THE NEW MILL DEAL Theres an ongoing argument online about the new mill deal; some are saying that tax payers will be funding the mill re-opening, and that those government monies will in one-way-or-another end up lining the pockets of Rough and Ready owners… Hmm.. While it is true that Business Oregon (a state agency) is providing a $1 million dollar loan to upgrade the mill (NOTE: wealth producing new equipment IS capital, i.e. money for R&R) I, however, think other deeper questions need to be asked about the partners involved... First, I want to note that R&R is a privately owned family business and they can do whatever they want with their business, and I wholeheartedly support the creation of more family owned businesses in the valley. But, I’m a local first for locals proponent all the way. And this is exactly where I might have a problem with the new mill deal—the long-term intentions of the ‘outside partner’, Ecotrust. And I think before we all go hog wild over the restoration of jobs, (and I didn’t hear anything about restoring former workers with their previous pay and benefits) it would be wise of us, and for the common good of all the valley, if we ask some questions. 1. Who and what is Ecotrust? As far as I can tell Ecotrust CDE, who has teamed up with R&R to reopen the mill is a ‘for profit’ subsidiary of the nonprofit Ecotrust. Ecotrust is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) which appears to have extended ties to the United Nations Agenda 21 Program, and its mode of operation is similar to that of venture capitalism—only their environmental capitalists. Hence, today’s announcement that Ecotrust CDE, a subsidiary of Ecotrust, is directing (leveraging?) federal and Oregon New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) resulting in net cash of about $4 million to reopen the shuttered mill. 2. So, is R&R business partners with Ecotrust CDE? I don’t know, and it wasn’t really made clear in regard to contractual obligations, the announcement today merely said that they were “Partnering together”, which is vague to me. Hopefully, we’ll learn more soon. This will raise further important questions, especially in regards to forest management vs. business operations. 3. So how does Ecotrust operate ? According to its own web site, Ecotrust’s Forest and Ecosystem Services seek “to transform the dominant forest management paradigm… to one that more closely resembles natural forest processes.” Ecotrust, as an environmental NGO has as its primary interest the preservation and storage of forest carbon, which in their opinion is needed to combat and reduce greenhouse gases which they allege cause global warming. Ecotrust has been a leader in developing what’s known as “forest carbon markets” and to that end has developed a “Verified Carbon Standard Method” to quantify carbon present in any given forest. Basically, they seek to pay landowners to steward private land to benefit the climate according to their perceived threat. Bottom line, NGO’s like Ecotrust work with federal and local governments for the purpose of paying landowners to prohibit logging on their own properties. 4. So what is the plan with the new mill deal? We’ll have to see. But, it has been said, “politics make strange bedfellows” but this coming together of a environmental NGO dedicated to forest preservation and local Logging company raises some flags for me... Anyone else?
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 02:12:50 +0000