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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2015)
8 community march5 2015 What You Need to Know About Oregon LNG by Leucadia National Corporation, a idea of running these pipeline projects private equity firm in New York, who through farms, through really steep and now fully own it. They changed the name rugged territory and salmon bearing to Oregon LNG and proposed adding a streams. very large pipeline which would run Oregon actually did say no through Clatsop County, down through to LNG. At that time in 07-08 there Washington and Yamhill was a second competing Counties, across Marion project called Bradwood and Clackamas Counties by Northwest Natural Gas to Molalla. about twenty-five miles That was the further up the Columbia import part of the project River. The state of Oregon with big storage tanks in formally rejected that Warrenton and big tankers proposal around 2011. coming into the Columbia About that time Oregon River. At that time the LNG made the switch and promoters of the project decided they were going to Dan Serres of were saying that North Columbia Riverkeeper export LNG. They rerouted America was running out of natural gas the pipeline away from the contentious and we absolutely need to be importing parts of the Willamette Valley and up LNG or natural gas prices are going through Columbia County and Vernonia, to spike. That was totally, absolutely which brings us to today. wrong. The same people are now Now Oregon LNG is pushing for trying to sell us the idea that we have critical permits from state and federal so much natural gas that we need to be agencies that they need to build the liquefying it and exporting it all over the project and not surprisingly they are world. They made both those arguments getting negative feedback because, after within five years with equal passion and ten years, they have not been able to conviction. answer the fundamental questions about The import part of the project how this project would meet Oregon’s faced really fierce opposition in Clatsop laws. The reason they haven’t answered County and then equally fierce opposition them is because they can’t meet Oregon’s along the pipeline route in communities laws. like Yamhill, Gaston, Forest Grove, and Molalla. Farmers, timberland owners, VV: What has been Columbia and fisherman organized and teamed up Riverkeeper’s involvement in with conservation groups like us. It was opposing this project? sort of unusual because those groups DS: We got involved in the project in 2005 don’t normally agree on anything, but by looking at both the Oregon LNG and we were all on the same page. People Bradwood import facilities. At that time did an incredible job of creating political there were five proposals to import LNG will to say no to LNG and defend their in Oregon. There were two others on properties by really focusing on stopping the Columbia that never went anywhere, the terminals and using the absurd one in Coos Bay and there were other continued from front page proposals in California. There was a huge coalition of groups that formed to try to stop LNG imports for a number of reasons. Some of the Small Woodlands groups got really organized and said, on property right grounds, this should be denied. The coalition continued to grow, from just the people who were directly impacted by the pipelines and the terminals, to include nearby local neighborhood groups, rate payer groups who said it didn’t make fiscal sense, and others. Our role was to help them organize, to help inform people and arm this unusual coalition of people with an understanding of the impacts of the project and who makes the decisions, because it’s very confusing. There are about fifteen places where Oregon LNG needs to get critical approval and a “no” at any one of them means the project doesn’t go forward. We have a long history of working with local activists in Clatsop County where people were really concerned about the impacts on the area, a totally critical area for salmon restoration and recovery. That’s obviously a huge concern for us and it’s also a huge concern up here in the Nehalem Valley. What we try to do is help facilitate and work with different community groups. You could say that Oregon LNG has already received that “no” answer in Clatsop County where the County Commissioners voted 5-0 against the project. But they don’t like to take “no” for an answer. VV: How long have you personally been involved with Columbia Riverkeeper? DS: I’ve been involved with Columbia Riverkeeper in some type of role since 2005 and aware of and working on LNG since 2004. I grew up in Oregon outside Oregon City and had just graduated from graduate school and was living in Grants Pass. It seemed to me that it was going to be an issue that brought people from very different backgrounds – people who were worried about fish habitat, people who were worried about timber values, and people that worried about energy independence. That’s what first drew me into the work and going to these places where people don’t always identify as environmentalists but they care about their neighborhood, they care about their farm, and they care about their rivers and streams, in a very concrete and on-the-ground way. VV: What are the overall and local concerns about the project? DS: The big overarching concern is that exporting LNG is a really bad idea for a bunch of different reasons. What this is going to do is dig up fracked gas in North America and ship it overseas to high priced markets, leaving a whole bunch of methane and pollution along the way – for what? For no real benefit for the people who are most impacted by the project in Oregon, by the terminal that would disrupt fishing access and the local economy, and by the pipeline that would cut through private landowners and impact public services in places like Vernonia. It doesn’t add up. It’s a bad deal for Oregon. Even if you’re a big proponent of natural gas, and there are some right here in this area – I know there’s an active gas drilling operation in Mist – the idea of exporting it seems to undercut the idea of energy independence. At a regional level it’s a decision about industrializing a really critical area of salmon habitat. There have been tens of millions of dollars spent to bring back salmon and keep up the salmon run for sport fisherman, for gill netting and commercial fishing, and for tribal fishing. All of these are important values that the region has prioritized and Oregon LNG absolutely flies in the face of that. Some of the more local concerns are that it poses a very significant public safety risk and burden on people. In order to keep this project safe there is a fundamental conflict with other existing economic activities in the area of the terminal, namely fishing, crabbing, recreational uses, and tourism. As you move further down the pipeline there’s a fundamental conflict between smaller timberland owners, farmers and fish habitat and all the work that has gone into these watersheds to keep them healthy. At a very local level, if there’s a problem with the pipeline and gas leaks out and catches fire it’s going to have a big impact on the people who live nearby. The first responders in these rural communities are going to be asked to deal with a very large industrial facility. This pipeline carries non-odorized, high pressure, natural gas methane in huge volumes. To give you a sense of how continued on page 14 Insurance sending you in the wrong direction? Let us send you in the right direction. Need more room? See us for the lowest prices GUARANTEED! Debit/Credit now accepted 5x10 $39 10x10 $69 10x20 $99 RV Storage $149 Outside storage available Totally fenced and gated Padlocks Available Authorized U-Haul Dealer Boxes and Supplies Available We can make your reservation Pick up here or anywhere 58605 Nehalem Hwy South • P.O. Box 292 Vernonia, Oregon 97064 (503) 429-7867 10-5 Tue-Sat 12-4 Sun Meyer’s Auto Body • 493 Bridge St • 503-429-0248
