Gov. Jay Inslee, who will have the ultimate say over the construction of what would be the Northwest’s largest oil-by-rail transfer terminal in Vancouver, hasn’t taken a stand on the project. But members of the state’s congressional delegation are weighing in.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was in Vancouver on Tuesday and stopped to visit with The Columbian’s editorial board.
Cantwell was asked if she were a Vancouver resident, would she support building the oil-handling facility?
“It wouldn’t be something I would be promoting,” she said.
She said safety is one of her foremost concerns. In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, Cantwell, along with other senators, called for more federal dollars going toward addressing safety issues related to transporting crude oil by rail.
“We’re certainly willing to introduce legislation to put requirements on rail car safety because we don’t think it exists now and we’re not waiting for a voluntary system. We’re not waiting for these guys to get their act together,” Cantwell said. “We’re going to push this year.”
Waiving fees on new commercial development is expected to cost Clark County, but that hasn’t stopped the program’s top supporter from directing staff to look more closely at how such waivers could pencil out.
Commissioner David Madore is asking staff to query new business owners about what they expect their future gross taxable revenue will be. Those figures, in part, are intended to show whether the fee-waiver program will be successful, with the new tax revenue offsetting the waived fees, or whether it will cut into the county’s coffers.
The county intends to contact as many of the 76 businesses participating in the fee waiver program as it can. Jeff Swanson, working as the interim economic development manager, has been tasked with contacting the businesses.
The tactic is a change in methodology for the county by having Swanson directly contact as many businesses of the businesses as possible. It could cast a rosier outlook on the controversial program — rosier, at least, than what was previously presented. In February, the county projected the waiver program could cost it more than $1 million during a five-year period.
Obtaining revenue projections from new businesses hasn’t been easy, said Marty Snell, the county’s community development director, because developers either don’t have accurate projections or choose not to share them with the county.
That answer didn’t sit well with Madore at a March 26 board time meeting.
“We’re extending a welcome mat out to them,” Madore said, referring to new businesses. “They can do their part and provide us with a real number.”
An audit of the Columbia River Crossing found $17 million in excess or questionable spending, including larger-than-usual profit markups to project consultants and work that wasn’t authorized by contract in advance.
The report from the Washington State Auditor’s Office, released Wednesday, “did not identify any financial misconduct or abuse.” But it called for the Washington State Department of Transportation to reconsider policies and procedures that resulted in at least some of the misspent money on the now-defunct project, according to the audit.
The biggest chunk of questionable expenses was $12.3 million that went to firms with undisclosed overhead and profit markups, according to the report.
Another $2.3 million was added to two contract task orders months after the orders were completed, according to the audit. Those changes were made without authorization, though the extra work was found to be consistent with the original contract.
And the primary consultant on the project, David Evans and Associates, was overpaid by $1.45 million because of higher-than-usual markups, the report found.
“We’ve had some sense that there were problems,” said state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center. “That’s been confirmed.”
Norma Countryman said she crossed paths with suspected serial killer Warren Forrest when she was 15 years old.
It was a hot day in July 1974, and she was sitting on the side of the road in Ridgefield, smoking a cigarette she’d just bought. Before long, a blue van rolled up, and the man inside started chatting her up. At first, she thought about leaving, but eventually she accepted his offer to give her a ride home.
“A fateful decision,” she said. “Stupid; get into a van with a stranger when you’re not supposed to, and that’s what I did.”
Forrest, 64, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Krista Blake, a 20-year-old Vancouver woman, whom he killed the same year. He’s up for parole, and a decision by the parole board is expected by the end of the month.
Countryman addressed the parole board in October. It was the first time she’d spoken publicly about her attack in nearly 20 years.
“It took me a long time to write that statement, to dredge it all up against everything that was inside of me that didn’t want to dredge it up again,” she said.
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RAINIER, Ore. — Tucker Simpson shouldered his shotgun, called for the “bird” and a second or so later the clay target was pulverized into dust.
It was practice night at the Rainier Rod and Gun Club, where members of the Woodland High School’s Trap Club congregate twice a month, shooting 100 or more targets.
That’s correct: The high school has a trap-shooting club.
Officially, there are 37 team members, with about 20 to 25 regularly shooting in the program.
It’s the third largest sport at Woodland High School, behind football and track, said volunteer coach Ben Musgrove, a La Center resident whose son attends Woodland.
Practice starts about 5 p.m. at the Rainier shooting facility, which put up $9,000 for shotgun shells to get the program started and gives the high school club a break on shells and targets.
“These kids will shoot until 9 p.m.,” said Musgrove. “I pretty much have to make them go home.”
Musgrove, a semi-serious recreational trapshooter, said the club was the idea of Woodland athletic director Paul Huddleston to get more students involved in activities.
“It’s been a really good way to get kids opportunities to shine who might not be ‘mainstream’ athletes,” Huddleston said. “I was really happy that our school board allowed us to try and make this happen.”
The first in a quartet of total lunar eclipses — the only such quartet in a span of 28 years — takes place Monday.
The total phase of Monday’s eclipse will last 78 minutes.
Viewers might be able to detect a very slight duskiness on the moon’s eastern side at about 10:30 p.m. Monday, said Stan Seeberg, with Vancouver Sidewalk Astronomers. If not, it likely will be observable by 10:45 p.m., he said.
At 10:58 p.m., the partial eclipse begins as the moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, or umbra.
There will also be some color to the event, the same effect that tints our sunrises and sunsets, Seeberg said.
“Our atmosphere bends the longer red rays of sunlight into the shadow, giving the moon an overall reddish color, perhaps mixed with orange or brown,” Seeberg said.
Totality begins just past midnight, at 12:07 a.m. Tuesday; total eclipse ends at 1:25 a.m.; and the partial eclipse ends at 2:33 a.m.
“Although the event will be easy to see and appreciate with just your unaided vision, binoculars and telescopes will make it particularly interesting,” Seeberg said. “Through a telescope, you can see craters and other lunar features gradually darken.”
