noLNG

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The Daily Astorian Editorial

County should do the right thing
State’s LNG ruling gives a chance for a fresh look at this crucial decision
The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners staggered through 2008 like a drunken sailor. One of the commission's most egregious acts was finding that the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal at Bradwood Landing was not a major development and that it would have minimal impact on salmon in the Columbia River.

More: http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=392&ArticleID=57900&TM=76944.97

  

Feds LNG policy should be based on science

County's LNG decision overturned.

Great article with local knowledge of the issue. (Blogger)

LUBA rules in favor of two challenges against commission’s land-use ruling

By CASSANDRA PROFITA
The Daily Astorian

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals remanded the Clatsop County Commission's approval of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas project Tuesday.

The board found fault with the county's finding that the facility is "small or moderate" in scale and that requirements to protect salmon and traditional fishing areas had been met.

Six local citizen groups raised 21 challenges to the commission's approval, which was made last spring.

On Tuesday, LUBA ruled in favor of two of the challenges, which stem from issues that were hotly contested during the county's land-use approval process last year.

Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=57857

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Thank you.

 

WFOR

P.O. Box 273

Cathlamet, WA. 98612 

       or on-line

 

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by Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian Tuesday January 27, 2009, 9:43 PM

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals on Tuesday overturned Clatsop County's zoning approval of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal, proposed for a site 20 miles east of Astoria on the Columbia River.

The board's remand of the county's decision was on two fairly narrow questions. It was unclear Tuesday how big of a roadblock either could be for the controversial project.

Complete article: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/01/board_overturns_lng_terminal_a.html

BREAKING NEWS, LUBA DECISION

Rethink LNG, board tells Clatsop County

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 11:53 PM PST

By Tony Lystra

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals on Tuesday said Clatsop County officials must reconsider their decision to approve a liquefied natural gas terminal at Bradwood, Ore.

The order comes a little more than a year after Clatsop County commissioners created or altered dozens of policies to allow NorthernStar Natural Gas to unload liquefied natural gas from ships 38 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River. The gas would be distributed by a new pipeline crossing below the river and through Cowlitz County.

Terminal opponents, who worry it will harm the river and endanger the public, appealed the county’s decision to the appeals board, a three-member panel that considers land-use disputes.

The panel said Tuesday that the county should reconsider two findings — that the facility would not threaten fish and that it constitutes a “small or moderate” sized facility.

Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, one of the parties that appealed the county’s decision, said that Tuesday’s ruling is “another nail in the coffin of NorthernStar.”

It “stops the project in its tracks” and will block NorthernStar from securing other permits until the company addresses the board’s concerns, he said.

NorthernStar spokesman Joe Desmond noted that the appeals board rejected 21 of the 23 arguments raised by terminal opponents and said that the company was “pretty satisfied with the outcome.”

The board’s remarks “provided some pretty clear direction of what the county needs to do to expand its findings in order to support its decision,” he said.

Clatsop County Commissioner Patricia Roberts said that she expects the county will revise details of its December 2007 decision, but the matter may not even come before the commissioners again.

“It’s really up to the attorneys,” she said. “We are adhering to the law. Period.”

1/27/2009 10:37:00 AM

Oregon files petition to overturn federal approval of LNG plant Court battle ahead on Bradwood Landing By CASSANDRA PROFITA The Daily Astorian The state of Oregon has filed a petition to have the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturn the federal approval of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas project. Oregon Attorney General John Kroger filed the petition Monday, in conjunction with three state agencies involved in the LNG approval process, the Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Land Conservation and Development, and Department of Energy. The impending court battle puts another hurdle in the path of Bradwood Landing project developer NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. of Houston. The company had hoped to have its permits in place last year so construction could begin this fall. Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=395&ArticleID=57827

State asks court to toss Bradwood site's approval

by Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian Monday January 26, 2009, 10:50 PM

The state of Oregon asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to overturn federal regulators' approval of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal, proposed for a site 20 miles east of Astoria on the Columbia River.

The appeal is the first legal move by the state after a four-year administrative process by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that resulted in a conditional approval of the facility in September.

Complete article: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/01/state_asks_court_to_toss_bradw.html