I believe Bob Norton is basically correct in his evaluation. The Hoquiam
airport and sewage ponds are not prime habitat and are ripe for
re-development in a job starved region. The real damage to Gray's Harbor
was done long ago.

Bowerman NWR may or may not be seriously affected by a steel plant -
depending on the mitigation activities. Per David's message, it sounds
like Nucor is getting off real cheap if all they need to do is put up more
planks in the boardwalk. Can we get another pond in the deal? The
existing one attracts a wide variety of birds which will be lost without a
"fresh" water replacement. And there must be a way for the company to
contribute some annual maintenance for the birds welfare.

Michael's points on continued development are also quite valid. But to me
some of the worst environmental damage is not done directly by the
corporations. They will often bend over backwards if there is some cheap
publicity in it for them. The influx of dollars into the community brings
a large increase in "recreation" especially that which is generally
ecologically destructive, like off-road vehicles and other various motor
"sports".

The other disturbing aspect of this project, and many others like it, is
the give-away of state tax dollars. The economic merits of a development
project are secondary to the tax impact on the corporation. Oregon lives
off personal income taxes, Washington relies on sales taxes. In the last
legislative session WA generously passed a tax revision which reduces (or
eliminates) the sales tax on new investments in the state. Sales taxes are
lost and not made up in any direct sense. If Oregon forgoes some property
tax or corporate income tax, it makes up the difference shortly by the
income tax on the new employees. But this topic is way outside the realm
of birds.

Anyways, my main point is we (the rational enviromentalists in the crowd)
must be open to well concieved industrial development. To date there is
not enough hard data to determine if the Nucor steel plant falls in that
category or not. Let's get more facts!

For the birds,
Tom Schooley, Olympia WA , dunlin at mail.tss.net