Hey, toobad:

If you really believe oil trains that make noise, spew diesel, hold up traffic (including emergency vehicles), and are a constant threat to send tens or hundreds of people to an early death will improve real estate values, I've got a few things I'd like to sell you. A hundred jobs, mostly awarded to union laborers who don't and won't live around here, is not an attractive enough incentive to be anywhere near worthy of the risk associated with these projects.

You're right to point out that as long as the right palms get greased, public opinion will cease to matter overnight. That IS the way our corrupt government operates. So far, oil prices are too low for the venture to be as profitable as what the investors would like. If that doesn't change soon, the oil companies will abandon all these projects. That is my hope.

Yes, Grays Harbor needs new economic activity. There are plenty of other things that can be shipped or received at the Ports; things that don't jeopardize the area's greatest assets and could provide local, long-term jobs; you know, the kind that help real estate.