If you’re looking for a “ground zero” in the battles over LNG in Oregon, the area near Gales Creek in Washington County may be it.
The people who live here face the possibility of not one – but two – natural gas pipelines crossing their farms, vineyards, forests and streams.
Staffers from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission spent two days this week touring the area and meeting with landowners. The official purpose was see the impacts of the proposed Oregon Pipeline. This is a 117-mile project that would carry imported natural gas across Clatsop, Washington, Yamhill and Marion counties, plus a small section of Clackamas County.
But it was that other pipeline, the Palomar pipeline, that also weighed on the minds of residents. In this area of the state the two pipelines don’t just come close to each other, but in some places cross paths. Landowners asked if the paths could be combined. FERC officials could only say they would look at the matter.
In the brief time I spent on the tour other issues came up, too. Among them: safety, access to their land, losing the right to develop the land in the future, harm to endangered and threatened species, and the impact on climate change. While federal and state officials consider what to do about the Oregon and Palomar pipelines, the landowners are stuck in a kind legal limbo.
See links to more information below the video.
For More Information:
Columbia Riverkeeper: One of the leaders to stop all LNG projects in Oregon.
Hey! NW Natural: A social media campaign to stop the Palomar Pipeline.
Oregon LNG: The company that wants to build the Oregon Pipeline and an LNG plant near Astoria.
Palomar Gas: Developers of the Palomar pipeline.
Bradwood Landing: The Columbia River LNG plant that would feed gas into the Palomar project.
