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 even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.

Big money wants the voters to say no to ballot measure 5-243. Cal- Portland formally called Glacier Northwest has had multiple name changes because of the environmental fines they have accumulated and is a subsidiary of Taiheyio Cement. A Japanese company which is the largest cement company in the world with at least sixty major underlings scattered all over the world with many massive companies beneath them and hundreds of smaller companies with different names but are Taiheyio Cement. Cal- Portland is one such company and is the largest building supplier in the entire Pacific Northwest.

Knife River/MDU Resource Company is the 10^th largest aggregate supplier in the US. They were 5^th in sand and gravel sales. They are also a member of the S&P MidCap 400 index. Their 2014 consolidated earnings were
$297.5 million up from $278.2 million in 2013. They are planning to invest $3.9 billion in capital investments the next five years to develop growth opportunities. Construction material had its best second half year in history and has plans to supply many major construction projects and MDU has acquired 130 new companies.

Teevin Brothers is in the business with a mixture of trucking, logging, quarry, timber, lumber, and material handling. Teevin is in the transportation business with docks in Utillima, Rainier and another possibly in Newport, all which exports logs to China. Teevin Brothers has received millions of taxpayer dollars to expand their company from new docks, rail systems and land acquisitions.

These companies are against increasing rock prices by $3.50 per 10 yards of rock and are spending tens of thousands of dollars to defeat the measure. The fee has not been increased since 1996. Rock prices have increased significantly; over the years. In 1996 10 yards cost $72 or $7.20 per yard. In 2015 10 yards cost $200 0r $20 per yard. The companies are allowed to write off the depletion fee on their income taxes- it costs them nothing.

They claim the depletion fee is a tax targeted against a single industry. I disagree- timber companies and small woodland owners pay a timber tax on logged timber on a renewable resource. The depletion fee was created to reimburse the citizens of Columbia County for the DEPLETION of a non-renewable resource. We have acre upon acre of once productive land turned into vast useless holes filled with water that cannot be used again.
People wonder why we do not have jobs in Columbia County the answer is simple. The loss of industrial lands in Columbia County is in the thousands of acres. The surface miners claim they create hundreds of jobs when they have actually caused the loss of thousands of high paying industrial jobs because the mines have ruined prime industrial lands.

When deciding whether to support measure 5-243 take into account the millions of taxpayer dollars that you have paid these companies, the amount of profits they have made off your dollar, the future lost revenue from lack of industry, and vote accordingly.