noLNG

Gas project must meet Oregon's standards

Congress stripped the states of LNG siting authority, but that

Sunday, November 25, 2007

F ederal energy regulators and Texas speculators are sprinting down the homestretch in a race to site a liquefied natural gas operation on the lower Columbia River, a massive project based on studies that Oregon officials say fail to meet state standards.

This race needs to slow down. And Gov. Ted Kulongoski needs to do what he can to make sure the concerns of Oregon watchdog agencies aren't run over.

If "do what he can" sounds weak, it's because the state has a greatly weakened say in the siting of terminals for liquefied natural gas, or LNG. In 2005, at the request of the LNG industry, Congress took away states' authority to site these massive installations and gave it instead to FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Oregon, which vigorously opposed that shift, is now home to a pair of late-stage LNG terminal siting applications. One is at Coos Bay, and the more advanced of the two is at Bradwood Landing, 38 miles from the mouth of the Columbia.

The Bradwood developers, Houston-based NorthernStar Natural Gas, seek to invest nearly $1 billion in a terminal that would receive two to three LNG shipments a week in large tankers from overseas. The super-cooled liquid gas would be stored in towering twin tanks, regassified and piped to markets in the Northwest and California.

FERC completed public hearings on the project this month. Written comment will be accepted through Dec. 24, and NorthernStar executives say they expect final approval in April.

But Oregon agencies have serious qualms about the draft version of FERC's environmental impact statement. The document "lacks assurance that Oregon standards have been or will be met," Michael Grainey, director of the Oregon Department of Energy, wrote in a Nov. 7 memo to the governor's staff.

More>>>www.oregonlive.com

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State Agencies Raise Concerns.

State agencies raise concerns on LNG project Bradwood Landing - A federal environmental review generates comments Thursday, November 22, 2007 TED SICKINGER The Oregonian Until now, Oregon's state government, including Gov. Ted Kulongoski, has remained largely silent as the federal government has applied its new authority to decide whether a massive liquified natural gas terminal should go up on the Columbia River near Astoria. But that period is about to end. In preliminary comments reviewed by The Oregonian, numerous state agencies offer harsh criticism of a 600-page environmental review of the project that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued in August. The agencies raise serious concerns about the environmental and public-safety impact of NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc.'s controversial Bradwood Landing project. They also question why there has been no independent assessment of the region's demand for LNG (liquified natural gas) or need for the facility. "For FERC to make LNG siting decisions in a vacuum without the best available information and scientific data does a huge disservice to the people of Oregon," says a proposed cover letter drafted by the state Energy Department.

More>>>>> www.oregonlive.com

Clatsop County Board of Commissioners meeting.#2

Your presence DOES make a difference.  Attend Day 2 of the Clatsop County Commissioners hearing on Monday, November 19th, Guy Boyington Building on the corner of 9th & Commercial in Astoria, beginning at 9:00 am.

PIPELINE TAPS FEARS

Pipeline taps residents' fears

Hundreds worry about a gas line's effect on their land and environment

Friday, November 16, 2007

TED SICKINGER

The Oregonian

A chorus of concerns rang out this week as landowners along the snaking route of a proposed natural gas pipeline showed signs of organizing to oppose the line and liquefied natural gas terminals along the lower Columbia River.

Several hundred landowners, farmers, advocates and concerned residents aired their complaints at public meetings this week in Maupin, Molalla, McMinnville and, on Thursday, Forest Grove. The towns sit along the proposed route of the Palomar pipeline, which would connect a planned LNG terminal near Astoria with an interstate transmission line that runs through central Oregon to California.

Douglas Sipe, a project manager from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, was the man behind the lectern and thus the stand-in punching bag for both his agency and the private companies that want to build the terminal and pipeline.

Most speakers expressed deep misgivings about the agency's ability to deal with associated threats to people, wildlife, farmland and the environment.

Read the rest here

1000 Friends of Oregon Statement.

1000 Friends of Oregon LNG Pipeline and Terminal Position Statement

Liquefied Natural Gas pipelines and terminals threaten livable urban and rural communities, family farms and forests, and natural and scenic areas across Oregon.
Oregon faces an unprecedented number of proposals for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminals, pipelines, and related facilities.  Two terminals are currently proposed for the Columbia River Estuary, and a third terminal is proposed for Coos Bay.   Hundreds of miles of pipeline are proposed from the Columbia River terminals to Molalla, from Central Oregon to Molalla, and from Coos Bay to the California border. These pipelines would cut across hundreds of miles of productive farm and forest land to serve utilities in California, where the vast majority of the gas from the three terminals would be used. 
1000 Friends of Oregon is opposed to these proposals because the pipelines threaten family farms and forests and the terminals threaten sensitive estuaries and the fisheries that depend on them.  Oregon and the Pacific Northwest are already feeling the effects of global warming.  Constructing huge facilities to import fossil fuels will worsen these effects and undercut our goals for energy independence.
If the LNG facilities are built, they should be built on Oregon¹s terms.  The pipelines should follow existing roads and rights-of-way, instead of plowing through the middle of productive farm fields and forest lands that support Oregon families.  The terminals should fully comply with Oregon¹s Statewide Planning Goals without exceptions, including Goal 16, which protects Estuarine Resources.
In the words of 1000 Friends co-founder, Governor Tom McCall:

"Oregon is demure and lovely, and ought to play a little hard to get.  And I think you¹ll all be just as sick as I am if you find it is nothing but a hungry hussy, throwing herself at every stinking smokestack that¹s offered."