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PNWA mourns the loss of two great friends
Robert Gronholz
1931-2010
Bob Gronholz (top right) with fellow Port of Whitman Commissioners
Dan Boone and John Love
Bob Gronholz passed away on April 13, 2010 in Colfax, WA, at age 78. As a Port of Whitman Commissioner, Bob was a great supporter of PNWA and our efforts in support of navigation in the Northwest. Bob was an active and valued member of our association from the time he began serving on the Port Commission in 1997, and he will be greatly missed.
Bob was born in Minnesota and relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1951 after being posted to Fairchild Air Force base in Spokane. After leaving the Air Force, Bob worked for many years in the grocery business as an owner and manager of stores throughout Washington. Heavily involved with economic development issues through his work at the Colfax Chamber of Commerce and Whitman County Business Development Association, Bob was especially interested in economic development in the small, rural towns of Whitman County. He was a member of the Colfax Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Colfax City Council, served two terms at the Port of Whitman and was elected to a third term last November.
The funeral for Bob will be held on May 1 at 1 p.m. at Concordia Lutheran Church in Pullman where he was a member. Bob's wife Carol and his family suggest sending memorials to Concordia Lutheran Church or the Colfax Volunteer Fire and Ambulance.
Ray Hickey
1927-2010
Ray Hickey, former owner of Tidewater Barge Lines and a leading Clark County businessman and philanthropist, died April 14, 2010 at the age of 82.
Ray was born in Montana and moved to Vancouver, WA in 1951, where he became a deckhand for Tidewater. He worked his way up through the ranks to become president in 1977, and eventually buying the company in 1983. Under Ray's leadership, Tidewater evolved from a barge line primarily handling wheat into a multi-commodity transportation company serving the diverse transportation needs of the Pacific Northwest.
After selling Tidewater in 1996, Ray also stayed active on the issues. His was the first contribution to establish the Inland Ports and Navigation Group (IPNG). IPNG is a subset of PNWA members who are intervening in the Columbia River salmon Biological Opinion lawsuit.
Ray remained prominent in the community by contributing to charitable organizations throughout Southwest Washington and the Portland area. Beneficiaries included the Ray Hickey Hospice House in Vancouver, the YWCA Clark County, Vancouver's Renaissance Trail Project, the Columbia Land Trust and the Doernbecher Children's Hospital, where Hickey established a Ray Hickey Chair for Pediatric Research.
A memorial service for Ray will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 24 at the Vancouver First Church of God. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to YWCA Clark County, Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation and The Ray Hickey Hospice House.
PNWA staff contact: Heather Stebbings
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Senate bill introduced to address Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF)
PNWA's membership supports spending the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to fully maintain the nation's ports, waterways and harbors. PNWA is a supporter of the RAMP (Realizing America's Maritime Promise) effort to ensure that amounts credited to the HMTF are used for harbor maintenance.
Recently, we alerted you to the introduction of a House bill (H.R.4844) by Rep. Boustany and Rep. Stupak to seek full access to annual HMTF revenues to benefit deep-draft and coastal harbor maintenance. A Senate version has now been introduced as well. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) introduced S.3213 yesterday, with seven co-sponsors. PNWA will be encouraging the Northwest Congressional delegation to support these bills, and sign on as co-sponsors.
Since 2003, Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) collections have far exceeded funds appropriated for harbor maintenance, resulting in a large and growing surplus in the trust fund (GAO, 2008). In 2008, over $1.6 billion was collected and symbolically placed in the HMTF, but only $766 million was expended. The GAO reports that the surplus is expected to grow to $8 billion by 2011. Rather than being used for their intended purpose, these user fees are, instead, used to balance the federal budget each year.
PNWA's membership supports fully spending HMT revenue on navigation infrastructure operations and maintenance. To learn more, or download our fact sheet regarding HMTF, please visit http://pnwa.net/new/Fact_Sheets.aspx.
PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira |
Congressional staff transitions
Sen. Patty Murray: Carrie Desmond has departed Senator Murray's office for a position with Lockheed Martin's Washington Operations organization, working on Homeland Security and Civil Agencies programs. Jaime Shimek will take on many issues from Carrie's portfolio. Jaime has served as a Legislative Assistant in Senator Murray's office since June 2005. Her past responsibilities have included environment, natural resources, energy, tribes, salmon and agriculture issues. She is now taking on the Army Corps and Hanford portfolios in addition to continuing to work on energy, salmon, and agriculture issues. Jaime hails from Ritzville, Washington where her father is a dryland wheat farmer. She graduated from Washington State University in 2001 with a degree in Communications.
Sen. Maria Cantwell: Joel Merkel has departed Senator Cantwell's office to become Assistant General Counsel for the Summit Power Group in Seattle. Wyatt King joined Senator Cantwell's staff in late February as her new LA handling energy and natural resources issues. Wyatt joined the Senator's staff after two and a half years in the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) where he served as senior policy advisor on energy, environment, public lands, and science policy. Wyatt also ran Giffords' appropriations process for energy, environment, science, and education requests. He moved to her office after six months on the House Science and Technology Committee where he was professional staff working on the subcommittee on energy and environment, developing renewable energy legislation. Wyatt has a Bachelor's degree from Williams College and a Master's degree in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, with concentrations in international energy and environmental policy as well as international business relations.
Sen. Maria Cantwell: Brian Willoughby has departed Senator Cantwell's Southwest Washington office for a role at Legacy Health Salmon Creek Medical Center working on PR and community relations. Kimberly Blake Pincheira joined the Senator's Vancouver office at the end of January as her Southwest Washington Outreach Director. Prior to that, Kimberly worked for Congressman Baird as a District Representative for three years, and had also interned in Senator Cantwell 's office. Kimberly received her Bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and her Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon.
Rep. Brian Baird: Andrew Dohrmann has departed Congressman Baird's office to become a professional staff member at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, working on transportation policy. Rob Inglis will now work on navigation issues for the Congressman. He has been with the office since August 2009, and worked on the Congressman's WRDA requests last fall. Before coming to the Baird office, Rob worked as a journalist with High Country News and The New Republic. He has also worked as a research assistant at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs. Rob graduated from Yale University in 2007 with a degree in Ethics, Politics, and Economics.
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Online registration for PNWA's 2010 Mid-Year Meeting is now available!
PNWA's Mid-Year Meeting will be held June 28-30 at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington. Online registration for the meeting is now available online - make your plans to participate today!
Topics Include:
Corps of Engineers Commander Update
Extended Lock Outage - The Latest Information
MCR Jetties Major Maintenance Report & Detailed Design Plan
FEMA Flood Plain Ordinance & Effects on the Northwest
President Obama's Climate Change Position & How Hydropower Fits In
2010 West Coast Ports Economic Outlook
Marine Spatial Planning
The Panama Canal Expansion & Impacts to West Coast Trade
Next Steps in the FCRPS BiOp
and much more!
Speakers include:
BG John McMahon, Division Commander, USACE, Northwestern Division
Alan Feistner, Deputy District Engineer, USACE, Walla Walla District
Tim Hibbitts, Partner, Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, Inc.
John Graves, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region 10
Hal Thomas, Business Line Manager, Operations Division, USACE, Walla Walla District
Steve Perkins, Chief, Technical Operations Branch, USACE, Portland District
Tammy Dennee, Executive Director, Oregon Wheat Growers League
Tom McCollough, Vice President/Branch Manager, Moffatt & Nichol
Zak Anderson, Director, Federal Government Relations, BNSF
Jay Waldron, Attorney, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt
Beth Ginsberg, Attorney, Stoel Rives LLP
Bob Nichols, Executive Policy Advisor, Office of the Governor, State of Washington
John Ogan, Attorney, Indian Law, Natural Resources & Water Law, Karnopp Peterson LLP
David Amble, Seaport Planner, Port of Seattle
Rick Finn, Federal Government Affairs, Port of Portland
Stephanie Bowman, Manager, Federal Governmental Affairs, Port of Tacoma
Carole Knapel, Senior Project Manager, KPFF Consulting Engineers
Jon Keiser, Vice President, PND Engineers, Inc.
and many more!
Log onto our website, www.pnwa.net, for more information and to register today!
PNWA staff contact: Heather Stebbings |
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