U.S. Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler is on top of the floating offshore wind issue that is coming to the West Coast with two potential unsolicited lease requests to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to install thousands of megawatts of floating electricity offshore Pacific County. Doing so would displace hundreds of square miles of productive fishing grounds, which is nothing more than a "Coastal Poverty Program" in which fishing is displaced.
The National Renewable Energy Lab estimates the electricity will cost over $0.75/kW compared to the $0.04/kW our local Public Utility District No. 2 pays the Bonneville Power Administration for hydropower, a superior renewable. Every electrical ratepayer, not just fishermen, will suffer significantly with this widening of the rural/urban divide. BOEM needs to be reined in before we lose our local fishing industry, a distinct possibility.
Herrera Beutler has been answering our local needs by working hard to ensure that our Pacific County fishing-dependent community (the fourth-most fish-dependent area in the nation) is protected from over-exuberant federal agencies that find it difficult to follow the law. The congressional policy statement in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 USC 1332 (2), plainly mandates “the right to navigation and fishing therein shall not be affected.”
Herrera Beutler has been to Pacific County recently and held a local listening session with area fishing industry, port officials, economic development association, county commissioners, and others to hear firsthand many local concerns and has focused appropriate action to push back on BOEM’s aggressive behavior to displace our fishing grounds. She sent her fisheries aide to the recent listening session on offshore wind held in Astoria to gather coast-wide sentiment on how offshore wind will have a negative effect on fishing viability if placed in the wrong place. Herrera Beutler has placed protective language in the recent U.S. House budget to protect and preserve fishing and has sent an extremely helpful letter directly to BOEM seeking to protect our coastal wellbeing.
This type of active involvement in our coastal needs is common for a great representative for the Third Congressional District and deserves our vote once again so that our voice can be heard on the House Appropriations Committee. Herrera Beutler's leadership there has helped the 3rd district many times over the years. Such power will not be afforded to any “new” Southwest Washington representative, who will not be on the House Appropriations Committee. She was also instrumental in getting the Dungeness Crab Act through Congress.
A vote for Jamie Herrera Beutler is a vote for a better future in Southwest Washington.
DALE BEASLEY
President, Columbia River Crab Fisherman’s Association
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.