Cascadia Report

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  • Many questions for Canada’s new Liberal leader

    Canada’s Liberal Party named a new leader who it hopes will help it take power in a nationwide election next year. Whether the choice will pay off isn’t clear — and most U.S. media didn’t bother to even hazard a guess.

    Most U.S. newspapers covered the election of Montreal academic Stephane Dion with a few words from a newswire. The Seattle Times gave it three digest paragraphs (below a train accident in India).

    In the only full story in a major paper, The Washington Post credited the former environment minister’s pledge to work on “sustainable development” for his win. The Liberals oppose the ruling party’s reluctance on global warming issues and its conservative social and fiscal policies, such as cuts to government programs.

    In addition to the environment, Dion made vague pledges to fight for economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability, according to the CBC’s account of his press conference.

    Closer to home, The Tyee pointed out that Dion is a well-connected Liberal who won the backing of the powers that be in British Columbia. The next several months will reveal what Dion can do with the win.

  • U.S. newspaper cutting Canada presence

    The Wall Street Journal is closing its Canada bureau, a move that will cut coverage of business issues important across Cascadia.

    “This means that Canada is the only G7 nation where the Journal doesn’t have a presence,” the head of a union representing the paper’s journalists told Editor & Publisher. “The message you send to Canada is we just don’t care.”

    The cuts affect six staffers in Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary. Coverage will supposedly be maintained by existing Dow Jones newswire reporters in Canada and by Journal reporters in the U.S.

  • Is George W. Bush the worst president ever?

    Where President George W. Bush will rank in history is an interesting cocktail party conversation topic, regardless of your political views.

    In a series of articles in today’s Washington Post, several historians argue that the Iraq quagmire will likely drag him to the lower ranks.

    But there are other issues that matter to Cascadia and are worth considering. One has to wonder how history will rank policies that include tariffs on timber and steel, trade-distorting farm subsidies, homeland security that stifles trade yet doesn’t normalize the dependence on immigrant labor, and huge deficits that prevent investments in education and infrastructure.

  • Law puts Portland-sized area up for grabs

    In the two years since Oregon voters passed a law requiring governments to waive development restrictions or pay for lost value, claims have been filed covering more ground than the entire Portland metropolitan area.

    The total number of claims could swell to at least 4,600 by the Monday deadline, according to The Oregonian. Seattle’s Plum Creek Timber delivered proposals late last week, part of a plans that would allow houses on 32,000 acres of coastal timberland. Statewide, farms and forests will likely mingle with subdivisions, transforming growth hotspots like the Portland area, Medford, Hood River and Bend.

    A similar measure failed last month at Washington’s polls, partly out of concern over its implementation. The key point remains citizen frustration with inflexible land-use laws. One Oregon claim applicant is quoted as saying she voted for the measure because she wanted to send a message to lawmakers: fix planning rules that don’t work. The issue won’t be resolved unless leaders take action.

  • Project aims to bring luxury to Oregon

    A hotel renovation project in Portland aims to create Oregon’s first four-star luxury lodging, the latest in a trend that’s bringing more upscale properties to the region.

    Kimpton Hotels is remaking Portland’s Fifth Avenue Suites according to specifications required for the Mobil Four-Star rating. Predictably, local tourism officials see the project as a step toward that elusive goal of being “world class.”

    “To have a four-star Mobil property in Portland will put us on the map as a luxury destination,” the director of the Oregon visitors association told the Oregonian. “When people think of Portland, and Oregon, they think of us as casual and laid back. But it’s not all hiking and biking and brewpubs.”

    Several similar luxury projects are proposed or underway in Seattle and Vancouver. The new Portland hotel, to be called the Monaco, is supposed to open in 2007 and hopes to get the four-star rating — currently awarded to 119 properties in the U.S. and Canada. Holders of that rating already include Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic and the Bellevue Club. The seven British Columbia properties include the Four Seasons, Metropolitan and Sutton Place hotels in Vancouver, the Aerie Resort in Malahat, Hastings House on Salt Spring Island, Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino and Four Seasons Resort at Whistler.

  • Canada’s weekend election and Cascadia

    A month after a pivotal election in the U.S., now it’s Canada’s turn.

    Canada’s Liberal Party will elect a leader this weekend to help it rebuild nationwide support amid increasing questions about how united the country should be. The election has been a distraction from economic reform, environmental policy and other issues, but the outcome could have an impact a range of issues affecting British Columbia and economic relations with its U.S. neighbors. Historically the Liberal Party leader has gone on to be Canada’s prime minister.

    Debate began last week when a leadership candidates suggested that Quebec is a separate nation within Canada, a claim that set off much navel-gazing and raised questions about the status of B.C., Alberta and native groups. Reportedly among the top issues for B.C. delegates at the party conference this weekend are health care reform and conservation measures.

  • Lumber deal’s consequences begin to appear

    Consequences of the recent deal between the U.S. and Canada over trade in lumber are beginning to show.

    This week, West Fraser Timber used a refund in duties it had paid on exports to the U.S. to buy 13 sawmills in the U.S. South. The purchase turns the Vancouver firm into the continent’s second-biggest lumber producer after Weyerhaeuser, and potentially positions the company to take advantage of a cyclical upturn in the industry.

    Meanwhile changes in British Columbia resulting from the trade dispute are squeezing smaller firms and rural towns across the region. For example, a Quesnel mill that focuses on niche products is threatened by less supply from government-owned forests. Similar pressures now face towns across the province, where the main industry’s future is in doubt.

  • Biodiesel plans take shape

    An investment group plans to build a $75 million biodiesel plant in eastern Washington, the latest such announcement since voters this month approved a mandate for new renewable energy in the state.

    More than a dozen projects in Washington are in the works, including several in eastern Washington, according to recent reports. Two projects near Spokane recently adjusted plans to take advantage of tax incentives while another in Aberdeen aims to fill an economic void on the coast. The latest refinery, near Pasco, eventually would produce about 63 million gallons annually of biodiesel from soy, palm and canola oils which would be sold in Seattle, Portland and other markets.

  • Port consolidation may be back on the table

    The seaports in the Vancouver area may combine forces, a move that could make them more formidable competitors to Seattle and Tacoma.

    The Vancouver Port Authority and two ports along the Fraser River currently operate independently under a federal mandate to generate profit. Combining marketing and land development should help cut costs, though it’s unclear if they can increase productivity compared to Washington’s locally chartered ports.

    The move could revive the issue of cooperation in Washington between Tacoma and Seattle, which have been rivals since the 1860s. Tacoma still has plenty of room to grow but Seattle, which is seeing a decline in traffic, has agitated for years for consolidation among Puget Sound ports.

    At a conference earlier this month in Whistler, the director of Seattle’s seaport, Mark Knudsen, said the region’s ports will be forced to cooperate when each hits capacity and finds fiercer competition from other parts of the continent. Traffic has recently shifted to Los Angeles as space has become available there.

    “The question is if we become local stops or the major international gateway that we aspire to,” Knudsen told the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference. “Shippers will all call in both Canada and the U.S. The question is if they will be big or small ships and how much discretionary goods will come through here.”

    Cascadia ports should cooperate to improve infrastructure and lower costs. West Coast ports currently move about 3,000 to 5,000 containers per acre each year, compared to a rate of 14,000 to 16,000 for ports in Asia, using virtually the same equipment and software.

  • Mine closure raises new energy questions

    The sudden closure of a coal mine in rural southwest Washington this week struck a blow to the area’s economy and raised questions about the region’s power supply just as a new emphasis on renewable energy begins to take hold.

    Calgary-based energy company TransAlta blamed the closure of its 30-year-old Centralia mine on rising safety costs and regulatory delays that prevented expansion. The closure means the loss of about 600 jobs that paid an average of $65,000, according to The Associated Press. The area, located midway between Seattle and Portland, has already been hard hit by the long decline in the timber industry. Now officials estimate the lost taxes will cost up to 30 percent of the area’s school budget.

    The closure late Monday is another sign of Cascadia’s transition from an oil and hydro-fueled economy where industry and consumers counted on inexpensive energy. Earlier this month Washington voters mandated that utilities source 15 percent of their electricity from new renewable sources by 2020. While backers of the measure predict a flood of investment into new energy industry, the measure itself didn’t consider siting, regulatory or cost issues.

    TransAlta’s mine reportedly accounts for about 8 percent of Washington’s electricity, which the company said it would replace by bringing coal by train from the Powder River basin of Wyoming to an electric plant it plans to continue operating in Centralia. Apparently high supher and mercury readings in the Washington mine added to costs. Still unanswered questions include how the trains will get there, considering existing freight bottlenecks, and how costly the shift will be for regional business.

    Local officials were surprised by the closure because the mine had political connections. A Republican leader of the Washington legislature helped push through a tax break for TransAlta in 2004 while he worked for the company and chaired the state House’s energy committee. At the time he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the deal would keep the company sourcing its coal nearby.

    In the wake of this week’s announcement, area politicians scrambled to make plans to compensate. TransAlta said it set aside C$5 million to cover retraining expenses and the congressman who represents the area pledged to work for economic development programs. A local paper quoted an economist who noted that the air around Centralia would likely now be cleaner.