After a poorly publicized hearing last week, the Port of St. Helens on the Oregon coast approved a secretive deal to lease space to two dirty coal companies, paving the way for the port to become the largest coal terminal on the U.S. West Coast.

In an interview with The Oregonian last summer, Gov. John Kitzhaber (D-OR) said the approval of coal export facilities “should not happen in the dead of night” and that “we must have an open, vigorous public debate before any projects move forward.”

But that’s not what happened last week.

At Wednesday’s hearing, a large majority of those who testified were strongly opposed to the lease options moving forward. But that apparently didn’t matter to the Port of St. Helens Commissioners, who voted 4-1 and 5-0 to approve the two deals.

Vance Fraser, a Clatskanie resident who testified last week, wasn’t pleased with the outcome. “It’s clear that the commissioners were just going through the motions and had their minds made up,” he said. “The worst of it is that people who are impacted didn’t even know that a decision was going to be made.”

If the big coal companies get their way, up to 38 million tons of coal per year could soon be shipped through Oregon on uncovered trains and exported through the Port of St. Helens, leaving a cloud of dangerous coal dust and diesel fumes throughout the state. It would also rapidly escalate climate pollution by supplying coal to overseas markets.

As an elected official concerned about public health — and as a doctor who understands the health risks massive coal export projects pose — Governor Kitzhaber needs to take a strong stand by doing everything in his power to stop these projects before they start.

Candidate Rob Cornilles (R-OR)

In a November primary, Democrats nominated then-State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici. She also received the endorsement and ballot line for the Independent Party of Oregon.

The Republicans selected unsuccessful 2010 nominee Rob Cornilles, a strategic consultant for sports-industry executives. He supports partial privatization of Social Security, would cut Social Security and Medicare to avoid any defense cuts, and has called himself “the original Tea Party candidate.”

In 2010, ThinkProgress Green reported that Cornilles claims, “There is absolutely no science that can be proven… that man, through our activities, can advance climate change.”

Unlike special elections last year in New York’s 26th district, New York’s 9th district, and Nevada’s 2nd district, the big spending conservative Super PACs have generally skipped this race — perhaps a sign that they see Cornilles as too extreme to win the district.

Two minor candidates are also on the ballots, which were mailed to all voters in mid-January and must be returned to local county elections offices by 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Currently, 36 Oregon inmates sit on death row. One prisoner, Gary Haugen, had been set to die in two weeks.

Speaking at a Salem press conference, Kitzhaber explained his decision to place a moratorium on capital punishment, calling the practice “a perversion” that “fails to meet the basic standards of justice. The Oregonian has more:

Gov. John Kitzhaber announced today he will not allow the execution of Gary Haugen — or any death row inmate — to take place while he is in office.

The death penalty is morally wrong and unjustly administered, Kitzhaber said. [...]

“Both because of my own deep personal convictions about capital punishment and also because in practice, Oregon has an expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice.”

Oregon’s move follows a recent trend among states away from capital punishment. Since 2007, three more states – Illinois, New Jersey, and New Mexico – have abolished the death penalty, bringing the total number of states that shun the practice to 15. The District of Columbia has also abolished the death penalty.

“What we found in a nutshell is that having Medicaid makes a big difference in people’s lives,” said Amy Finkelstein, another MIT economist and one of the study’s principal investigators.

Overall, researchers found that compared to people without insurance, those with Medicaid had better access to and used more health care; they were less likely to experience unpaid medical bills; they were more likely to report being in good health; and they were less likely to report feeling depressed.

In fact, says Finkelstein, among those with Medicaid, “We report almost a one-third increase in the probability that you report yourself as being happy.”

The report, which the National Bureau of Economic Research is publishing, found that the chance that a patient had a primary care doctor or facility was 70 percent higher among Medicaid enrollees. They received preventative care more frequently than the uninsured, with Medicaid-insured women 60 percent more likely to receive mammograms. Men and women were 20 percent more likely to get their cholestorol checked. And those with Medicaid were 25 percent more likely to say they had good health, and 40 percent less likely to say their health had worsened.

Beyond just taking care of their health, Medicaid coverage also helped to give patients financial security when it came to health care costs: Medicaid enrollees were 40 percent less likely to have to borrow money to pay medical bills, and were 25 percent less likely to have unpaid bills referred to collection agencies.

While the study may have only focused on Oregon’s program, these preliminary results already debunk some conservative claims against the program and reinforces how important Medicaid is for those who most need it.

Hot in my inbox, a statement from Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who represents Portland in Congress and is one of the main leaders on transportation policy in the House, responding to George Will’s cranky anti-Portland column:

“In his article, Mr. Will proves that he is mired in a one-dimensional past, one that the city of Portland has successfully overcome. He opposes policies that will provide Americans with more choices while saving them money, creating jobs and protecting the environment. In Portland we have been able to increase productivity, boost our economy, and invest in our city’s resources by taking a well-rounded approach to transportation. Secretary LaHood shares this comprehensive view on transportation options for our nation—its not about behavior modification its about giving Americans the freedom to choose more than just the highway or byway.

Rather than pontificate about practicality from a far, I challenge Mr. Will to come experience Portland, and then debate the facts, the future and the visions we offer. I am proud to defend the Portland model so painstakingly developed and implemented over the last 1/3 of a century. Maybe he will understand why young well educated people move here without jobs and older, well established business and professional people won’t leave for jobs that pay more. We will be happy to buy his plane ticket and give him a bottle of Oregon pinot to die for.

I’m mostly wondering what Newsweek intends to do about the large, material factual error in Will’s column. When Will penned an error-ridden Washington Post column on climate change, the Post steadfastly refused to issue a correction and key Post personnel defended Will’s right to lie in the Post’s pages. Strangely, during the weeks of ensuing controversy the Post ran several opinion pieces that, accurately, pointed out that Will was misleading people and some of the Post’s news personnel offered similar comments. Still, Will’s editors and the Post opinion section continued to stand solidly behind the principle that accuracy isn’t important to them—at least as long as George Will is the author.

Newsweek is an editorially separate entity, but also owned by The Washington Post Company. Perhaps the Post’s decision to greenlight lying led Will to believe he could get away with similar misrepresentations in Newsweek. I’ll be interested to see if that proves to be the case.

Worth noting that a seat like this one is worth more to the Democratic Party than a seat like Kay Hagan’s. The Oregon race has turned out to be much closer because Smith has a reputation for independence, moderation, and hard work while Elizabeth Dole had none of those things. But a reasonably talented North Carolina Republican should be able to give Hagan a run for her money no matter what she does, whereas a Senator Merkley will be quite safe as long as he stays out of trouble.