Not A Leg To Stand On

I just finished reading the findings of U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks in the matter regarding Oregon LNG and the Port Of Astoria and individual commissioners.

Oregon LNG asked for a summary judgement on just one of five claims regarding the Port's failure to extend the state lease to 30 years with DSL to match the lease Oregon LNG holds with the Port on the lands on the Skippanon. That claim is very basic: Oregon LNG has renewed it's sublease for the land with the Port and that the Port is in breach of it's sublease obligation to extent the master lease with DSL for 30 years.

Judge Jelderks agrees with the claim saying, in part, that the Port's arguments for not entering the 30 year extension with the state are not supported by fact. He states that the claim should be granted Oregon LNG.

The Port had argued that Oregon LNG "could be" in material breach of the sublease because they did not submit a final master plan that included an 18 hole golf course on the property. The judge found that the sublease required Oregon LNG and the Port to submit that plan. When final version of the plan was submitted he says the Port did not object to the lack of a golf course.
Further he says when the zoning was changed on the land to a use that would be incompatible with a golf course the Port did not object. Judge Jelderks says there is no evidence to suggest that Oregon LNG was in material breach in any way.

The Port had argued that it would be irresponsible to enter into a 30 year lease extension when the Department of Justice was investigating former Port Director Peter Gearin over the flap about making a sweetheart deal with the energy company in order to get his girlfriend, now wife, a job with the company.

The Judge writes: "This conclusion does not support defendants' contention that it is not obligated to extend the Master Lease at this time. There is no evidence that impropriety on the part of the former Port Executive Director in any way affected the Port's negotiation of the leases in question, that the Port Commissioners who unanimously voted to approve the leases were misinformed or mislead as to the material terms of the leases, or that execution of the leases was in any manner affected by deceit or fraud on the part of Gearin or anyone else. In the
absence of such evidence, the DOJ's investigation provides no basis for the Port to avoid its
clear contractual obligations."

I could go on and on with this but basically it boils down to exactly what I said when all this came up in the first place.

The Port is risking a multi-million dollar judgement that will cost taxpayers dearly for no good reason. This summary judgement will be passed on to a District Judge. It lays the groundwork
for one of two things. The Port Commissioners get the point and vote to extend the state lease with DSL or, Oregon LNG recovers all it's costs to date.

What was the point again? Oh yes. The Port argued that they are concerned that Oregon LNG will fold and leave them holding the bag for a 30 year lease with the state. The Judge said that's shear speculation not supported by fact as Oregon LNG has been making lease payments for five years and the Port happily cashes those checks without a word.

Here's An Idea For Christmas

I think anyone would agree that it's been a tough, stressful year. If you work hard I believe you owe it to yourself to play hard as well.

Here's your invitation to come along as we take off for our fourth annual NNB radio cruise. Each year, working with Sundial Travel, we've managed to come up with great vacation trips cruising to Alaska, the islands of the Caribbean and Mexico.

This year we go in April for a very special cruise that only happens once a year.

We are traveling to the world's most famous destination. The Hawaiian islands offer warm weather and beautiful beaches to explore year-round but it can be quite expensive to see more than one island in a single trip. Our cruise aboard the top-rated Carnival Spirit starts in Oahu and visits Maui, Kauai and the big island Hawaii. We arrive early enough to spend the afternoon in Honolulu, overnight in port and depart the following afternoon. We spend a couple days in Maui and a couple days on the Big Island and a day on Kauai.

The best part is you take your hotel, restaurants, personal service, and world class entertainment with you. No packing and unpacking over and over. No valuable time spend waiting for commuter flights or checking into numerous hotels. It's all taken care of once.
Those are just a few of the reasons why cruising is the preferred way to vacation and the only sector of the travel industry that grows regardless of the economy.

There's more.

After we have experienced all the best Hawaii has to offer we spend a few days at sea relaxing as the Spirit takes us on a transpacific cruise to our final stop in Vancouver, BC.

This trip has everything you would want and at a package price no one else can offer. The package includes all transportation, your cabin, meals, on-board gratuities and starts around
$1950 per person for 12 of the best days you'll ever have. We take our travel agent along too so cruise expert Bruce Conner is right there to handle everything.

Consider putting the "Cruise with Tom" and NNB radio under your tree this Christmas and come along on our adventure.

Talk to Ruth at Sundial Travel in Astoria and she will tailor the trip to suit your desires.
Toll-free its 1-800-433-1164 or locally call 503-325-4484

To those of you who read this blog throughout the country..This invitation is for you as well. I'd love to meet you.

Oregon LNG

There have been two significant developments regarding Oregon LNG this week. The first came on Tuesday when the court ruled that the Port of Astoria should enter into the 30 year lease with DSL and Oregon LNG for the lands on the Skippanon. I asked Oregon LNG CEO
Peter Hansen to comment this morning:

Tom,

This ruling does not specifically force the Port to do anything. However, it does indeed pave the way for future rulings to force the Port's hand. We expect the Port to do the right thing and renew the 30 year lease.

Peter

With that said, it is not likely that the Port will take this ruling as a directive since so much potential revenue is at stake. At this point if the Port were to follow the court suggestion it could be tantamount to admitting that the original lease agreement should stand.

The Port Commission is looking to it's own bottom line and it's responsibility to district constituents in taking actions to resolve the Skippanon ownership issues that Commissioner Floyd Holcom has brought forward. They've even hired an attorney who, until his current term ends, sits on the board of Columbia River Keepers (the same organization whose volunteers were quite active in the recent recall campaigns against Commission Chair Hazen and former
Commissioner Ann Samuelson) to pursue it's claims and handle the suit against Oregon LNG. For his part, that attorney told us that his reason for joining that organization years ago came from concerns over the long overdue clean up of the Willamette. It still seems to represent a conflict.

They What?

Oh yes, they did.



Columbia River keepers ,apparently ,very actively participated in the recent recall election. It doesn't come as any surprise considering River keepers involvement in the LNG issue but the problem for the non-profit environmental organization is that 501 (c)3 non-profits are strictly prohibited from participating in political campaigns of any kind. An article on the local news website NCO reveals an email exchange between local river keeper staffer Olivia Schmidt and the organization's head guy Brett VandenHeuvel following the Hazen/Samuelson recall election where Olivia is seeking advice about how to word a news release so that it doesn't look as though anti-LNG forces completely failed to make their point with a recall campaign that was clearly a loss for them.

An independent organization that supports the energy industry has called for Columbia River keeper's board of directors to review the actions of it's staff and volunteers to determine if there was a violation of the prohibition against non-profits getting involved in any political campaign. VandenHeuvel had, during the course of the campaign, sent a message to former Commissioner Samuelson to "clear up a rumor" that his organization was involved in the recall in any way. These emails between Olivia and VandenHeuvel seem to conflict with his statements.

It's sad to see Columbia River keeper in this situation. The organization is a major player in serious waterway clean-up efforts and as such has garnered huge donations for that work. It may well be that a handful of individuals have placed this organization in considerable jeopardy.

Comment here: http://webfoot.womf.com/83447/On-The-RecallLNG-Front

Opportunties We Should Not Miss

Something a little different today.

For many years local people in the know have recognized that the city of Warrenton, with it's acres of flat land and ready access to highway 101, represents the future when it comes to urban development on this part of the Oregon coast.

Over the next few years we'll see major commercial development and a continuation of the residential development. More streets, more intersections, more traffic lights, more vehicles on those roads. Perhaps we'll need a bigger public transport system to go with all that.

Warrenton is well on it's way to separating it's civic identity from that of Astoria. The proposal favored by a majority of Warrenton businesses polled so far to establish a Chamber of Commerce separate from Astoria is yet another indication that this city is ready to move past old associations and create a unique identity.

This takes little away from Astoria. In fact, there are definite advantages to having a swiftly developing modern commercial center right on your door step. Those big box businesses and national franchises will find themselves welcomed in Warrenton as they do not fit Astoria's approach.

Astoria will benefit if it continues to enhance it's historic character and focuses on attractive lifestyle amenities like the nice hotels that have been springing up. Encourage improvements to tourism offerings like those offered by the Clatsop County Historical Society and the Maritime Museum. Astoria should go to bat for those organizations on every front. Astoria as a center for government continues to make sense but more government services makes for more demand on parking and that needs to be addressed. Astoria needs to prepare for a future that must include a downtown core without deserted rundown buildings and full of those little touches tourists enjoy. Wider sidewalks might be a good idea simply to accommodate outdoor dining without people tripping over tables. Pocket parks like the long-in-coming Chinese park are crucial.

The one issue there is the current location of Columbia Memorial Hospital. It's run out of room and might be more effective in all of it's services by relocating to Warrenton. With the increasing number of seniors in need of assisted living perhaps the existing Hospital building might be better utilized for that purpose. It was explained to me once that Columbia Memorial was laid out like a senior home anyway.

Yes, there is room for industry. Yes, Warrenton's mooring basins need a face lift that would include more commercial development and services. Imagine a waterfront hotel..imagine more than one.

The possibilities are limitless.


Comment here: http://webfoot.womf.com/82591/Opportunities