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Posted: (October 02, 2008 10:39 am)
Two years ago, coastal residents had a gold rush on their hands.
Developers, eager to turn wave energy into electricity and certain that Oregon offered a powerhouse resource, laid claim to promising sites from Newport to Coos Bay.
Today, a shakeout is under way. And a county known more for its cheese than its moxie has grabbed a chance to play prospector, not spectator.
Tillamook County officials, noting that the waters off their coast were developer-free, have quietly obtained a permit from federal regulators to study six sites. They picked the spots strategically, essentially blocking development by anyone not to their liking.
"We can either wait until someone runs roughshod over us, or we can make sure we have a say in what happens," said Paul Levesque, Tillamook County's chief of staff.
The permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gives the county the exclusive right to study the six sites. Each stretches seaward three miles from a utility substation that feeds into transmission lines.
County officials acknowledge that jumping into the wave energy debate requires time, money and an inexhaustible patience with state and federal regulators. But, they point out, local influence could bring a huge payoff: jobs for coastal communities, cash for government coffers and a gold-plated reputation for a state out to deepen its green credentials.
The trick, locals say, is to tap the benefits of a new industry without spoiling ocean habitats, economic livelihoods and recreational playgrounds.
