LNG protest draws about 200 in Salem

 

About 200 Oregonians, including some from Molalla, rallied on the steps of the state capitol in Salem today, in an attempt to sway Gov. Ted Kulongoski on the issue of the three liquefied natural gas terminals and more than 550 miles of natural gas pipeline currently proposed for construction in Oregon.

The protesters were joined by a couple of high profile faces, most notably, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who first stated his opposition to LNG in Oregon last week, calling it a “dirty” fuel.

“I believe at a time when we’re trying really hard, really desperately, to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels, it just doesn’t make any sense to build a new facility that will increase our use of fossil fuels,” he said. “It’s the wrong direction.”

Of the three proposed LNG facilities, two on the Columbia River and one near Coos Bay,  two of them could have an effect on Molalla. The Oregon LNG pipeline would begin at a proposed LNG terminal near Warrenton and end at the Williams Northwest Pipeline gate station just west of Molalla; while the Palomar Gas transmissions pipeline would run from the proposed Bradwood Landing LNG near Wauna to the Gas Transmissions Nothwest pipeline in central Oregon, passing just south of Molalla along the way. 

As at many previous events centering around the LNG and pipeline proposals, the word “California” came up more than once during today’s rally.

“Any one of those three LNG terminals would more than meet (Oregon’s) annual demand for natural gas,” Bradbury said. “Where do you think the rest of it is going –California. I do not think Oregon should become the pusher enabling California’s dependence on fossil fuels.”

Jim Gilbert, a Molalla-area nursery owner and chair of the Molalla Community Planning Organization, said, “If California wants gas, let them build the pipeline.”

Sarah Kagan, a spokesperson with Pacific Environment, a San Francisco-based environmental advocacy group, who traveled to Oregon for the rally, said many Californians don’t want the gas, either.

“We don’t want it in California, because it will derail our clean energy efforts,” she said. “California, Washington and Oregon have made huge steps forward on renewable energy, and this would take us backwards.”

Kulongoski has taken no position for or against LNG in Oregon, other than to say the projects must meet Oregon’s environmental and safety standards.

“The governor’s been very clear in his position neither to oppose or support at this time any specific proposals,” Kulongoski spokesperson Anna Richter Taylor said.

The governor did raise concerns about the Bradwood Landing proposal in a Dec. 13 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, questioning the need for the project and calling the environmental analysis flawed.

Even if Kulongoski were to take a stand opposing LNG in Oregon, however, FERC has had the ultimate authority in siting LNG terminals since the federal Energy Policy Act passed in 2005. 

“There is the (state) permitting process, but FERC has the ultimate siting authority,” Richter Taylor said.

Steve Sechrist, a spokesperson with Northwest Natural Gas, one of the partners in the Palomar pipeline project, was on hand scoping out the opposition at today’s rally.

Sechrist declined to comment on the protesters’ specific issues with the project but said, “I’m glad to see people exercising their rights. That’s what this whole process is about that we’re going through.”

— Abby Sewell