Oregon ports facing crisis, officials tell Senate panel

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s ports are facing crisis, with declining federal support, aging infrastructure and job losses in port communities, port officials told a Senate committee this week.

“Oregon faces the challenge of how do we keep these ports open,” said Mark Landauer, executive director of the Oregon Public Ports Association.

Last week, a new funding partnership ensured that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue to dredge the small ports on the south coast. Oregon agreed to pay the Corps up to $5 million a year for five years for the dredging after Congress eliminated federal funding for it.

But that’s only one of the problems facing ports, Landauer said.

A busy port needs adequate roads, bridges and railroads, Landauer said. Port industrial areas need to have utilities such as sewers, electricity and natural gas to attract developers. Other parts of the ports, such as jetties, marinas and docks need to be maintained.

Oregon ports are falling behind on all those needs, he said.

Investment in ports is especially important to the state’s rural communities, which have been hard-hit by the decline in natural resource industries, said Michael McElwee, executive director of the Port of Hood River and president of the Oregon Public Ports Association.

Rural communities are home to 21 of Oregon’s 23 ports, McElwee said. And even a small number of new jobs there can have a big impact on those communities.

“Look to ports as on-the-ground implementers of economic development in rural areas,” he said.

Business Oregon, the state’s economic development arm, is funding an effort to put together business plans for all of the state’s ports, said Dave Harlan, ports manager for Business Oregon.

He expects the plans to be done by the end of the year.