[Originally published in the OTHER paper, Eugene, Oregon in February, 1996.]
Hyundai highlightsby Wanda Ballentine
On January 26, federal Judge Michael Hogan delayed his decision on the request for a preliminary injunction to halt the Hyundai project until the following week. The request was the first step in the suit brought by West Eugene Wetlands Friends, Citizens for Public Accountability, the Sierra Club, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and the Constitutional Law Foundation against the Army Corps of Engineers for violating the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Protection Act in granting Hyundai a permit to begin building in the wetlands.
For nearly three hours, Hogan heard testimony in the palatial federal courtroom, three lawyers speaking for the plaintiff, nine for the defense -- four federal lawyers from D.C., the others from Hyundai and the City of Eugene, who had requested to join the case. The former asked to call scientists Mary O'Brien, Paul Engelking, Tom Pringle and John Corliss to present expert testimony on omissions in the Corps' report. Critical that the request had not been made earlier, Hogan nevertheless agreed to allow the testimony to be submitted in writing the following Monday.
Meanwhile, the city granted Hyundai a grade and fill permit.
This is news?
The January 30 Register-Guard front-page headline announced Hyundai would probably not build Phase III of its proposed plant. As Phase III was denied by both the Division of State Lands and the Army Corps of Engineers, it is unclear why this was news (or maybe it's Hyundai that calls the shots). A tad of "news" (for the RG) was that fewer workers will be needed for Phases I and II -- partly due to automation -- not news to opponents, who had warned about this eventuality. Still unknown months after Hyundai's own deadline: the actual number of jobs to be offered and the wage schedule. Hyundai claims to be still working on an industry wage survey.
Computer chips no longer blue chips
The Guard article reported Hyundai's continuing confidence in the computer chip market, though red flags are going up in the investment community. In a 12/20 article in Strategic Investment, a market newsletter, analyst Michael Belkin writes, "One of the oldest stories in any economic textbook is how excess profits in any industry attract competition, which eventually causes prices to fall and excess profits to vanish. In extreme cases, over-expansion at the top of a cycle can create absurd overcapacity in an industry right before demand slows down. The semiconductor industry appears to be making that classic blunder of over-expansion on a monumental scale."
The signs that the current cycle has peaked are everywhere, said Belkin. Yet about 40 billion-dollar semiconductor plants are going up or on the drawing boards. The stock index for semiconductor stocks (the most volatile in history) was "ridiculously over-inflated" in early 1995, is falling and expected to fall much further, taking some companies with it. The biggest holders are getting out, which will drive prices down; the process could undermine the whole market.
Oregon's economic developers appear to have invested in the worst industry at the worst time, and in the worst place.
Noise variance
A public hearing will be held Thursday, February 8, 6 pm, at EWEB to hear complaints regarding the three-month, 24-hour-a-day noise variance granted Hyundai to speed project construction. There are fourteen appellants, plus the 135 area residents who signed the petition protesting the variance. Only one other such variance has ever been granted, but for a period of only two days.
Flooding
During the downpour on January 20, ducks were swimming on Willow Creek Rd. adjacent to the Hyundai site. This is not unusual, as area residents testified at the Army Corps hearing last August. What was unusual was that city maintenance crews were so busy averting the flood and pumping the water into trucks (your tax dollars at work!). City workers acknowledged that Hyundai's plans to pave the area will increase the flooding. Calls made to TV stations and the Guard about the problem were ignored.
©Wanda Ballentine, 1996