Last year, eight cruise ships called in Astoria to visit our beautiful area. This year I understand 13 are scheduled. Each ship averages 1,500 passengers. Then there is the Astoria Column at 400,000 visitors, Fort Clatsop at 256,000 and the Columbia River Maritime Museum at nearly 100,000 per year. Plus recreational fisheries, eco-tours and on and on.

These tourists pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into our economy. I’d say we have finally made the shift to tourism, and now there are four proposed liquified natural gas projects on our river that could jeopardize everything.

These huge tankers require a 500- to 1,000-yard exclusion zone around them while moving and at unloading docks. That means no cruise ships or Buoy 10 fishing boats, etc., while they are passing through. And the farther up the river they need to go, the greater the danger.

Aside from the danger, which is immense and has the possibility to be catastrophic, who would want to come and visit tank farms along the Columbia? Check out the view along Highway 30 just upriver from the St. Johns Bridge for a preview of the future. Or will we end up with an industrial ditch like they have at Longview? Remember, there are at least four proposed LNG sites now.

Imagine climbing the Astoria Column for a nice view of megatanks on the horizon. Or the warm cozy feeling you’ll have at a waterfront restaurant while a gas-bomb tanker with all its escorts goes by, less than 100 yards out.

We have what you can’t build. One of the most beautiful and mighty rivers in the world. It’s why people come here. Why do we want to jeopardize this for a short-term jobs? A dozen communities from both coasts have rejected LNG terminals. Many were led in the fight by their elected leaders; where are ours?

TED MESSING

Astoria