Double Standard on Washington Rail Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. Yet another political football being bounced around to fit the mood of policy makers in our state is the Millennium Bulk Terminal in Longview.
Washington Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says policy should not be predicated on a single type of commodity being shipped ...
JOHN STUHLMILLER ... "It could be any commodity. That's the sad fact. Because we're just focused on the commodity, it's not the project itself. And where it is the project itself, we excuse in other projects like it because, well it's a good thing 'cause we're moving people on the rail lines, but when you're moving the "wrong" commodity in the exact same scenario, well, that's not acceptable."
I asked Stuhlmiller if anything is or can be done to counter ...
JOHN STUHLMILLER ... "Basically, that's what this article and all the other efforts from the coalition from the business community have been attempting to do. Labor and business have been combined on this trying to get those facilities ramped up and trying to move product, but no, there's nothing really politically because the governor's office hasn't been interested in this notion and it's another thorn in the side of this project when the environmental impact statement says that you've got to mitigate for the carbon impacts of the product passing through that Millennium facility and how it will be used on the other end. And that's, you just can't ask that of a port facility."
In a recent Op-Ed, Stulmiller says it sets a dangerous precendent and Washington has to do better or risk jeopardizing our entire trade-based economy.
