PAGE 2
LIVING WITH A GHASTLY SECRET
DALE FLOWERS
In 1972, President Richard Nixon declared that the lower Columbia River was slated to be “the light
metals capitol o f the world, " comparable to the heavy metals Ruhr valley in Germany. Wall to wall aluminum
smelters were envisioned for both sides o f the Columbia. An outfit named Amax wanted to be the first built,
but its plans and inevitably the entire grand concept was foiled by a piqued and persistent groundswell of
grassroots opposition.
A threat at least as ominous and seemingly omnipotent has quite suddenly appeared in the form
o f corporate liquefied natural gas incursion into the same area o f the lower Columbia. Four LNG syndicates
intend to construct terminals to receive imports of natural gas. An initial application to lease property on the
Skipanon Peninsula for a terminal was underhanded and secretive, which involved the silent complicity o f
the Port o f Astoria commission. Almost immediately, the other three companies shocked local-residents by
announcing their own ambitions to build LNG terminals in the neighborhood.
Peter Huhtala wrote the following article for HipFish (its splendid January 2005 issue that featured
several articles about probable consequences of the proposed LNG nightmare and inspired the Dale Flowers
drawing on this page). It is repnnted here with his consent. He is an Astoria native with family ties to the lower
Columbia River stretching back a century. He works in the field o f marine conservation, advocating on the
Wes/ Coast and nationally in support o f sustainable fisheries and healthy coastal economies. He is a member
o f Salmon For All and is a candidate for the May 17 election for Clatsop County Port Commissioner. ~MPMc
BY PETER HUHTALA
better to keep quiet, lest the not-in-our-backyard folks muck
up a good thing. The cryogenic goldrush was heading for the
Skipanon Peninsula.
Three days after the Presidential election, the Port of
Astoria convened a special meeting and granted a 60-year
lease for 96 acres of the Skipanon Peninsula to a limited liability
corporation (Skipanon-LLC) set up by an energy company called
Calpine, for the purpose of bringing in mass quantities
of super-cooled liquefied natural gas (LNG).
For three months it was a well-kept secret. Few other
than the Port of Astoria Commissioners and selected local
elected officials from Warrenton, Astoria and Clatsop County
(and some of their staff) knew the truth. They kept their lips
sealed. A half-billion dollar investment was at stake, with tax
revenues a-go-go. And what’s more: family wage jobs! It was
POLICE ERROR
The city of Astoria recently experienced two attempted
armed robberies in a single day, the first at a minimart and the
second at a cigarette store. The bandit seemed to get away
without any loot though he frightened the people he intended
to rob by pointing a gun at their heads.
Very soon police from the state, county and city were
dashing around Astoria looking for the suspect, described as
being tall, stocky and goateed, wearing a yellow jacket.
I don't know how many local citizens were rousted by
police, but my friend Robert Wilson was surrounded by cops
while walking near the riverfront. He is not tall nor goateed,
although he is muscular; and he was wearing a yellow jacket
with a Columbia River Bar Pilots logo given to him by deceased
bar pilot Paul Jackson. The cops pointed their guns at Wilson
and forced him to lay face down on the rain-wet ground, and
handcuffed him, saying he was not under arrest. He was taken
to a witness, a woman who had been a victim of the robber. She
looked at Wilson, said to the cops, "You’re not even close," and
walked away.
Robert Wilson is an ex-Marine veteran of the Vietnam
War and founder of the Astoria chapter of Vietnam Veterans
Against the War in the early 1970s. He has lived in Astoria for
more than thirty years, most of that time working as a deepsea
commercial fisherman. He has two degrees in marine science
and biology and is the artist of two very popular sealife charts.
He is also an infrequent contributor to this newspaper, his latest
a 4-page illustrated supplement of dolphins and sea turtles for
the Times Eagle's 25th anniversary issue last summer.
He is quite angry at the way the police roughed him
around, without even apologizing to him when he was released.
He is aware they were probably afraid because the would-be
robber was considered "armed and dangerous," but he feels the
treatment he received was unnecessarily harsh and dangerously
contemptuous of his civil rights.
-MICHAEL McCUSKER
1
Earlier in 2004, Calpine Corporation had withdrawn
plans to build a similar LNG import terminal near Eureka,
California. Fierce local opposition from fishermen, downtown
business owners and conservationists forced the project to
be shelved before a lease could be signed. Not so in Clatsop
County, Oregon. Sure there is community opposition, now that
the citizens know about Calpine’s proposal. But that lease got
signed a full two days after the Port of Astoria let the press know
that a lease was under consideration. Calpine had control of the
property.
In this cryogenic goldrush, as in any other, control of
property is essential if the riches are to be tapped. Calpine
“staked their claim” to the Skipanon Peninsula. At least three
other competitors are working to secure viable LNG importing
sites in the lower Columbia River. Calpine knows that only one
such facility, at most, might be granted permits by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).*
The Port chose not to wait for a regularly-scheduled
meeting to address the LNG issue, and didn’t take the time to
first fully inform the public as to the possible consequences
of their action. As a result, many local citizens were outraged.
When the Port and Calpine held meetings after the lease
decision was made, the outcry at backroom politics cozying
up to big bucks almost overshadowed the trepidation over the
dangers of the project. The process to this point, even more
than Calpine's project, has divided the community.
Peter Gearin, executive director of the Port of Astoria,
defended the Port's handling of the situation in a letter to The
Daily Astorian saying, "In making its decision to follow normal
and legal public process, not more, to lease the site to Calpine,
the commissioners did so with an understanding that site control
was the mechanism by which Calpine could assess the feasi
bility of the site, and that many different permits must be filed
and approved by a variety of public agencies, each with their
own input process opportunities."
Big projects like this require numerous approvals at the
local, state and federal levels, right? Wrong.
The FERC insists that the federal government has sole
siting authority over LNG import terminals. This doctrine of
federal preemption is being challenged in court by the State of
California, but right now, according to the Bush administration,
Oregon, let alone Clatsop County or Warrenton, has zero control
over whether Skipanon-LLC is allowed to build its LNG receiving
station. If Calpine applies to Oregon's Energy Facility Siting
Council and Oregon disagrees with the FERC, the feds win.
Period.
Recently, dozens of proposals for LNG plants have
surfaced nationwide. Coastal areas of lower population in
particular are being targeted, partly because Congress has
clearly stated a preference that these facilities are to be sited
“remotely." Another motive for choosing small towns was offered
by Mayor Ed Lambert of Fall River, Massachusetts, a city where
LNG import is muscling in despite local opposition. Mayor
Lambert said, "I think it is no accident that the industry has
chosen places like Fall River, which tend to be lower-income,
working class communities where they don’t expect educated
local opposition."
Remote siting sure sounds good to me after reading
the December 2004 report by Sandia National Laboratories that
depicts possible, though “not likely" events that could cause
LNG to spill from a tanker which would then boil and ignite,
melting steel a half mile away, and burning buildings and people
more than a mile distant. And then there are the suffocating gas
vapor clouds that could drift much further until they burst into a
dramatic inferno.
But barring an unusual accident, sabotage or terrorism,
what might it be like living with an LNG import terminal in our
midst? Why might the Port of Astoria have considered a more
extensive public process, or even some preservation of local
control, before capitulating to Calpine's insistence that they
must have control of the property?
Well, there is this matter of “exclusion” zones, otherwise
known as “safety” or “security” zones. These zones are designed
to keep terrorists, crazy people, sloppy boaters and idiots away
from the LNG tankers and storage tanks. As they near the LNG
facility near Kenai, Alaska, vessels must give the LNG tankers
1000 yards of clearance. When LNG tankers roll toward Boston
Harbor, all maritime traffic is cleared for two miles ahead and
1000 yards to the side, the bridge is closed and aircraft are
barred from the vicinity.**
One thousand yards. It seems like a considerable
distance until you start to think about steel melting at a half
mile, or flesh frying at twice that far — heck, at four miles if
you believe some studies.
There is no reason to believe that a 1000-yard clearance
from these terrorist targets would not be required by Homeland
Security, and plenty of reasons why the space between these
behemoth (900-1200 feet long) LNG tankers and other ships,
pleasure craft and fishing vessels should not be considerably
farther. Commercial fishing, shipping and enjoyment of the
wonders of the mouth of the Columbia River would have to
wait — actually some would have to flee — as LNG tankers and
their armada of gunboats take the river. (Escorts of up to half a
dozen Coast Guard vessels accompany LNG tankers approach
ing other ports, along with two or three powerful tugs.)
At least four times a week the Columbia River entrance
channel would be closed, along with much of the lower river
fishing and crabbing ground. Homeland Security could also
prohibit access to Warrenton Harbor while tankers are at the
dock.
Well, there is one bit of adjustment we would have to
make — subjugating all commercial and recreational maritime
traffic on the river in deference to the LNG gold.
Calpine Corporation has not yet fully disclosed the
pollution that would accompany their 50 to 75 job producing
enterprise. What Calpine suggests is to build a 150-megawatt
gas-fired power plant to warm up the LNG even as it produces
electricity. This plant and its associated activities would be the
largest single source of air pollution in Clatsop County.
Much of the pollution generated by this plant would
severely harm our most vulnerable people — the very young
and the elderly. We could expect, based on similar proposals,
that 100,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides (which form corrosive
nitrite acid when combined with water) would be released from
the power plant each year. Twenty thousand pounds of volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), such as cancer-causing Benzene,
would be dumped in the air, along with 64,000 pounds of tiny,
and potentially toxic particulates called PM-10.
Huge amounts more air pollution would come from the
100 tons of fuel per day the LNG tankers bum while in port, as
well as from the diesel exhaust spewed by support craft.
Okay, that is another change in lifestyle that we might
not get to choose — inhaling toxic fumes that cause asthma and
cancer.
Unfortunately, I can’t help but imagine the easy
transition from the government secrecy we have already
observed to government oppression in the name of security.
As with the periodic shipments of LNG to the Boston area, there
is no reason to believe that armed guards will not line the shores
of our communities as the LNG tankers come and go.
The Sandia National Laboratories report "enhanced”
security measures as the primary means to reduce the chances
of an intentional LNG spill and fire.
What do you think: would this police-state security
encourage desirable tourism and clean, safe business and
industry?
Aside from effectively abdicating local control over
public safety issues surrounding LNG import, the Port of Astoria
Commission left at least three areas of local concern to the
whim of the federal government. Traditional maritime traffic,
whether for business or pleasure would need to defer to petro
chemical transport. The air quality of our area would be substan
tially degraded and the health of many of our citizens sacrificed.
And our freedom to visit the waterfronts of the region would be
tempered by the presence of security forces with automatic
weapons.
There are local issues that concern the quality of our life
and the nature of economic activity we want to encourage. No
federal agency should make those decisions on our behalf. It is
up to us to insist that those we have elected, including the Port
of Astoria commissioners, take a powerful stand to defend our
values. Our leaders must forthrightly acknowledge that shutting
the public out of the process before leasing public property for
a dangerous and outrageously controversial enterprise was a
ghastly mistake.
* Editor's Note: This might be a shell game to soften up the public
into resignedly accepting a single LNG terminal rather than deal
with an overwhelming four.
"Boston's Mayor has so far unsuccessfully attempted to have
the LNG facility removed.