[CPEO-MEF] CLOSURE, CHEMWEAPONS: Support for Umatilla (OR) unclosure

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Lawmakers wrong to fight Depot decision

Opinion by DAVE TROTT
Hermiston Herald (OR)
June 29, 2011

Instead of our lawmakers protesting the Office of General Counsel's  
decision to take the Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD) off of the BRAC  
closure list, they ought to be rejoicing, as this decision could  
bring continued economic stability and new potential for local area  
economic opportunities.

It's no secret that I have not been a fan of the Local Reuse  
Authority's (LRA's) final plan for the depot lands.  It will do very  
little to either bring jobs or enhance the local area's tax base  
because of its having the majority of depot land becoming both a  
training area and wildlife refuge.  Neither does the LRA itself seem  
sure what they want done with the smaller land area designated as  
business-industrial, as they summarily trumped the City of Irrigon's  
plan for industrial expansion and utilization of Depot property.   
Irrigon's Plan was certainly ambitious (which they freely admitted),  
but it was one with the realistic potential for creating jobs and  
millions of dollars in local-area (sustaining) revenue.

For some reason, our lawmakers just still don't seem to get it.  We  
are starved for “family sustaining” jobs, and with the closure of the  
Depot and an end to its mission, the current $52 million payroll goes  
away.  It's gone, and it's not going to be rebuilt overnight.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.hermistonherald.com/news/lawmakers-wrong-to-fight-depot- 
decision/article_0f36a3e0-a270-11e0-8cbc-001cc4c002e0.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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