UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
A coalition of environmental groups has joined the court battle against the Bradwood Landing LNG project.
They’re asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review and overturn the license for Bradwood that was granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The states of Oregon and Washington have filed similar appeals.
The coalition includes, Columbia Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, Landowners and Citizens for a Safe Community, Wahkiakum Friends of the River, and the Willapa Hills Audubon Society.
Thomas Buchele of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center in Portland represents several of the groups. He says the FERC decision to grant the license is “illegal” because the project still doesn’t have permits required under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act.
He also faults FERC for not consulting with NOAA Fisheries about the plant’s impact on protected species, including salmon. NOAA filed similar complaints with FERC back in October. (See our story Fed Vs Fed In LNG Battle.)
One of the groups in the appeal is Columbia Riverkeeper. Dan Serres, their Conservation Director, is also concerned about Bradwood’s impact on salmon. The builders plan to dredge about 42 acres of river, also salmon habitat, to make room for the large ships carrying LNG to the plant. Serres says the FERC license doesn’t even describe how that damage will be mitigated.
Serres also believes FERC should have considered Bradwood and the Palomar Gas Pipeline as a single project. Even though Bradwood has a pipeline of its own, the Palomar route has a terminus that’s not far from the Bradwood site.
