noLNG

Baird Town Hall Meetings

Congressional Representative Brian Baird of the 19th District will be holding a town hall meeting at the River Street Meeting Room in Cathlamet on July 7th from 7- 8:30 PM. Baird was asked for his position on the LNG issue at a previous town hall meeting in Cowlitz County. At that time he reported a need to do more research on the topic. It's time to ask the question again. If he still doesn't have an answer, this town meeting would be a great place to "educate" him about Bradwood. This means that each of us needs to attend the meeting, focus on facts, and give a responsible presentation.

Congressman Baird will hold two additional town meetings:

Vancouver- WSU Auditorium July 5, 2006

Longview- Cowlitz Regional Conference Center July 6, 2006

 

Town Hall Hosted by Gregoire

Governor Gregoire invites Vancouver residents to a Thursday July 6 Town Hall. It's an excellent way to let her know how you feel about Bradwood. To attend the meeting, RSVP by going to http://www.governor.wa.us

Taking A Stand

Good news! Unlike Wahkiakum County, Clatsop County has chosen to "sit at the table" as interveners in Northern Star's application process for Bradwood. And, unlike Wahkiakum County, Clatsop County has specifically mentioned us in their public records as people needing protection. In letters to FERC published on the FERC website http://www.FERC.gov , Clatsop County referred to Wahkiakum County as "our neighbors across the river" and made comments about the disruption on our lives.

More good news! We have just received word from the Governor's Office of Regulatory Assistance that Washington Department of Ecology will also file for intervenor status for the Northern Star project.

WFOR Steering Committee Meeting

Wahkiakum Friends of the River Steering Committee will meet Tuesday July 11, 2006 at 7:00 PM at St. James Family Center, Cathlamet for its regular monthly meeting. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Questions: Call 360-849-4334.

RED FLAG

Say 'No' to secrecy on LNG safety

HTTP://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=23&subsectionID=392&articleID=34166&Q=4248.925
Web Posted 6/20/2006 12:35:00 PM
Article :

There is a well-founded suspicion among Americans that when government keeps secrets, its goal is to keep citizens - rather than our nation's enemies - in the dark.

On the national level, the most notorious recent example of this is restoration of top secret status to long-declassified documents disclosing embarrassing U.S. government mistakes during the Korean War.

Locally, a similar red flag is raised by secrecy about risks posed by liquefied natural gas transportation plans.

Initially, Northern Star Natural Gas asked that the safety assessment for its proposed Bradwood Landing LNG terminal be kept from public view, suggesting the information is inherently private.

There undoubtedly are times when competitors would gain an unfair advantage from reading documents filed with the government. Here, however, the public has a legitimate interest in full disclosure about any dangers and complications stemming from a large new industrial site located on a major transportation corridor and fishing ground.

To Northern Star's likely relief, the U.S. Coast Guard stepped in to keep the LNG risk assessment secret under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. While the Coast Guard certainly brings great local credibility and gravitas to the matter, the end result is unsatisfactory.

The Coast Guard's suggestion that the Bradwood Landing information will put the facility in the cross-hairs of international terrorism is simply silly. Such concerns, possibly farfetched for a facility in rural Oregon, do not justify curtailing the public's ability to review and knowledgeably comment on Northern Star's plans.

At most, security considerations warrant withholding any information directly relating to defending the site from intruders and saboteurs. Terrorists already have access to the geography and topography of the channel and the shoreline.

Northwesterners were, in essence, told to not worry our pretty little heads while bomb-making was turning Hanford into one of the world's most dangerously contaminated nuclear sites. In this and other instances, the lesson of history is that Americans blithely trust in government at their own peril. Residents of the lower Columbia have a fundamental personal interest in the safety of their homes and families.

The Bradwood Landing site may yet turn out to be a safe and valued addition to the lower Columbia River's economic mix. But we are not peasants whose concerns can be lightly brushed aside.

Northern Star and the Coast Guard should immediately seek out mutually acceptable ways to keep all interested members of the public fully informed.

Waskiakum County Democrats Position on LNG

Read about efforts by the Wahkiakum County Democrats regarding LNG at Bradwood Oregon by Krist Novoselic. Go to http://wahdems.org/LNG.htm

LNG SECURITY REPORT TO BE HELD BACK

From the Daily Astorian:

North Coast residents will have to wait months to discover what safety risks
LNG tankers could pose and how Northern Star Natural Gas would solve them if
a liquefied natural gas terminal is built on the Columbia River at Bradwood
Landing.

The U.S. Coast Guard has agreed to withhold the company's recently submitted
Waterway Suitability Assessment from the public as an issue of national
security.

"The WSA is largely a risk assessment aimed at identifying vulnerabilities
so the Coast Guard and other state and local agencies can take the
appropriate precautions to minimize any risks," said Coast Guard Lt.
Shadrack Scheirman, chief of port operations in Portland. He cited the
Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. "We don't want to be telling
the terrorists where the dangerous areas are."

The required waterway assessment outlines safety and security issues - such
as accidental spill scenarios, zones to protect the public in the event of a
fire or gas leak and to protect ships from possible terrorism,
characteristics of the local area and its available resources and space to
provide those zones, the overall "footprint" of the LNG operation and more -
of shipping the super-chilled natural gas to Bradwood, more than 30 miles
east of Astoria on the Columbia River, where Northern Star hopes to build a
$580 million import facility.

The Coast Guard then performs a "reality check" on the document, checking
how the company intends to manage those risks and what impact those measures
would have on local stakeholders.

Northern Star is one of four companies seeking to build LNG terminals on the
river, with two proposed in Warrenton, one at Port Westward and another in
Coos Bay.

All have sparked local opposition, but Northern Star's recent request to
keep the records secret has raised new concerns about transparency and the
public's rights.

The Houston-based company requested that the Coast Guard keep the WSA secret
as "confidential commercial, financial and proprietary business information
exempt from Freedom of Information Act disclosure. and that it not be
disclosed to third parties without our prior written consent."

But Coast Guard officials are withholding the document for a different
reason. They say releasing it could compromise national security. Instead,
the agency will incorporate parts of the assessment - if it's deemed valid -
into the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's draft environmental impact
statement, which Scheirman said would be available in about four months. The
commission is expected to decide whether to site the Bradwood facility
within about 10 months.

Some people think that's too long to wait.

"As citizens of Oregon and Washington, we are the ones who will be directly
impacted," said Cheryl Johnson, a local school librarian and an LNG
opponent. "We have a right to know what their plans are ... how they are
going to ensure our security and what kind of impact it will have. If we
can't read it, then we can't question it and we can't criticize it."

In October 2005, she requested to see portions of the preliminary WSA not
related to national security as they were submitted to the Coast Guard. She
e-mailed Gary Coppedge, Northern Star's vice president for development, and
copied it to the Coast Guard's Scheirman. Coppedge called her back, she
said, but told her she'd have to wait for the final document.

"Before, we were asking too early," Johnson said. "Now we're asking and it's
too late.

"This is exceedingly frustrating to the people who live, work and recreate
on the Columbia River because we can't get the information that will
directly impact our lives."

Other concerns have been raised that under pressure to site the terminal,
agencies might buckle to stakeholders' economic needs and security zones
might be shortened at their expense.

The national standard for the Coast Guard's "exclusion zones" around tankers
has been two miles ahead of the bow, one mile behind the stern and 1,500
feet to either side. The Columbia River is 2,640 feet wide at its mouth,
which decreases to 600 feet wide five miles upriver, according to the Port
of Portland.

"The Columbia river isn't 3,000 feet wide," said Johnson. "That would mean
shutting down the channel. It will have a huge impact." It's one reason she
wants to see the report.

Scott Peterson, who works in public relations for Northern Star, told The
Daily Astorian this morning that he doesn't know why the company requested
the information be kept confidential for business reasons, but that they're
just following the law. He said he is not a company spokesman.

"I guess the opponents to the project are kind of scrambling for reasons to
oppose it ... to bring up what I think is a false issue, saying Northern
Star is trying to hide stuff, but that is just not the case," Peterson said.
"They have to follow the law. So, if the Coast Guard says certain things
can't be disclosed to the public, Northern Star isn't going to cross that
line just to appease the local community."

He said some people have been allowed to review the materials, including
some fishermen and tug-boat operators in the community.

"People who have a stake in it and who have some role in security - fire
chiefs, police chiefs, emergency responders, the ports - they all get to see
it," he said. "The people who really have a role in it get to see it."

Others will have to wait about four more months for the FERC environmental
impact statement.

http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=78&SubSectionID=876&ArticleI
D=34034&TM=75847.17

REPORT FROM COMMISSIONERS MEETING

At least forty residents of Cathlamet, Skamakawa, and Puget Island met with Wahkiakum County Commissioners on June 6, 2006 to ask the question: What are you doing for us? Forty-two questions were submitted to the commissioners, and it was agreed they would be read at a later time in order to give those present at the meeting time to speak. The following are impressions of the commissioners' position on LNG issues:

• The commissioners believe Northern Star's advice and word are reliable.
• The commissioners believe Fred Johnson's knowledge of filing for intervener status is correct, and that the commissioners should not file because the cost is prohibitive. No reasoning or information about the difference between filing and litigating would convince them otherwise.
• The commissioners believe they are correct in having county people meet with Northern Star during the prefiling stage because this means they are putting things into place for the county. This equates to doing the county's business, and "doing the county's business" was the answer to our question of what are you doing for us?
• It appears that the commissioners have not met with Northern Star although it is possible that Fred Johnson has done so either as the city's legal representative or representative for the fire department.

Wahkiakum Friends of the River asked for a public information forum between the people of the county and the commissioners. There was no decision made at this meeting.

A transcript of the meeting can be obtained through the commissioner's office.

What next? Any ideas? Make a comment on the blog or e-mail Paula Carlson at wahkiakumfriendsoftheriver@yahoo.com

ASK A COMMISSIONER

Are you wondering what our Wahkiakum Commissioners are doing? Join other Wahkiakum residents on Tuesday, June 6th at 10 AM at the Commissioner's office in Cathlamet. The topic is LNG.

There are economic and safety issues that the federal government requires Northern Star to address, and, thus far, the citizens of Wahkiakum County do not know how the commissioners are taking care of this issue! The question for the Commissioners on Tuesday is simple- What plans have you made to protect the citizens of Wahkiakum County?

The question is simple. Find out if their answer is studied and complete.

10 AM is the time regularly set aside for citizen input. WFOR contacts will be notified if that time changes.

Plan to Attend LUBA Hearing

There will be a LUBA hearing on Thursday June 8th at 1:30PM in the hearing room at 550 NE in Salem, Oregon.

LUBA is the Land Use Board of Appeals. PFRP, Riverkeepers, and others appealed the decision made by the City of Warrington(on behalf of Calpine) to rezone that part of the Skipanon Peninsula from urban recreational to marine industrial.

The hearing will include both sides- PFRP and Calpine. Even though this LUBA concerns Calpine and Astoria/Warrington, Bradwood will also need a zone change for Northern Star to meet local approval. So, this appeal is important not only for Astoria and opposition to LNG in general, but WFOR may be facing the same situation. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!

Phone 849-4000 about a possible car pool.