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, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, 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.

                                  Cooling Commercial Oil Tanks After A Fire

The pending sale of the extra commercial tanks which PGE owns to Global Partners is PGE's business. But the excuse PGE is using for the sale is lame. PGE claims that they are selling the tanks because of the cost associated with maintaining the tanks and they must do what is best for their stockholders. I understand some points of PGE's reasoning. But lest take into consideration this fact.

PGE received $33 million and a 15 year tax abatement from SIP (Strategic Investment Program). The people in Columbia County have shouldered this tax abatement as in the loss of 15 years of a portion of tax revenue because of the abatement which helps PGE stockholders. Columbia County does not receive any electric power from PGE only some tax revenue from the Port Westward site.
I wonder how much it costs to maintain these tanks yearly? I it is not even close to the $2 million+ tax abatement which they are receiving yearly. But then corporate America can do pretty much what they want and when they want even if the selling of the tanks to Global Partners could possibly be detrimental to the communities and environment of the region. With these tanks Global can use them for ethanol or fitted for crude oil.

The argument and opposition against oil trains will continue to be a contentious debate between several different factions in the area, communities and the many others in the state of Oregon. With the proven science of global warming one would think that all people would take the necessary steps to move away from fossil fuels as fast as possible before the earth is destroyed beyond repair. And if that means not using commercial tanks to store fossil fuels and stockholders receive a smaller dividend then it would be worth the reduction because the choice is either losing a few cents per stock or losing many species or losing human life as climate change effects our survival as well.

It will be interesting to see what develops at Port Westward, The state of Oregon does not want dirty fossil fuels to be seen around the populated areas of the state, why would the city folk want to be bothered with fossil fuel centers cluttering up their scenery, out of sight out of mind more or less, all the time the State of Oregon deems Port Westward an excellent site to house and will continue to be the dirty fossil fuel hub of Oregon.

In the thoughts of the state the people of Columbia County, Clatskanie and the Port Westward area are of little consequence--- as long as the oil terminals are out of the metro area, all done with the blessing of the State of Oregon.