Southwest Washington was built on an economy of harvesting the local old-growth timber. By the early 1900s Grays Harbor County had the largest number of millionaires per capita of any county in the United States. After Frederick Weyerhaeuser made a fortune cutting down trees and milling lumber in Minnesota, he came here and built what, at the time, was the largest sawmill in the country in Longview.

By the mid-20th century the thousands of square miles of old-growth lumber were running out. There were, at one time, as many as 14 sawmills along the mouth of the Chehalis River in Aberdeen and Hoquiam. And let’s not forget the dozens of sawmills that sprang up on the banks of the Willapa Harbor and the Columbia River. But those days are gone as are most of those sawmills and most of the forests that fed them. Our economic base has dried up because we exploited out resources.

But Southwest Washington is not an empty wasteland but a clean slate with which we can do what we want. According to a 2019 report by the industrial study group Environmental Entrepreneurs, more than 83,000 jobs were created in the state of Washington in the renewable energy sector alone. There are also emerging technologies in building products, recycled materials, and other so-called “waste to profit” industries.

In Grays Harbor we have one of the largest biodiesel refineries in the country and we can take advantage of that by having farm co-ops in Grays Harbor, Lewis, and Cowlitz counties growing feedstocks and producing the purified oil that that refinery needs, rather than having it shipped from central Canada.

There are hundreds of other industries that we could foster in this area in order to grow a vibrant, new, 21st century, sustainable industrial and economic base so that everyone who lives here can thrive.

That is why I support the only candidate for representative from the 19th legislative district who has the drive, the ambition, and the vision to help us do that. Marianna Everson is a registered nurse in the mental health industry and is fully in touch with emerging industries and trends that we need to keep track of in Southwest Washington. She will work constantly and tirelessly to showcase our corner of the state and help bring these emerging industries to our area, along with their high wages and benefits.

For the same reasons, I fully support Jamie Nichols for Grays Harbor County Commissioner. As a woman who somehow manages to pack 32 hours of work in a 24-hour day, the two of them will be a powerful force for economic development in Grays Harbor County and Southwest Washington. Remember those names on Aug. 4, Marianna Everson and Jamie Nichols.

Alan Richrod

Aberdeen