Let’s have a real development debate

To The Eagle:

Judging by his letter to The Eagle last week, Richard Erickson would have us believe that anyone opposed to NorthernStar’s planned Bradwood Landing LNG facility is the enemy of all economic development in Wahkiakum County.

Don’t fall for the false dichotomy. In fact, such a facility would suppress property values, hinder tourism and crimp the steady flow of well-heeled retirees into the area– negative impacts that, in my view, far outweigh the job creation proponents of the LNG project forecast should it move forward.

Mr. Erickson failed to disclose the critical role he has played in promoting the Bradwood Landing project. Until relatively recently he was executive director of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council, and in that capacity he wrote a letter in mid-2007 urging the Clatsop County Planning Commission to approve the LNG facility.

In that letter, he claimed that: “NorthernStar has committed the docking of three tug boats in Cathlamet.” And further down, he said the Texas-based energy company would also aid “development of a business park” – a likely reference to a planned business incubator to be located on the Elochoman Slough. The letter is but one example of how Mr. Erickson and the LCEDC have for years worked behind the scenes to bring LNG-related industrialization to our waterfront.

The LCEDC’s plans may have merit (though I doubt it). The point is that no agenda-driven organization should have the power to sneak through development plans as profound as those the LCEDC has championed for Cathlamet without full public disclosure and spirited debate. Unfortunately, several well-placed people have in recent years taken it upon themselves to speak for us on the LNG issue. They have no authority to do so, and their activities breed suspicion.

The alternative: a real development debate in which contending proposals are laid out for interested parties to weigh and critique. Preferably, without the character attacks and name-calling.

George Wehrfritz

Mayor,

Town of Cathlamet