Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra
Tammy's views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy's neighbors, Earl Fisher, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Obama, Tony Hyde, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia's dog, or Claudia Eagle's Cats. This Tammy's Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she won't take crap off of anyone.

Coal is not right for Columbia County or Oregon. The coal companies have come into depressed areas of both Oregon and Washington pitching their carpet bagging ways. They have promised the people from Clatskanie to Boardman that there will be more jobs than you can count. When in reality there will only be a total of approximately 50 jobs for about 241 miles and through the heaviest populations in Oregon. Not a very good prospect for jobs.

If you figure the number of small businesses that will close because of the coal trains and their dust those 50 jobs will be more like 1000's of job losses. Why would we want to be an exporting destination of such a dirty fossil fuel such as coal? It simply does not make sense. Oregon's history has been to be a leader in renewable resources, bottle bills, being a green state, with a population of people who lavish in the spectacular beauty of a pristine state.

Does King Coal believe Oregonians will ignore the coal issue and become conciliatory and allow coal to be exported from our Columbia River? Do elected officials at the county, state, and federal level believe that the citizens will sit idly by and allow coal to be transported through our communities and from our ports without a fight?

Wake up county commissioners, port commissioners, state senators, representatives, congress people and senators. It is time that you representing the people who pay your salary and stop playing favoritism to King Coal. Listen to the people; the majority does not want coal. If you are going to give tax breaks and tax dollars to invest in energy companies, I suggest that you invest in clean, green energy.