MEDFORD, Ore. — A proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline in southwest Oregon would have limited adverse environmental impacts, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's final environmental impact statement.

But the report released Friday said limiting those impacts would require using the applicants' proposed mitigation measures and additional measures recommended by staff, a FERC spokeswoman said in an e-mail to the Medford Mail Tribune.

Nor does the report mean the Pacific Connector Natural Gas Pipeline and Jordan Cove terminal at Coos Bay is a done deal, Celeste Miller of FERC wrote.

The commission will either approve it incorporating staff recommendations; call for more hearings or reject it outright, she said. No timetable has been set for that decision.

The 36-inch-diameter underground pipeline, which would be roughly 230 miles long, would start in Coos Bay and cut through the Upper Rogue corridor, ending in Malian at the southern end of the Klamath Basin.

The project, opposed by many property owners in the region since it first was proposed in 2006, calls for a terminal at Jordan Cove Bay where ships carrying liquefied natural gas would unload. The ultra-cold liquid would be heated and turned into a pressurized gas to be pumped via the pipeline to Malian where it would connect to a major existing pipeline.

William's Pacific Connector Gas Operator, a Salt Lake City firm, is proposing the project along with Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and Fort Chicago Energy Partners.

The proposed pipeline also would cross some 30 miles of national forestalled and about 40 miles of U.S. Bureau of Land Management property.

The report hasn't changed the view of Lesley Adams who oversees the public water program for the Ashland-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

"At first glance, we have some really significant concerns about water quality and coho salmon impacts," she said of a quick review of the report. "We are also very concerned about the multiple impact on public land. We share the concerns of affected private land owners."

Those concerns ranged from potential danger of a gas leak to reduced property values and environmental damage.

In the 218 bodies of water expected to be crossed, some of them multiple times, the pipeline will traverse six rivers, the Coos, Coquille, South Umpqua, upper Rogue, Klamath and Lost River, according to the report.

The report noted 29 federally listed endangered or threatened species that may be in the project's path. "We conclude that the proposed project would likely adversely affect eight federally listed species," it added.

Adams said she isn't satisfied any of the mitigations measures would substantially reduce those impacts.

"This indicates a flawed national energy policy," she said, adding that she believes there is no need for the projects, given the low demand and adequate domestic supplies of natural gas.

Meanwhile, she hopes the state's opposition will result in blocking the permits the proponents will need if the FERC approves the proposal.

Earlier this year, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger opposed all three of the proposed liquefied natural gas terminals and pipelines in Oregon, maintaining they are bad for landowners, the environment and energy independence. The other two are projected for the lower Columbia River

In July, Jackson County's Board of Commissioners passed a resolution asking the federal government to halt the project until need is proven.

But others have supported the project, noting it will mean jobs and an economic boost for the region.

The FERC report was prepared in cooperation with the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Transportation and Douglas County.

On the Web:

www.ferc.gov

www.umpqua-watersheds.org

www.citizensagainstlng.googlepages.com

www.pacificconnectorgp.com