Reporter's Notebook

We’re making history…

Ouch. Yesterday’s state revenue forecast by Washington’s Economic and Revenue Council painted an ugly picture of what the state is headed for. On top of the already massive forecasted state budget deficit, the council now projects that in the budget period ending June 30, the state now faces the loss of an additional $721 million.

That’s an additional projected $1.6 billion drop in revenue resulting in an approximate $6.8 billion shortfall for 2009-11. That’s 20 percent of the state budget – the largest shortfall in state history.

Local State Reps. Jaime Herrera and Ed Orcutt immediately dispatched word they don’t support tax hikes to solve the problem – Orcutt calling them the easy way out.

Clearly there is no easy way out of this mess. But U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell was in town this morning to spread a bit of bright news in these dark times. She and other clean energy advocates are celebrating the inclusion of $11 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for clean energy investments – which could be a shot in the arm for local job creation.

Locally, the Port of Vancouver has invested in attracting the renewable energy sector, which has proved profitable for the port – and in turn, the region – and is only expected to grow. This year, the port expects that more than 100,000 longshoreman hours due to handling wind energy equipment, compared to 25,000 in 2008 and 72,000 the year before. And with further investment will come more jobs.

You can’t argue with that. How will the stimulus bill impact your industry?

-Megan Patrick-Vaughn can be reached at mpatrick@vbjusa.com