Letters To The Editor
OVER THE LINE
Stonewalling only weakens hand
I am as concerned about water quality as the next guy, but I think Friends of the Aquifer is too shortsighted to see the harm its opposition could cause the ground water. If Kootenai County commissioners give in to the environmentalists and oppose this fuel depot now, they will be kicking themselves later.
Refusing to grant the permit is not the final word here, folks. You’re worried about state officials putting economics first? That’s nothing compared to what the federal Surface Transportation Board is likely to say. Getting federal approval for this facility will be a snap.
If the county wants to influence this issue, the commissioners should grant a use permit with some conditions. If they don’t, Burlington Northern Santa Fe will probably be able to refuse all county control in the future. I remind you that 500,000 gallons is too small a facility to warrant federal monitoring. Not granting a permit with conditions on county or state monitoring is giving BNSF free reign to do as it pleases. Do you really want that above your aquifer?
Get in now while the getting is good. Don’t let your shortsightedness be your downfall. Aaron J. Clark Pullman
Uniform standard would be a killer
If we are going to punish Burlington Northern Santa Fe, we had better stop and think what we may be doing to ourselves. We should look at existing storage facilities that are over the aquifer now. If we deny the railroad the right to build its refueling depot, the rest of the petroleum industry should have to bring its facilities up to standards set for the railroad. That would mean no more service stations and the pipeline that brings fuel into the area would have to be moved.
The countless restrictions put on the area would put the whole Spokane Valley out of business. Before stopping the railroad, think about the repercussions. Tom R. Eberspecher Spokane
Oil leak could not foul water
The Burlington Northern fuel depot is still on the front burner. I would have grave concerns if the fuel were water soluble. However, petroleum products - diesel, gasoline and oil -are not water soluble. These products float on top of water because of their specific gravity and inability to mix with water.
Why, then, is there concern about contaminating the aquifer? In the unlikely possibility of an oil spill, the diesel would only go to the top of the aquifer. Our various wells have been drilled and cased to depths far below the top of the stream. We, thus, obtain water that can never be contaminated by petroleum products.
Why don’t you have your investigative reporters check my statement for veracity, report same in your paper and allow our citizens to be better informed? Reginald T. Peacock Deer Park
SPOKANE MATTERS
Face it, our act is not together
All of our local politicians are talking about the need for higher-paying jobs and economic development. Mayor John Talbott has “challenged” the Economic Development Council and Convention and Visitors Bureau to bring more businesses to Spokane and to fill the Convention Center year-round. He says we should look at contracting out these services, whatever that means.
Don’t these guys get it?
Why would any business want to stay in Spokane, let alone relocate here? Spokane has a City Council that fights and is more divided than ever, county commissioners who don’t get along, a city and county that can’t agree on anything, and a Spokane Valley that wants to divide itself and secede from the county. Local government in one term supports a business project and then the next term wants to kill it.
Spokane will never be able to compete for business and better jobs unless our local government officials unite and show consistency and support for all businesses.
Our company cannot find the qualified technical people we need to support our growth because they’ve all taken better jobs in friendlier, united communities. Our local talent pool is rapidly shrinking and new talent doesn’t want to move here. Where is the incentive for a company to even remain here?
Local officials, get it together. Show some unity for programs that are already approved and moving (River Park Square). Rise above the petty bickering and grandstanding. Work with all the leaders of the community. We all want the same thing: a healthy, vital Spokane. Nathan S. Batson Colbert
Do talent scouts need another star?
If I make a large enough campaign contribution or become “acceptable” to Metropolitan Mortgage, can I be the city manager? I promise (behind closed doors) I’ll say yes to the City Council’s new majority.
As a local business owner, I am ashamed to be represented by the foolish foursome who have taken over the council and made it clear that their personal agendas and vendettas are what matter, not the city of Spokane. The recent decision to hire Henry Miggins just sends this city down a steep hill, quickly. A roller coaster ride is just what this city does not need.
If the previous council had appointed Miggins in this manner, Steve Eugster would have sued the city - again. Apparently, it’s acceptable for him to participate in closed-door activities in which another councilman’s friend is hired - just so no one else does. Some call this a double standard. However, it’s a good thing Eugster supports suing the city, because he and his cronies are likely to cause many lawsuits in the future.
Mayor John Talbott and Council members Steve Corker, Eugster and Cherie Rodgers claim to have hired Miggins in an effort to improve the Spokane economy. All they really did was hire a yes man to carry out actions the law prohibits them from doing. Obviously, these council members aren’t concerned about qualifications for city management.
I find unqualified people tend to make poor, if not incorrect, decisions. This, in turn, adversely affects my ability to do business. Julie M. Rosenoff Century 200 Property Services, Spokane
Greene, Higgins went astray
“Fortin out; Miggins in as manager” and “Council postpones vote on depot” (Feb. 8) were well-written but one very important piece of news was left out.
Council members Rob Higgins and Roberta Greene walked out of the meeting shortly after this particular vote and did not return while the meeting was in session. They missed a very important presentation on the proposal to place a railroad refueling depot over the aquifer in Rathdrum.
These two people were elected by the people to represent the people. Leaving the council chambers when the presentation was being made surely was not representing the electorate. I understand their reasoning behind their leaving but that doesn’t make it right. Cameron E. Wylie Spokane
WASHINGTON SATE
No stories, not one job lost? Nonsense
Re: “Newspaper is loser after I-695” (Letters, Jan. 19). Scott Maclay asks why The Spokesman-Review hasn’t written articles about other communities dealing with Initiative 695. Excuse me, but what paper is he reading? The Spokesman-Review almost daily has articles about this issue and the damage it has done to this state.
Perhaps it’s because The Spokesman-Review doesn’t find joy in services for the poor being cut, police and fire personnel losing jobs, and the poor and disabled having no bus service due to layoffs of 103 employees and services being drastically cut. Could this be the reason Maclay thinks the newspaper has a liberal point of view?
As for his statement of not one job lost, what planet is he on? One hundred and three jobs will be lost at Spokane Transit in July. Eleven jobs will be lost at Pullman Transit effective immediately.
As president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1015, representing the members who are losing their jobs, and for those disabled and poor whose only transportation is Spokane Transit, I suggest to Maclay that he check his facts before writing such articles. Curt Volesky, president/business agent ATU Local 1015, Spokane
Property tax credit a bad idea
The proposed property tax credit is stupidity beyond belief! Favoring a residential tax against business property taxes will drive away the companies that the regional and state development councils spent a decade bringing to Spokane and Washington. Spokane already has a 30 percent poverty rate, our number of working poor grows daily and bankruptcy is on the rise.
The companies that moved here with better-paying jobs, from BF Goodrich to high-tech companies, can easily pack their bags and leave. If you don’t think so, ask the folks in Vancouver. They are losing major employers because their business climate isn’t competitive any more. Companies with over 1,000 workers, average wages of more than $60,000 - gone. Gone to another state.
Don’t overrate the value of quality of life. It doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t even buy your kid a hamburger.
I don’t want a tax credit. I want better-paying jobs! Toni Nersesian Spangle, Wash.
Reject bill benefiting strikers
I am really disgusted with Sen. Lisa Brown and Rep. Alex Wood from the 3rd District for sponsoring a bill in the Legislature to pay extended unemployment benefits to Kaiser Steelworkers because they walked off the job. I find this incredible! Of course, the liberal Senate passed this bill and now it must go to the House.
When workers walk off the job they do not deserve unemployment benefits, especially additional benefits over and above what workers get who are laid off due to no fault of their own.
The union took a stand and chose to strike. Now that it has backfired on them, let the union pay the benefits. So far, union members have lost somewhere around $60,000 in lost wages. If the union can afford to stay out on strike, it can afford to pay unemployment benefits to its members.
By the way, the Senate-passed bill has no time limit for benefits. It will go on as long as the union chooses to strike. No other laid-off workers get these special benefits so why should someone who chose to walk off the job?
The only chance we have now is to call all our representatives and tell them to stop this outrageous giveaway. Wayne Lythgoe Colbert
NORTHWEST DAMS
Politicians stuck in same ol’, same ol’
At the salmon recovery hearing held Feb. 10 in Clarkston, the politicians were given the first hour of prime-time testimony. The citizens were required to stand in line an hour or more for an opportunity to speak. Every politician declared all the science supporting the breaching the four lower Snake River dams unfounded and stated that breaching would destroy our region’s economy and our way of life. Then off they strolled, not waiting to hear the thoughts of the citizens.
Citizen testimony was decidedly pro-breaching, supported by biologists, the need to honor tribal treaties and laws, etc. Most called for funds to mitigate the hardships some would incur.
It’s sad the politicians, so wrapped up in their corporate sponsorship and status quo, cannot lead us into a new century. Instead, they retreat to failed policy. Antone G. Holmquist Moscow, Idaho
Trade-off has been worthwhile
Re: Spokane crowd favors removing Snake dams (Feb. 9).
Many who want to breach the dams have referred to a previous generation that enjoyed the fruits of the river. They associate ancestry and folklore, science and economics, environment and quality of life. Regrettably, for some, those days are gone.
Isn’t it ironic that many of the comments refer to being denied something they never had in their lifetime? Their parents and grandparents traded a desolate part of this state for a new economy that would enable the manufacturing and transportation industries, as well as feed the world with over 100 commercially viable crops.
There was no thriving tourism and fishing economy 50 years ago. And in today’s world, these industries are not more desirable than the current industries in question.
What I hear is the self-interest of individuals who want to catch a wild fish, float on an open river, worship like their ancestors and make a difference. And what a difference they have made already.
Washington has seen the collapse of the logging industry, mining and fishing. These industries are also rich in heritage and have contributed much more to development than weekend campers and sports fishing.
If turning back the clock is such a good idea, why hasn’t it been tried in Washington, D.C., or Manhattan? I’m sure the Potomac and Hudson rivers aren’t what they were 300 years ago. Val Workman Spokane
Hearing crowd not as reported
The Spokesman-Review’s coverage of the federal salmon recovery hearings at Clarkston on Feb. 10 is an example of imaginative reporting. How did your reporter know that the pro-salmon/pro-breaching majority was composed of Idaho fishing guides, Nez Perce Indians and out-of-town college students? I sat through the whole evening session and heard little to suggest that was the case.
I live in Latah County, Idaho, and work in Lewiston. I’m not a guide, an Indian or a student and I don’t recall being asked for any such information by any reporter from Spokane. I don’t think I look like any of these three categories. I look like a regular working stiff and spoke in favor of the salmon and of breaching the dams.
Perhaps your reporter wanted to suggest that only parties with a vested interest or possessed by wild-eyed youthful idealism were present to speak on behalf of the salmon. This was not the case. There were farmers and small-business people, retirees and parents, scientists and regular working people all present and committed to salmon recovery.
If there were any vested interests at play (and there certainly were), they were represented by the Idaho politicians speaking for big timber and agribusinesses; by the employees of Potlatch Corp., owner of the local pulp mill; and by the Port of Lewiston, which enjoys subsidized barge transport courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, including residents of Spokane. Chris Norden Moscow, Idaho
Dams’ value less than some insist
Staff writer Dan Hansen has implied repeatedly that those who oppose breaching the dams are concerned community members, while those of us who support breaching are environmentalists, tribal members, fishermen, nonresident college kids, or others. I have news for him: We “others” live, work and raise families here. We are community.
Many of us happen to believe that not only will our communities remain intact if the dams are breached but will prosper greatly in the long run. And, no, this is not just a sentimental viewpoint but a rational choice made obvious by how little the four lower Snake River dams contribute to our economy.
Hansen has reported about benefits provided by the dams but what about the costs? The one-time cost of dam removal, at least according to the Corps of Engineers, will be $500 million to $816 million. But BPA spends $200 million to $300 million every year on useless or counterproductive fish mitigation - an expenditure that would cease with restoration of the natural river.
The dams do allow barge traffic but farmers could transport their products by rail almost as cheaply. And of the $13 it costs to barge one ton of grain down the Snake River, U.S. taxpayers contribute $11.70. Hardly a bargain!
Finally, the dams do not produce cheap energy. Besides the cost of killing our salmon, the wholesale price of electricity from the dams, easily checked in the Wall Street Journal, is the same as the rest of the country’s rates.
So aren’t you crying wolf when you claim that lives will be lost if the dams are breached? Kelley Racicot Moscow, Idaho