LNG Gets Ugly Again in Astoria

Okay, I've been down for the count for a while here, neglecting to post. I let the whole winter hibernation thing take over, and essentially spent my life either at work or in my coma-chair, listening to the rain pouring down and the winds howling down the alleys on either side of my house trying to rock me into the Columbia.

And who could believe a few inches of snow? That actually stayed on the ground for a while? Astoria looks like a Victorian winter dream in the snow, all Currier and Ives and aching of the 1890's. It damn near killed me to be at work all day with the fresh snowfall ... I wanted to be out there with my camera shooting everything in sight.

Once I got out of work, a lot of snow had melted, but the effect was still there, especially in the areas that don't get sunshine, like up on Irving Avenue. I walked in the woods part of the way up to the Cathedral Tree, and it was eerily like my childhood in Connecticut, where I spent many hours walking in the snow in the silent icy woods. Time was literally suspended for me.

One morning my car got stuck in the ice on my street, which gets no sun to speak of. No four-wheel drive, no snow tires. I was really stuck. Fortunately I had a brain-fart, and remembered that I had about 50 lbs. of cat litter in the basement. Aha! A pound or two saved the day, and I was on my way.

In the meantime, life in Astoria has trundled by me as usual, with so much happening I can't even begin to keep track of it all. All the goings on with the port commission make me want to scream. Their arrogance, and their total disregard for the river and the community is beyond alarming. LNG is raising its ugly head again, despite Calpine's bankruptcy, which is utterly unbelievable.

Has anybody even thought about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, 50 miles offshore, which is capable of a 9.1 earthquake and a monster tidal wave? Oh yeah, this is a really great place to put some monster explosive LNG tanks. Holy shit, who was the genius who thought that one up?

Oh sorry about that, nobody cares about earthquakes, tidal waves, LNG tankers with exclusion zones, potential explosions or fires, whopping ugly tanks on the horizon ... all anyone cares about is hey, we might make a few bucks here. So what if we make ourselves terrorist targets, kill the salmon, trash the river, and destroy the view! Hmmm ... do we have a little greed problem here, or what?

Okay, I'm getting pissed off again. It just makes me sick that a few money-grasping fools want to sell out this pristine area for a few bucks.

Astoria Photografpix

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