The president is in town today to drum up support for his re-election. This morning he pledged $15 million for dredging the Columbia River.
“By deepening the channel from 40 to 43 feet, it will create new export opportunities of Columbia River ports will help our farmers and ranchers, it will help our manufacturers remain competitive, it will protect and restore jobs, really good paying jobs and will help to restore the river’s eco-system,”
In yet another display of his complete lack of understanding of all issues environmental, he seems to think that removing part of the eco-system by dredging, putting it somewhere else, stirring up a century worth of pollution, and increasing traffic on the river will somehow improve the ecosystem.
Environmental issues aside, how can $15 million dollars possibly be enough to fund such a massive undertaking? That’s a lot of silt, much of which probably shouldn’t be used for residential purposes.