Oregonians opposed to LNG and the Palomar Pipeline turned out in big numbers for Thursday’s protest outside the annual meeting of Northwest Natural Gas.
Monica Vaughan of the Hey! NW Natural campaign says it was the biggest protest yet, saying she counted about 250 people. Eyeballing the size of the crowd, I think that was a pretty good estimate.
The protestors want NW Natural to drop plans for the Palomar Pipeline. While Palomar may no longer be connected to an LNG terminal, and may end up as a source for more domestic natural gas, these opponents say it still poses too much of risk to the environment.
So let’s start with some highlights of the protest, including a singalong by Portland’s Raging Grannies who found a perfect opportunity to take score some points over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
(Continue reading to see a statement by NW Natural)
One of the organizers, Olivia Schmidt of the Oregon Sierra Club, was invited into the annual meeting by a NW Natural shareholder. Schmidt describes what happened when she questioned utility officials about the Palomar project.
Earlier, I called NW Natural to see if they’d talk to me on camera about Palomar and the protest. They turned down my request, but e-mailed me this statement.
We respect the rights of this group to voice an opinion. However, we disagree with their stance on the Palomar pipeline.
Today, all the major population areas of Oregon and Southwest Washington rely on one interstate pipeline built during the 1950s.
Five decades later, we’re looking at a growing population and the need for more natural gas to back-up wind and solar, and transition off coal – which is why we’ve proposed Palomar.
-NW Natural Gas
Palomar…………the pipeline to nowhere!