LNG Revisited
OK, I’m pissed and I’m going to do it. I, here and now officially change my opinion on LNG. Yes, I was an opponent of it for about three years. I’ve attended meetings and donated money to the cause. I got the pins, lawn sign and stickers and spoke out in opposition whenever I had the opportunity. I’ve written articles and posted opinions against LNG, but now I am changing my mind. I no longer oppose it. Here are the reasons:
1. I don’t see anyone changing their behavior. I’ve driven by the homes with "No LNG" signs in their yards and see porch lights left on all night. If you aren’t willing to conserve you deserve LNG in your back yard. What, do you think Pacific Power can just pull power out of their ass for you to waste? No, it comes from the hydro dams that you want removed and it comes from coal which really screws up the air and atmosphere. I am a 100% partner of the Pacific Power Blue Sky Program where I pay a lot extra every month to support wind energy. I have no illusion that any of my power is actually coming from a wind mill, but it's going to someone. I would rather see windmills all up and down the coast than have an LNG facility here, but that is never going to happen. I would be happy to see every community being responsible for their own power generation, but that’s never going to happen with the grid system. So do I want to get off the grid and go back to the good old days where I spent several hours every month cutting and splitting firewood and extinguishing chimney fires? No! I want to wake up in the morning and feel warm because my heat pump was plugged into the grid all night. If diversified energy sources for power generation can not happen then we deserve energy rationing.
2. I’m tired of the lies and exaggerations. The sky is not falling. Is there a chance that there will be a disaster? Yes, it is possible and it is also possible that the Oprah will fall in love with me split her fortune with me. All things are possible, but not likely. Let’s face it the ensuing dooms day is not at hand. I have more concerns about the pipeline, but the ships and the facility are unlikely to ever have a problem. From burning coal and driving automobiles we have changed the climate and the disasters we see and will continue to see are storms like our December storm. This is a disaster that swept its hand on every part of the County and we still haven’t recovered from it. So leave that porch light on all night and you are fueling the future storms. By the way, are you expecting visitors at 3:00AM? On the same note of honesty, I would like a little more honesty from the industry as to just who will be getting how much of what is imported through here. Any volume that leaves this state should be taxed at a high rate and the money collected should go to every community who has a facility or pipeline running through it.
3. As for it being an invitation for terrorists, does it means we should close and remove our airport, the port and bridges as well? Aren't they targets, too? Remember when the former Sheriff wanted to arm his posse to protect the Astoria Bridge? He thought it was a good target. How about the cruise ships? They are targets. How about ships from foreign countries that have radicals who hate America? They could be floating bombs. Should we ban all shipping in the Columbia?
4. LNG is actually relatively clean burning. Even though you may be driving a Pious, I mean Prius and you may think you are superior you are still putting a lot of poison in our air. If you don't think so maybe you should try driving around Astoria with a hose pipped from your exhaust to the passenger compartment. If you want to impress me convert your car to burn propane. It's clean and burns at 100 octane. That's more power than you will ever get from ethanol, which by the way takes a gallon of fossil fuel to produce one and a third gallon of final product ethanol.
5. I took a good look at who the anti-LNG people are, and I have little respect for their opinions on the other topics they espouse. By default their LNG opinion is faulty as well especially if they have gas heat in their home, use a gas grill or run their automobile on foreign oil. It's time to roll up your made in China-petroleum based yoga mats and look at a different reality other than the holistic dream you presently live in. You can't have it both ways, it's like being a little pregnant. Either remove yourself from modern society or accept the consequences of you consumption demands.
Leading the Wack Pack is the Daily Astorian. The publisher is a shoot from the hip kind of guy who has overestimated the value of his opinion in this community. His paper is simply a pulpit and a nursery for his ideas and he only allows his cherry picked slant to be published and presented as truth. By judging what he has supported in the past, remember he loved the Rajneesh movement… I do not value any causes he champions.
Other than posting this article I am not going to campaign for LNG. I don’t want a Bradwood Landing sign, I don’t want to be in any of their support ads, (unless they pay very well for an endorsement) however I am no longer going to oppose it. It is said that people get the government they deserve. They also get the energy they deserve.
Labels: Bradwood Landing, Daily Astorian, LNG, Oregon LNG
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:50 AM
24 Comments:
A "pissed" Guy = a decisive and informative post. Not all of your points pertain to my situation but many do. Well done.
"It's time to roll up your made in China-petroleum based yoga mats and look at a different reality other than the holistic dream you presently live in."
Classic, Guy. I love it! This made my day!
One word: "WHOA"
Thank you, a sunny day in the "overcast."
K-WHUMP! That is the sound of my jaw hitting the floor. I have many dear friends opposing LNG, and am not crazy about the idea of those big ships disrupting river access for fisherman and sailboaters, but installing a natural gas water heater is the first I do in a new house. The stove and furnace are next. I hate to see such divisiveness in my old home town, the worst I've ever seen, and YES the Astorian is as you say. There are ways of dealing with a bully however. It takes a big man to put stubbornness, rhetoric and I suppose a certain amount of personal preference aside and have this manner of epiphany. I hope it's contagious. Whats next?
Everybody's got their own path of truth they follow.
Everybody's the "King' or "Queen" of "Their" own world , no matter the limits.
So be it, your prerogative.
Spoken like the pathological spinmeister you are McGee. Tell again how lucky we are to have Bush for president.
The most disturbing aspect of this whole thing is that it is being used as a wedge and a lever by those supposedly in the public trust in an attempt to exact revenge.
Sometimes it's better to get out of the fight, and referee it, to make sure it's a fair fight. God I love Petty McGee, he makes it so easy to know where to stand. He's has Kings and Queens in his world that know the truth. Steve F., the King of cabbages, and the Queen hearts, Cindy P. of course. Alice in Wonderland gone bad, maybe that should be mad. And the reality check! 32 new applications for nuclear plants in the USA
Thanks to the Bush Administration, our National Energy Policy has a big, sucking hole left in it to allow this LNG Insurrection being imposed on us and many other communities throughout the nation at this very moment.
But hey, that's just me talking and let's not take the glitter off guy's epiphony ok?
...uh oh, I just remembered that the last time I talked to you, I was holding not one, but two yoga mats!!! I will never be for LNG. For me it's all about the greed of and manipulation by the big corporations, as well as the further degradation of the river. It's just plain wrong--I'm truly sorry about your "epiphany"!
jb
I would hardly call it an epiphany. It is an objective look at what is really going on. Wanting something to be so doesn't work. It takes sacrifice and discipline. What message are LNG opponents sending out when they haven't disconnected their NW Natrual Gas lines? No LNG for anyone, but it's still OK if I use it... Sorry, to stop LNG the Not In My Back Yard attitude doesn't cut it. There is a demand, and that calls for a supply.
LNG opponents aren't offering any reasonable options as to how to feed this growing need for energy. Think back to the 70 when all diet drinks had sodium cyclamate in them. When better artificial sweeteners came around around sodium cyclamate was out the door.
We do need the energy, but what are opponents offering to take its place? They certainly aren't conserving to the point where we are using less and no longer need any extra energy. I've been the only one talking about wind mills on the coast. You can go to the beach here and there is nearly always a wind, even in the fog.
LNG opponents are doing a lot of bitching without coming up with any solutions, even obvious ones.
The other day there was a link to the site of one of the organizers of CCFOG. He is anti LNG and his article shows his new water heater and he states that he will never run out of hot water as long as he has natural gas flowing to his unit. So what's it going to be? Where is the commitment? I see none. I see personal greed and comfort as the main agenda item that comes before their pet project.
You do raise a valid point and it's a question the LNG proponents are starting to use to their advantage and some groups continue to ignore...."If not LNG in Clatsop County, what?
What shiny new profiteeirng angle for that ilk would also benefit our overall life and environmental quality and take the focus away from LNG?
I've asked it many times, still no answers.
Any wonder we are so prone to being over run by the likes of LNG, Ship Breaking, Aluminum Smelters, our Public Lands sold off for profit, etc., etc., etc.?
"our Public Lands sold off for profit, etc., etc., etc.?"
I LOVE the fact that due process is being observed and our public lands are being sold off for profit. OUR PROFIT. The money comes back to whom? To US! WE, US, We is the county. ALL of US.
Not a few rich folks to do with as they please, but to the county as a whole to run the county that we all live in. DUH!
We have lands that we can't afford to maintain safely. We need to look at these lands and see what our options are. ALL of the options. We need to have safeguards in place, no matter who buys it, whether it be the state (do you know how many public lands they closed to public accessibility because they cannot be safely maintained) or a private individual? Do you know more privately owned lands allow public beach access than state owned lands? Do you know what happens when the state gets a hold of property? Charges go UP! Look at the land they got out around the lake that used to be owned by county. Suddenly, we have to pay to park there! Rich folks who have their agenda, their private pleasures they want to enjoy, their elite saddle clubs and hiking clubs, want things turned over to the state for a song, thinking they can continue their way of life. That's OUR land that is being turned over to the state, money that should be going into OUR county parks department to better maintain the parks we already have but NO, rich folks don't care about those parks. They want their self interests PROTECTED. No cares about the upkeep of the parks we already have and need to keep accessible to ALL of us who can't afford the life's of leisure that the new arrivals are demanding.
We rely on the Commissioners to protect our lands. The Daily Astorian Editor is for the newcomers and their way of life. The commissioners are for those of us struggling to stay and live out our lives here.
"Their elite saddle clubs and hiking clubs" Hahaha Good one. You left out the elite joggers, elite mushroom hunters, elite paint ballers, the elite nature lovers and all the elite families who cycle on Burma Road safely without motorized traffic. These elite groups donate their time and energy and funds to clear the trails when trees are blown down and have abandoned stolen cars removed from the property. The park is there for everyone to use. If the County can not justify having property they don't have to maintain, a County Asset that costs them virtually nothing, well I don't know why they would want to sell it to anyone. It is being used by the people who pay County Taxes. It is just one of the reasons that the livability here is so good.
Well written, well thought out, well said. So many of these anti-LNG folks are such hypocrites. They don't care any more about our global environment than they do about the future of this County. At least you walk the walk as well as talk the talk. I'm looking forward to your article on the recall.
Thanks, rtv. Maybe it's has to do with aging/maturing. I am finding myself less apt to accept things on face value without thinking of all the implications. I still have a lot of work to do on many of the life long notions I cling to. It's all a process and I'm not afraid or too bull headed to change my mind.
Oh, Hell, Guy! I think that's one of the signs of the apocalypse!
Mo3, I am, after all, a horseman ; )
Holy crap guy. You pretty much blew up my whole idea about this.
Wow! 21 comments! You're going to have to go national sometime soon, Guy.
Matt, this shows you have an open mind. There are at least two sides to every issue.
Mo3, I normally have a national audience (Cannada, too)unless I go on a local rant like I have over the last three days. But now I'll return to writing about the things I normally write about and regain the audience I lost this week.
An absolutely incredible letter. Very fine job. It distalls the issue down to precise observation. Nuetrally presented with no rancor or bitterness. And that is the beauty of "ephinay". When it happens to you, You see clearly for the first time and hopefully you can communicate that experience to others.
LON
LON, it's important to change one's mind when the facts point in a new direction or as old concepts start to stink.
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