GOING TO VOTE ANYWAY
COOS COUNTY MEET
Ukraine will go ahead with election on Sunday, A7
Annual showcase Friday at Marshfield, B1
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
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A peek into Coos County’s economic future Jordan Cove’s potential population, spending impact could change economic landscape BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — If the Jordan Cove Energy Project comes, analysts predict a multimillion-dollar spending snowball descending on the county. Chuck Deister, Jordan Cove’s labor liaison and state lobbyist, spoke at the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s luncheon Wednesday at the Mill Casino-Hotel. He said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s draft
Environmental Impact Statement is expected “any day now.” The draft EIS is a big step in the liquefied natural gas facility’s permitting process. “We are looking more likely than we have over the last 10 years we’ve been at this of going into construction right about a year from now,” Deister said. It’s estimated construction on the $7.5 billion project ($6 billion for the LNG terminal and $1.5 billion for the pipeline) would take until second quarter 2019.
During those four years, Coos County would feel a huge impact from the population and spending influx. “It sounds like we could get squashed in all this if we’re not prepared,” a woman called out during the chamber luncheon. “Are we behind the curve preparing for this?” The short answer, Deister said, is “no.” “But we want you to start thinking now,” he said. “You won’t see the bulk of the workers until 2016 or 2017. You’re going to have some time
to get used to it.” At peak construction, there will be 2,100 people working on the LNG facility and another 1,400 working on the pipeline. Over the entire construction period, that’s an average of 930 working on the LNG facility and 837 working on the pipeline. And each of those workers will make around $96,000 a year, which means huge spending potential in North Bend, Coos Bay and the surrounding county. E.D. Hovee & Company LLC, an economic and development con-
Farmers market gets off to a berry good start
sulting firm out of Vancouver, Wash., provides impact evaluations for natural gas, biofuel and wind projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. The firm analyzed Jordan Cove’s potential impact in a study last year. Analysts used spending pattern data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, and modeling data from IMPLAN. SEE FUTURE | A8
Providing vital data to develop Coos Bay
A customer carries a box of fresh strawberries from Liew’s Strawberries stand at the Coos Bay Farmers Market.
BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
tisan forum. But they don’t want to lose the ability to counter GOP claims and provide cover for potential witnesses. In an interview Thursday with USA Today, the congressman chosen by Speaker John Boehner to head the probe signaled he’d re-examine the entirety of the Benghazi attack, including some questions long dismissed by Democrats and even some senior The GOP-led Republicans. House Armed Services Committee concluded months ago that the U.S. military couldn’t have responded in time to save Ambassador Chris Stevens and
COOS BAY — Would-be developers on the South Coast have long faced a dilemma when considering building on Coos Bay. Forego a potentially lucrative development, or risk the potential legal, environmental and financial consequences of building without vital data? The Partnership for Coastal Watersheds is trying to solve that dilemma by building the first working inventory of the estuary’s natural attributes. Organizers say the project is long overdue. “The land use plan for Coos County hasn’t been updated in over 30 years,” said partnership committee member Jon Barton. Craig Cornu, the South Slough’s monitoring research coordinator, said the partnership originally grew out of the Coos Watershed Association’s “coffee klatches” — informal neighborhood meetings with residents of the bay’s lowland areas held to gather input for restoration projects. “We realized we could take that coffee klatch concept and bump it up,” he said. Assembling a group of stakeholders ranging from landowners to scientists, the partnership completed its first assessment of the state of the South Slough in 2012. Cornu said the project was a little broad in what it tried to accomplish, but those efforts were more than enough to win the 2013 Land Board Partnership Award from the Department of State Lands. In the process, the group refocused on a new challenge. Individual agencies have conducted thousands of pages of peer-reviewed research on everything from salmonid species to sediment shifts in the bay. There is no easily accessible database for that information. “There’s a lack of information for zoning planners,” he said. That lack of readily available data can leave city planners and landowners vulnerable to nasty surprises ranging from rising sea levels to lawsuits. Don Ivy, former cultural resources director for the Coquille
SEE BENGHAZI | A8
SEE INVENTORY | A8
By Alysha Beck, The World
Karen Cunningham strolls through the Coos Bay Farmers Market with her 1-year-old grandson Maddox Ferrell on the market’s opening day Wednesday.
House set to OK new Benghazi investigation BY BRADLEY KLAPPER
INSIDE
COOS BAY — Lisa Farr knew she wanted to run a charitable Mother’s Day gift promotion through their family hardware store. After talking things over with Jay Farr, the two decided to do a raffle, one that would benefit South Coast Food Share’s “Share Bear Snack Pack” program. Lisa had became familiar with the “Share Bear Snack Pack” pro-
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
SEE RAFFLE | A8
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WASHINGTON — House Republicans are set to begin a special investigation of the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, raising the stakes in a political battle with the Obama administration as the midterm election season heats up. Democrats are considering a boycott of the select committee, which is expected to be approved formally when the Republicanled House votes early Thursday evening. Democrats fear their presence will provide legitimacy to what they believe will be a par-
Civil disturbance Leonard Roberts, Gladstone Patricia Morgan Genevieve Pelc, Tenmile
Obituaries | A5
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gram after working on the Mr. MHS Pageant in 2009. So, she contacted Oregon Coast Community Action with the offer of assistance. Deborah Ross, Development Director for ORCCA, says she was delighted to get their call. “We are always inspired when local businesses step up with this kind of creative idea to support one of our programs,” she said. “The Snack Pack program supplies kids and their families with supplemental nutrition that studies show can make a big difference in how well kids perform in school.” Tickets for the raffle are $1 each,
DEATHS
Hardware store joins “Share Bear” in feeding children ■
The Associated Press
Albuquerque, N.M. is already reeling from a series of police-related shootings and the city council is bracing for more protests. Page A6
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Local business helps fight hunger
Rain 57/51 Weather | A8
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