is great and can’t be mitigated, agencies must consider the “no action” alternative.
At the least, agencies should consider that a “reasonable alternative” to the proposed terminal is that which was permitted in 1997 — the “real” multimodal terminal for 8.2 mil. metric tons of wheat, woodchips, potash, sulfur, and calcined coke, which left over 1000 acres of undeveloped land for manufacturing and processing plants that could use that ENORMOUS pier (capacity to berth 3 cape-size vessels at a time) to export Washington products.
Why are the pro pollution folks even coming to this meeting? Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is to find out what impacts should be looked at? What are they going to do, ask them to NOT look at things?
To John:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”,
Quick check to see if I can still post here. I’m blocked form the main pages now.
OBTW, I did have a couple of recent comments automatically blocked for review. Realized too late my error. I’d posted URLs. To the GPT EIS co-lead’s webpages. My bad.
What I wanted to say on the main page article about the scoping meeting today was in response to QQQQ who said Pike had gotten preferential treatment by being able to speak: he wasn’t there, I was, and Dan got his number the old fashioned way — by showing up early, standing in the rain and cold, and waiting until the doors opened. And, for the record, there were less than 200 people who wanted to speak in that public a forum. Most wanted to observe and show solidarity of the opposition. But the hope is — at least my hope is — the other 1800 will later, in the privacy and security of their homes — write comments.
And for the record, John, your article was incorrect on a major point. Those who got there early to queue weren’t there an hour in advance. I was there two hours before the doors opened (9:00/11:00) and I got number Green 31 for one of 2 rooms, so there were around 60 people ahead of me (there were green, white, and purple numbers for the auditorium, gymnasium, and one-on-one table statements). Dan McShane, who was near the front, told me he got there at 7, and Dan Pike was only about 4-6 people behind him. Those folks were waiting 3-4 hours.
The real shame, is Coal Heats Best!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577591212039656948.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTSecondBucket
I’ve been wondering, are you the same Liberty Bell who posts on the main pages?
“As we emerge from the worst recession in generations, there is nothing more important than to do everything we can to get our economy moving again….”
- President Barack Obama
Don’t think he meant, “The costs be damned.”
Oh yeah! Why would anyone want a “community meeting” to be fair handed? This is one crazy town.