An LNG tanker at sea. Photo from www.lngoneworld.com.
Updated at 5pm.
Over the past few weeks, dozens of letters have poured into the offices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Dear FERC, they implore, please make a decision, any decision, about the Jordan Cove LNG project. And please do it ASAP. Specifically, they ask FERC to put Jordan Cove on the agenda for its next meeting, November 19.
Jordan Cove is one of four LNG projects under consideration in Oregon. The plant itself would be located on Coos Bay. But the overall project also includes a 234 mile pipeline to carry the gas across Coos, Douglas, and Jackson counties and into Klamath County near the town of Malin. There it would be connected to an interstate natural gas pipeline. This is known as the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline.
It’s safe to assume that the project, if approved, will have a big impact on Southern Oregon. That partly explains why so many people have taken the time to write FERC on the issue. Most of the letters I’ve seen are duplicates, or form letters. Others use similar language and arguments. About a third of them, by my count, ask FERC to approve the project. The rest take no stand one way or the other.
This isn’t to suggest anything sinister. Form letter campaigns are often part of the public relations battle over big environmental decisions. What makes this one a little different is the sense of urgency. It’s as if they’ve absolutely, gotta have a decision right away.
“This should be over by now,” says Bob Braddock, Project Manager for the Jordan Cove LNG plant. He says FERC typically takes about 60 to 90 days to make a decision after a final Environmental Impact Statement is issued. The final EIS for Jordan Cove/Pacific Connector was issued in early May, more than six months ago. Braddock says FERC staff hasn’t been able to explain the delay.
Many of the form letters come from landowners who’s property might be crossed by the pipeline. Braddock says it was easy to get them involved. Until the issue is settled, they’re limited in what they can do with the section of their land that lies in the pipeline’s path. Braddock says they “deserve some answers.”
“I don’t know why FERC isn’t making a decision,” says Jody McCaffree. She’s with Citizens Against LNG, a group that opposes the plant and the pipeline. McCaffree thinks landowners are being misled if they believe a FERC decision will clear things up. Even if FERC gives the project a thumbs up or thumbs down, the ruling will certainly be appealed and fought out in the courts.
She believes the delay may be caused – in her view – by too many errors in the project design and the EIS. “Instead of correcting the mistakes,” she says of Jordan Cove developers, “They go and make new ones.”
“This project has so many problems, the EIS is so flawed, it won’t stand a legal challenge.”
One example of a frustrated landowner is the Port of Coos Bay. It has an option to buy the land where the LNG plant is supposed to be built. A complicated land deal between the Port, Weyerhaeuser Co., and Jordan Cove was recently extended for a third time as the parties await a FERC decision. Without one, the Port says it’s hard to consider other opportunities to develop the land.
Martin Callery, Director of Communications for the Port, appreciates the sentiment behind the form letter campaign. “We simply want a decision,” he says. “If there’s a problem, fine, tell the developer. But let us go one way or the other.”
“The community would like to know.”
When FERC issued the final EIS it concluded that the LNG plant and pipeline could be designed in such a way to do “less than significant” damage to the environment. Governor Kulongoski and many environmental groups aren’t buying it. Kulongoski says the EIS under estimates the damage and FERC proposals to lessen the impacts are not “supported by sufficient scientific data.”
When will we know if the letter campaign is successful? The agenda for next week’s meeting could be released as soon as Thursday.
FYI: I was unable to get comment from FERC on this because today is a federal holiday.
