The Curry County Board of Commissioners held a lengthy discussion over BOEM and the wind energy area leasing schedule that has brought a lot of concern to coastal communities in Southern Oregon.
The commissioners placed emphasis on the lack of support locally and emphasized the importance of the leases themselves. Commissioner Jay Trost expressed that he thinks that is a point of no return.
“The problem is, as soon as those call areas are leased, its game over for access. Once those call areas are leased, on let’s say a 25-year basis, if there’s a change in administration they may sit on them, because they’ll have them locked up for a certain amount of time… If it’s a 50-year lease, you literally could put a buoy out there that says ‘environmental impact study’, lock up that area. And we may not be looking at windmills, but we don’t have access to our fishing area, or our recreational area,” said Trost on the subject.
Public comment for the evening was dedicated entirely to the concern over the leasing effort.
The first public commenter, Lynn Coker, a local real estate broker, went to the lengths of vetting each of the companies rumored to be bidding on the offshore leases. His comment was both a rallying call to action, and a sobering reality check.
“I’m here to remind all of us that we need to keep our neighbors fully informed, engaged, aware, and motivated to join us in what could be a protracted, three-to-five-year fight, to do our part in offsetting the power of those global corporations that are attempting to take over 200,000 acres of our shoreline,” advised Coker.
Another public comment gave an idea of who those companies are, and the kind of tactics they can expect them to use.
Patrick Hollinger, a Brookings-Harbor Port Commissioner detailed a story about a corporation that contacted him through a local attorney. They invited him, along with government officials and other groups with an interest in the lease areas, on a trip to Scotland, reportedly to see the windmill infrastructure there.
Offering international trips to local decision-makers is an example of a tried-and-true lobbying tactic of deep-pocketed corporations. Greasing palms and lining pockets, whether through ‘business trips’, ‘gifts’, or other means, is just one way to get powerful people on their side.
The current issue at hand is the leasing schedule, BOEM has stated they want the land leased by October, 2024. Once the land is paid and spoken for, legal challenges against the development will become much harder.
The other issue with the leasing schedule, as the Commission sees it, is the long period of ambiguity that will follow. According to BOEM’s schedule, companies are encouraged to take a 3-5 year period for environmental assessment before actual infrastructure can be proposed.
That could mean a 3–5-year stall on development for the coast as, for instance, the proposed container port expansion in Coos Bay would be undoubtedly affected by the new wind energy leases.
“We have hundreds and thousands fishermen and companies trying to run businesses off our shore, and this entire 130 miles of shoreline, for a period of 5 years, can be clouded in a thick fog of ambiguity as to what is going to happen there,” said Coker.
“If you think as a Port Authority member or as a local business person on the coast, that I’ll be able to invite somebody to invest in my undertaking to make this coast the best that it can be, with this cloud of ambiguity over the business environment, you’re wrong. Lenders hate ambiguity, and they will walk away until the cloud lifts. And they may or may not come back.”
The Commission agreed with Coker on these points and seems to have taken a unified stance against the leases as planned. The best course of action, as determined by the Commission, is to draft a ballot item for the community. This would allow the voters of Curry County to unequivocally have their voices heard in an official capacity.
Watch this space for more news on the County’s fight against the BOEM Wind Energy plan.
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