noLNG

11/18/2008 10:51:00 AM

FERC buys more time for LNG decision Board issues tolling order that stops time clock for responding to legal challenges filed By CASSANDRA PROFITA The Daily Astorian The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has bought itself additional time to consider several requests for a rehearing of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas project approval. The board issued a tolling order Monday that stops the time clock for responding to the legal challenges filed in October by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the states of Oregon and Washington and regional conservation and tribal groups. The order satisfied project developer NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc.'s request that FERC delay action on the challenges, rather than issuing a final approval and risking litigation. For various reasons, the challengers are asking FERC for a rehearing of its September approval of the $650 million LNG facility, proposed for a site 20 miles east of Astoria on the Columbia River. One common complaint is that FERC gave project developer NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. a conditional approval without completing the necessary environmental reviews. Several state agencies and the top federal fisheries agency are required to sign off on the project under the Clean Air, Clean Water, Coastal Zone Management and Endangered Species acts. More: http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=395&ArticleID=56085

REHEARING GRANTED.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Bradwood Landing LLC Docket No. CP06-365-002

NorthernStar Energy LLC Docket Nos. CP06-366-002

CP06-376-002

CP06-377-002

ORDER GRANTING REHEARING FOR

FURTHER CONSIDERATION

(November 17, 2008)

Rehearing has been timely requested of the Commission’s September 18, 2008 order in this proceeding. Bradwood Landing LLC and NorthernStar Energy LLC, 124 FERC ¶ 61, 257 (2008). In the absence of Commission action within 30 days, the requests for rehearing (and any timely requests for rehearing filed subsequently) would be deemed denied. 18 C.F.R. § 385.713.

In order to afford additional time for consideration of the matters raised or to be raised, rehearing of the Commission’s order is hereby granted for the limited purpose of further consideration, and timely-filed rehearing requests will not be deemed denied by operation of law. Rehearing requests of the above-cited order filed in this proceeding will be addressed in a future order. As provided in 18 C.F.R. § 385.713(d), no answers to the rehearing requests will be entertained.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Numerous solid reasons to reject LNG.

Commentary in The Daily News. (Longview, WA.)

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/11/16/readers/doc491e01acce47a235330657.txt

Feds may revisit LNG decision.

Complete article of The Daily News:

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/11/15/area_news/doc491e7e74c6523169886431.txt

The Daily Astorian Editorial.

Get the straight scope on these LNG carpetbaggers. The NW has no use for imported natural gas in the form of LNG. Secondly, with the Sunstone "Domestic" natural gas pipeline going west to connect with the Williams pipeline, who would need LNG. (FERC Docket #PF09-2)

Building a LNG receiving facility in a salmon  Estuary is like building a smelter in Yosemite N.P.

Please read the last two enties taken from The Daily Astorian.

11/4/2008 10:22:00 AM

Should we trash salmon for LNG? Now we’re beginning to know exactly what’s at stake at Bradwood Landing The dirty little secret about the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal proposal is that it would violate critical salmon habitat. Now we know much more precisely what is at stake. Cassandra Profita's Monday article contains considerable detail about research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In a nutshell, researchers find the waters just off Bradwood are a very important transit point for salmon. But to build the Bradwood LNG terminal, 46 acres of the Clifton Channel would be dredged. Once operating, the terminal would discharge industrial water into the channel, and ships would take water from the channel for ballast. Degradation of salmon habitat is how certain fish species became endangered. At this stage of recovery process, why insult the salmon habitat further? NorthernStar - the company behind the Bradwood Landing LNG proposal - has made a financially generous offer to mitigate for lost salmon habitat. But mitigation is also what we've been doing for decades. If a prospective LNG terminal at Bradwood were really essential to the well being of this state or region, there might be a reason to have a serious discussion about the price of trashing salmon habaitat. But no one really needs this LNG terminal, except the developers who intend to get rich by building it - then flipping it to a larger company. This LNG project is a blue chip in the game of poker that big Texas energy interests will reliably play. We saw it with Enron. To place an industrial plant such as an LNG terminal next to waters that are vital salmon habitat is not smart. If we were to acquiesce to the NorthernStar proposal, it would only demonstrate that we've learned nothing in the past 20 years.

Its the Estuary!

11/3/2008 11:04:00 AM

LNG is on path of fish sanctuary Study reveals area around Bradwood Landing is popular spot for salmon By CASSANDRA PROFITA The Daily Astorian Juvenile chinook salmon swimming down the Columbia River often turn a corner at Clifton Channel, about 20 miles upriver from Astoria, and enter the marshy backwaters that meander through a cluster of islands between Bradwood Landing and Svensen. There, they find a slower current, lots of critters to eat and refuge from predators. It's a great place for salmon fry to bulk up for their journey into the ocean, said fish biologist Curtis Roegner of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And research shows about 15 percent of all the out-migrating salmon in the river choose that back-channel route. But to get there, the fish have to swim past Bradwood Landing, where NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. of Houston has proposed to build a $650 million liquefied natural gas facility. Over the past six years - starting before NorthernStar announced its development in 2005 - Roegner has been sampling the fish at Bradwood Landing for NOAA's Point Adams Research Lab in Hammond. He's found the site to be popular year-round among chinook salmon less than a year old, and he suspects some of the fish are wild. Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=55675 Keep industry out the estuary! (Click on the picture)

LNG Politics.

10/31/2008 10:43:00 AM

Letter: Voters bat last Patricia Roberts, in recent advertisements, says that she is "holding LNG accountable." Really? According to the Oregon Secretary of State's Web site, during the seven days between Oct. 10 and 16, Roberts received seven separate contributions of $1,000 each, a huge amount for any county commission seat. Perhaps what is more interesting and significant is the identity of the five contributors. All large land owners/developers or suppliers to the building industry, they are: Ken Leahy, heavy equipment operator and current part-owner of the Bradwood Landing property where the Bradwood Landing LNG development is proposed to be built; James Neikes, logger/contractor; Thomas Isom, salesman for Gearhart Builders Supply in Gearhart; Terry Lowenbery, property developer; and Shawn Teevin, construction contractor. Through Oct. 16, Roberts has received more than $12,000 in contributions from a total of 11 separately identified contributors, for an average contribution of more than $1,000. In the same period, Jim Scheller has received $6,800 in contributions from 74 separately identified contributors, for an average of $92. It looks to me as though Scheller will be representing the people of Clatsop County, while Roberts would be representing a few big contractors/developers who have an overriding interest in big development, including LNG, and the Bradwood Landing LNG project, in particular. As you cast your vote, consider that Jim Scheller shares your vision for a Clatsop County commission that encourages compatible growth and development, and ensures a fair playing field. Thankfully, the voters bat last. Burr Allegaert