Bellingham Comments from Digital Recorder - EISs for the Proposed ...

GATEWAY PACIFIC TERMINAL EIS SCOPING HEARING VOL. I
COURT REPORTER: GWEN BRASS PROCEEDING DATE: October 27, 2012
Page 21
tax base ten years down the road.
So one of the costs that we need to consider very
carefully is the cost of building railway overpasses and
infrastructural adjustments all along the tracks from Montana
all the way to Cherry Point.
A single grade crossing here could cost up to
$20 million, and best estimates are that we're looking at
billions of dollars in mitigation costs that will be foisted
off on the taxpayers.
MS. HULL: Number 10.
THE SPEAKER: Hi. My name is Dan Pike. I'm a citizen
of Bellingham. I live at 506 Cypress Road. And I want to talk
a little bit about the economic and job impacts of this because
it's being set up as environment versus jobs, and this is a
loser just on the job side.
This proposal would provide 1400 acres of prime
industrial lands that create a net of 200 perhaps permanent
jobs, which is one of the lowest results of industrial land use
possible. And what's the cost? Well, if it puts us out of
compliance with SEAMAC, which is a real possibility, it would
cost us the jobs at Alcoa Intalco Works, which are good union
jobs. It could cost us the job at Sierra Pacific where I've
been told by somebody who works there that Burlington Northern
has suggested that they will lose their siding they use right
now to provide materials for their production every year.