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FERC approves Bradwood LNG plant

Thursday, September 18, 2008 11:30 PM PDT

By Tony Lystra

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc.’s plan to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Columbia River and to string a pipeline across Clatsop, Columbia and Cowlitz counties.

The five-member, presidentially appointed panel agreed to license the Bradwood, Ore., terminal in a 4-1 vote. The decision, which comes three-and-a-half years after NorthernStar initially filed its application with the agency, is the first approval for an LNG terminal on the West Coast.

The terminal’s opponents, who say moving and storing so much fuel on the river poses environmental and safety risks, vowed to appeal.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has criticized FERC’s process as sloppy, called on the agency to reconsider its decision and suggested he would sue if federal officials continue to ignore him.

“If legal action is necessary to compel FERC to do this right, I am prepared to exercise that option,” Kulongoski said in a statement.

FERC said it approved the terminal partly because the Northwest needs new sources of natural gas. Conservation and renewable energy sources would not provide as much energy as the Bradwood terminal, FERC said.

In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, the only member of the panel to vote against the project, said he was not convinced that NorthernStar’s terminal was the best way to meet those energy requirements and that environmental concerns had not been “fully or fairly evaluated.”

NorthernStar said its terminal, known as Bradwood Landing, will help lower natural gas costs after Northwest wholesale prices increased 300 percent in the last eight years.

The company plans to build the $600 million terminal on an old mill site 20 miles east of Astoria, across the river from Wahkiakum County. NorthernStar would bring LNG tankers 38 miles up the river, unload the supercooled liquid gas into two large tanks, then warm the fuel back to its gaseous state and send it to market through two new pipelines, one of which would be operated by NorthernStar, the other by Northwest Natural Gas Co.

NorthernStar’s pipeline would cross the Columbia River, entering Cowlitz County at Mill Creek and connect with the Williams Northwest pipeline north of Kelso near Interstate 5.

FERC said NorthernStar must comply with 109 measures aimed at ensuring the terminal will be safe and won’t significantly harm the environment. One of the requirements involves screening LNG carriers’ ballast and cooling water intakes to prevent juvenile fish from being sucked up, a key concern among environmental groups.

NorthernStar, of Houston, still must secure nearly two-dozen approvals from state and federal agencies, most notably clean air and clean water permits, as well as a Coastal Zone Management Act certificate. Those three permits would be issued by the state of Oregon.

Joe Desmond, a NorthernStar spokesman, said Thursday that the company hopes to break ground on the terminal by the end of next year. He said the facility could be operating as soon as 2012.

FERC’s decision came as little surprise. The agency determined earlier this summer that the terminal and pipeline posed “limited” environmental impacts. And the project’s critics have been protesting for months that the agency was marching toward approval, running roughshod over their worries about safety, the environment and whether LNG is the best way to meet the Northwest’s energy needs.

Columbia Riverkeeper, which has led a coalition of environmental and property rights groups against the project, issued a statement shortly after the decision saying it would file an appeal with FERC.

The group also called on the state of Oregon to kill the terminal by denying permits needed for it to go forward.

“The project is only alive as long as the state entertains the idea of granting permits,” Riverkeeper executive director Brent Foster said. “We need the governor and our state agencies to step up and deny permits for the project.”

Kulongoski has been pressing FERC to issue a supplemental environmental document for the project because, he says, the proposal has changed since it was first proposed. FERC said Thursday that it was denying Kulongoski’s request.

A short time after FERC announced its decision, Kulongoski’s office issued a statement saying the governor will “request a rehearing” of the Bradwood Landing issue.

“Today’s decision by the federal government lacks accountability to the environment and the people of Oregon,” Kulongoski said. “Moving forward with this project as is -- which is incomplete -- disregards states’ rights in this process.”

NorthernStar said FERC’s approval process was thorough, lasting a year longer than any previous LNG project. The record, the company pointed out, included more than 50,000 pages of material, and FERC considered more than 1,827 comments from the public.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, who faces a tight re-election campaign this fall and has only recently been publicly questioning the thoroughness of FERC’s review, called Thursday’s decision “premature and troubling.”

The Washington Department of Ecology, she said, would join Cowlitz County officials in ensuring the Washington portion of the NorthernStar pipeline complies with the state’s environmental standards. Cowlitz County was tapped early on in the process as the lead agency to review the NorthernStar proposal, frustrating local officials who said the county’s planners, even as NorthernStar paid for a consultant to assist them, would be buried in paperwork. The Department of Ecology offered to help the county only last month as it ramped up its pressure on FERC to conduct a more thorough review.

Gregoire also said she’d sent NorthernStar a letter urging it to “work more closely with local communities” when it comes to questions about the pipeline.

FERC’s decision allows NorthernStar to use eminent domain to force the purchase of private property to accommodate the pipeline. In a press conference Thursday, FERC chairman Joseph Kelliher said eminent domain is rarely deployed during these projects. Kelliher referred to the Rockies Express East project, which FERC approved in May and will include 639 miles of natural gas pipeline between Missouri and Ohio. That project, he said, involves 1,700 plots of land between Missouri and Ohio, 18 of which were acquired using eminent domain.

But Gayle Kiser said she and a coalition of Cowlitz County property owners fighting the pipeline have been trying to alert FERC to their plight for months. Thursday’s decision, Kiser said, has left her wondering, “What do we have to say to be heard?”

Kiser said FERC’s ruling clearly gives NorthernStar the authority to move against her land. “That’s the part that I fear the most,” she said. “It’s going to cut them loose ... to get their easement for this pipeline.”

NorthernStar released a letter Thursday -- which it sent to Cowlitz County’s commissioners earlier this month -- saying the company would negotiate with the county’s landowners “in good faith” and that it would use eminent domain as a last resort.

“It is NorthernStar’s policy to not use the power of eminent domain unless there is no other reasonable alternative and then, only after exhausting all possible efforts to negotiate a satisfactory solution with the affected landowner,” the letter said.

Desmond, the NorthernStar spokesman, said Thursday that NorthernStar won’t begin building its pipeline for two years and that it is not in a hurry to open negotiations with Cowlitz County landowners.

“We’re not going to be in there tomorrow doing this,” he said.

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gimpy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 5:20 AM:

" It is time for the people of this entire country who have been FERC'ed to bring this issue to the attention of the nation. This agency doesn't abide by federal law. Our constitutional rights have been eroding at an alarming rate, but when it suddenly affects you personally it makes it all the more clear that a change is needed in our nation's capitol. I, for one, will not stand for this! The power in this country is supposed to belong to the people and it's high time we exerted that premise! Here is hoping the lawsuits promised by Oregon and Washington's governors are filed as soon as possible. This decision on FERC's part was just like the rest of the process: deficient. And it should be overturned easily by any court willing to consider the truth. "

grams wrote on Sep 19, 2008 6:52 AM:

" Now it's time for the Dept of Ecology to put their money where their mouth is. And it may be too little too late for Mr. Manning unless Chris Gregoire keeps her governorship. In thier last editorial in TDN this group insinuated that they are not yet sure whether LNG will be good or bad for Washington and Oregon. Good God have they not been paying attention? The statement way back in 2007 by Brian Baird after he was made privy to the USGS Water Suitability Report should certainly have gotten their attention. So much of this entire FERC proccess has been clouded in CEII secrecy (Critical Energy Infrastructure Information) that only those who have had access to the intelligence reports have had a chance to really understand the issues. Baird has that access. Just recently Oregons' DOGAMI (Dept of Geology & Mineral Indistries) voiced their concerns in regard to the suitibality of the Palamor Pipeline through Washington, Clatsop and Columbia Counties because it appears that there are widespread large landslide complexes and numerous Quaternary faults (just like the five in Cowlitz County) which " should be evaluated for potentian Holocene ( present time) activity." Remember we are part and parcel of that same geologic region so the same applies to us and the Northernstar pipeline. I don't know about other Washingtonians but I want a Washington first and foremost governor, not one who might sell us down our own river! "

Mr. Bastinado wrote on Sep 19, 2008 7:45 AM:

" Oh, now there's a shocker...The presidentially-appointed five-member panel approved the application....HAHAHA
Can you say, "Political Payoffs". "

gimpy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 9:44 AM:

" After going to the FERC website and reading the comments of the commissioners who ruled for Bradwood in this case, I can't understand what the hell they do! They are supposed to have siting authority according to Cheney's 2005 Energy Policy Act, but they effectively washed their hands of the process, saying that the states could stop it if they wanted to, using the Coastal Zone Management Act. I've got an idea: let's cut FERC out of the process and save the states a lot of money and time. They have to study every cockamamie energy project that comes down the pike and it is driving us to the edge of bankruptcy. Write your senators and urge them to support Ron Wyden's efforts to give siting authority back to the states, where it belongs! And write to the governor and Dept of Ecology and DEMAND that they apply the CZMA to Bradwood. "

TDN Bad boy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 9:59 AM:

" Yeah a $600 million contstruction project and hundreds of jobs are bad for this community. You NIMBY pansies are too much. "

slanteyes wrote on Sep 19, 2008 10:08 AM:

" I do not believe eminient domain will be used as a last resort. I know from experience that they will use it as a tool to aquire an easement. Property owners will be forced to get lawers, because northern star has lots of them. "

IMHO2 wrote on Sep 19, 2008 10:24 AM:

" Another foreign fuel source, that we don't need, has ENRON-like written all over it. when will we learn? This isn't good for the northwest. It's not even good for the United States. It's good for GW and Dick Cheney and their buddies, energy speculators.

We have valuable resources to protect here. We need to pay attention and not just roll over for these guys. "

Viewpoint wrote on Sep 19, 2008 10:50 AM:

" Ive heard the Williams Northwest Pipeline, into which the Cowlitz County gas line would feed, is already at capacity. Anyone else heard that or know how that problem would be resolved? "

Kalama Dude wrote on Sep 19, 2008 11:45 AM:

" So Bad Boy you wouldn't possibly be a NIMBY too if this were going to be in YOUR back yard? Go ahead and trash me and lie through your teeth while you are at, so my day can be complete. Thanks! "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 1:41 PM:

" Kalama Dude your comment says all I need to know aobut you. I do own property down in the area where the terminal will be built and I'm not against this at all. Look around. This area needs every $600 million project it can get and every job it can get. You crybabies will do more harm to the community by fighting this than the LNG terminal ever could. So for the next 10 years while this community suffers as a whole the NIMBY pansies will be happy. I remember all the dumb arguments about the Alaska pipeline and look how successful that has been. "

Billy Hill wrote on Sep 19, 2008 2:02 PM:

" Actually I have the large pipeline running right through my front yard out Abernathy way. As you can imagine we speak very softly and tip toe around our house all of the time. Gardens are out of the question and if there is a noise out of the ordinary we all "freak" and take off running and screaming through the woods. If all is safe we slowly serpentine our way through the grass and trees and slowly re-enter our home....such is life on "the line". "

DUH wrote on Sep 19, 2008 2:04 PM:

" What jobs will it create? $600 million construction project. The contractors used to build it will already have the laborers in their employ so very few, if any jobs will be created there. Job security for them maybe but, creation of new jobs? Not likely. Once its built what jobs will be created? Most of the technical jobs will go to those within the company. About the only jobs that will be "created" are janitorial clean up jobs. Minimum wage at best. "

FERCed wrote on Sep 19, 2008 2:21 PM:

" So Bad Boy, you say you own property "down in the area." I assume this means that you are far away enough that you won't have your property taken from you or have it restricted with very little compensation. Let me say this. I am not a liberal pansy. I'm a conservative, and I work in construction, but I don't believe that a private company should have so much leeway in seizing private property.
And about the "hundreds" of jobs, Is it right to create these jobs on the backs of the farmers and other landowners who will lose their livelyhoods because of the pipeline(s)? "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 2:53 PM:

" Duh, Well there you go again, gloom and doom. Why don't you go ask the county how much a $600 million construction project means to the area. One the key factors to our economy at any time is the amount of new construction going on. That is the first sign of a vibrant area. So be your typical naysaying self. And FERCed as the story says out of 1,700 plots of land on its Missour-Ohio project 18 were through eminent domain. That's an extremely low percentage so please put the B.S. away and start thinking instead of sitting. This is good for the area, regardless of what the NIMBY pansies, Liberals and others say. A %600 million project is good for this area. And as far as being on the backs of the farmers, etc. Are you kidding me? What about the house where you live, the roads you drive on, where you work. All of that was at the expense of someone else. So who and the heck are you kidding. Progress is good for this area. We have been a backwoods with an extremely high rate of uneducated people. This is the kind of progress that will help combat that. "

bmoc wrote on Sep 19, 2008 2:56 PM:

" I don't care if I am a NIMBY - I'll say it loud and clear. NOT IN MY BACKYARD! This project would be very close to my very own backyard, and I don't want it there. If they try to put it there, there will be hell to pay. "

grams wrote on Sep 19, 2008 3:01 PM:

" TDN bad boy. Your heart might be in the right place but your brain may be dislocated! These LNG construcation jobs bring their own construction crews. True there will be some extra bucks floating around for the construction cycle but those bucks will leave town with the crews that will go on to the next job. Tell me again how many jobs there will be left for those here in Cowlitz County? You know the county that has the hightest unemployment rate in the state these days. And when the river gets screwed up and those from this area who still rely on its commerce get whacked what then? "

tazer baby wrote on Sep 19, 2008 3:14 PM:

" BMOC...what are you going to do? "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 3:25 PM:

" Grams, where exactly do you get your news about their own crews? Are you kidding me? There will be jobs on the contstruction. There will be jobs bringing in the material for the construction. There will be housing, food, and so much more bought in this area. A lot of that $600 million will be spent right here either by the use of local construction workers or others connected to the construction or in the housing and other needs of people who come here to work. Grams you are totally wrong if you don't think a lot of this money will be spent right here in this community. Totally wrong. When the river gets screwed up? Quit your typical Gloom and Doom Liberal antics. That get's so tired. You have no vision of what this could mean in a positive way. You are so negatively biased that really you are not good for the community. "

trapper wrote on Sep 19, 2008 3:37 PM:

" Keep hearing about all the jobs for this area. According to NorthernStar 13 jobs will come out of Cowlitz County and 2 out of Wahkiakum County and that's during construction of the terminal AND pipeline. Even Clatsop County is slated for darn few. So where are the majority of these "jobs" coming from? Not our area but Portland, Klamath Falls and other areas. That's info from NorthernStar's own documents (check out the FEIS). Then add to it, they've hired the same company embroiled in huge labor disputes at the LNG construction site in Wales to oversee construction of the Bradwood project. This company has no committment to uphold any contracts NorthernStar negotiated with the unions. They bring in their own workers and from foreign sources. So what jobs and job security are people talking about? I still want to know - who's going to pay for this project? NorthernStar has NO revenues and has NO history and their IPO is STILL pending and coming up on 2 years in December. Where is the money coming from? Bet they sell the permits to the highest bidder - foreign bidder that is. "

gimpy wrote on Sep 19, 2008 7:39 PM:

" You guys should stop wasting your time and energy arguing with TDN Badboy. I have better things to do, such as try to continue farming where my family has been since 1934. We are paying county taxes on two parcels that we can never use, one under a dike and one with an existing pipeline through it. So how much more is considered fair? Do I have to give up another 7 acres to NorthernStar to make you happy? Do you want the shirt off my back, the food off my table or the skin off my belly? For god's sake, wake up and realize that the only ones who benefit from this are the Texas carpetbaggers who are proposing it! The union jobs are all promised to the Portland area and the pipeline won't even be a union job. The longshoremen ought to be screaming bloody murder, but evidently their leaders have been bought off. The Port has their head up their hind ends, too. Everybody just keep believing what NorthernStar says, why would they lie??? "

grams wrote on Sep 19, 2008 10:35 PM:

" TDN Bad Boy. I guess Gimpy is right. One can't present facts to a space which is inhabited by a big brick! Flash. I am a registered Republican! How will money filter up the river from the Astoria area for the three plus years of this construction? And Trapper says it right and from the mouth of the psudo moguls in regard to jobs. I am not familiar with the Missouri, Ohio pipeline. were a majority of those plots already included in the previous pipeline right of way? Anyway Bad Boy You have as much right to post here as I do but hope you come back if this project does get the go ahead and adnit how wrong you were. "

Argoman wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:02 AM:

" TDN boy, your ignorance on this subject goes very deep into your head. I agree with you 90%+- of the time but you are wrong this time. We could use LNG but we don't want it forced on us property owners. It is obvious that the government and the media are full of lies and the permit will be sold to the highest bidder "

DW wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:53 AM:

" All I want to know is one thing. I would like ALL of you people that don't want LNG to tell us what will it take to make you happy when it comes to energy?? What are your proposals?? Let me guess....tune your car, put air in the tires and wash it so there is less wind resistance?? What will it take? Can we drill off the coast of Wa. and Or.?? Can we build a pipline from Ak. to bring LNG here?? Can we build a couple refineries in Wa. or Or. to refine more fuel?? What will make you happy?? We need new energy sources, and all some of you people do is shoot everything down. TELL US WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION?? Some of us would really like to know. "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 20, 2008 10:14 AM:

" Grams, I will come back to tell you how wrong you are. Again, stop with the useless figures. The only figure that matters is that a $600 million construction project is going to happen. Regardless of all the dooms day scenarios you NIMBYs want to throw out there, here are some auxillary facts for you. Every ship that comes in requires a river pilot (2 jobs that weren't there times 2 so that is four) and each ship requires a tug boat crew (I am guessing that is 2 or 3) so right there the facts show that you NIMBYs are wrong. And I could go on in a variety of ways. First of all I don't buy the little figures you throw out. But you are not look at auxillary jobs and the impact they can have (trucks, maintenance, security, etc) It's not just about the plant, it's about everything else it does for the community. I will never listen to your figures because you are not objective in the least. You are a NIMBY or an environmental terrorist who thinks any growth is bad whatsover. So yes we are on different sides and we will be. Again, your dooms day scenarios are totally ridiculous. And your belief that this isn't financially positive for our community is absolutely incorrect. "

Large&InCharge wrote on Sep 20, 2008 2:12 PM:

" TDN Bad Boy is Wade out of line! What's daddy gonna get for you out of this... a new firetruck? A security job? Certainly not an intellect or a decent personality! "

gimpy wrote on Sep 20, 2008 2:31 PM:

" Well, I've never been called an environmental terrorist before, in fact I just wrote on another offensive blog that I think that is a label made up by the right to apply to anyone who tries to protect our earth. God forbid we should do anything to insure that there is anything left for our grandchildren. But I'll tell you what: I AM A PROUD NIMBY! If you want to bring in a facility to import more foreign hydrocarbons to pollute the air that belongs to all of us, you'll be imposing your values on my right to breath, so if it takes old people like me to try to make this a better place to live for the likes of you, so be it. "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:48 PM:

" Here goes the hyperbole about the pollutants. If you are so worried about it, you should be figuring out a way to stop China not the Lower Columbia River region. This is a good project for this area despite what you NIMBY pansies want to believe. It will bring jobs and it will add to jobs that are already here. That is progress. Pollutants? You guys are incredible. Typleal Liberal wast of times. "

gimpy wrote on Sep 21, 2008 9:42 AM:

" At least we liberals can spell and type. "

TDN Bad Dork wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:46 AM:

" You all are a bunch of Nazi, Communist, simpering, liberal pansies! Just because a private company is seizing your private property and putting massive, explosive pipelines next to your houses and elementry schools is no reason to whine. There's $600 million dollars at stake here! You all need to get your priorities straight. Think of all the jobs that will be produced for the fire departments and hospitals when one of the pipelines blows up. And the $600 million dollars that will go to the illegal immigrants employed by the construction companies. $600 million dollars! Remember,"The only figure that matters is that a $600 million construction project is going to happen" "

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