Letters to the Editor for Jan. 25, 2018

Vancouver Energy oil terminal bad fit for area

Thank you for your Jan. 11 article about the Vancouver Energy Tesoro Savage Oil Terminal lease. Although this terminal would not be at our port, this is an important issue for our community. I am eagerly awaiting the decision of Governor Jay Inslee and hoping he agrees with EFSEC, the Port of Vancouver and the many others who oppose this project.

On the journey from North Dakota, the trains serving the terminal would travel along the Columbia River and pass through Washougal and numerous other cities. Fracked Bakken crude is known to be explosive and highly flammable in an accident. We saw this during the derailment in Mosier, Oregon, in 2016. The people of Mosier were lucky that day — under slightly different conditions, that accident could have been much worse.

We cannot count on luck for our safety. Fracked oil is dangerous and an oil fire poses huge problems for firefighters. This project would place thousands of people in jeopardy. It is not a good fit for our area.

Diana Gordon, Washougal

Trump giving reader hope for ‘bright future’

In the Post-Record of Jan. 8, 2018, Dr. Tom H. Hastings wrote a guest column expressing the heartfelt concern that his dream of a bright future and opportunity for his grandchildren is being crushed by the policies and actions of the current American president, and that the president should be removed immediately by invoking the 25th Amendment. I respectfully submit that invoking this constitutional process to replace a sitting president would be tough to pull off. It requires some unlikely conditions to exist; like acceptable proof of presidential incapacity, and the full cooperation of the vice president and the executive staff. Not impossible, but improbable.

Like Dr. Hastings, I hope for a bright future, full of opportunity, for my children and my grandchildren. But, for many years, I have not seen a future anything except economic ruin and eventual destruction of America by the simultaneously competing models of “Regime Change” and “Peace at any Price” and by an underlying, insidious government political correctness which almost sunk us in the muddy road of socialism. Now I begin to see positive things happening things which suggest “hope and change” is a real possibility, and not just a cheesy presidential campaign slogan.

Because now, I as a taxpaying adult, see one of my fondest wishes coming true: the U.S. government being led by an honest-to-goodness, successful businessman who appreciates that “lending a hand-up” is better policy than a degrading government “hand-out” for individuals and for the future of the country.

We have a president who, during his first year of leadership, has encouraged the economic conditions in America so as to allow these changes:

• Lowest overall unemployment in 17 years (Dec, 2017: 4.1%)
• Record low unemployment for Hispanics (Dec, 2017: 4.7%)
• Record low unemployment for Blacks (Dec, 2017: 6.8%)
• Highest consumer confidence index since 2007 (Dec, 2017: 113.7)
• Highest small business confidence since 2004 (Dec, 2017:105.9)
• And of course the stock market continues to grow with a continuous string of record increases. Dow Jones for example, has had over 70 successive record increases. Which means, because most 401K retirements are invested in stocks, the value of those 401Ks are probably also increasing.

These measures reflect a president who understands that government does not need to forcibly take from those who produce and redistribute to those in need. But can, in fact, encourage economic growth so those in need have more and better opportunities to earn their own economic advancement and security. In a word: Jobs.

Good-paying jobs for a wide range of talents, backgrounds and motivations. I have a friend who said recently that his roofing company had to stop accepting large corporate work projects when the backlog reached 100 because he simply could not find the workers to fill his crews. Construction is beginning to boom all over the U.S., and companies are competing with each other for skilled workers, which means pay increases and suggests that the disappearing trade schools and high school trade classes may come back as the demand for skilled labor increases. And when construction on the national infrastructure phase begins … Well, my imagination fails me.

I now believe America’s future holds more opportunity for my children and grandchildren than at any time since they were born, and I hope the same holds true for Dr. Hastings and his family.

Lee Howard, Washougal