TAR SANDS CAMPAIGN
IN OREGON
The heavy haul has inexorably been moving massive loads of tar sands
equipment up the Columbia River and through wild and scenic corridors to the
final destination in Canada where the machines will be used to extract oil from
the earth using methods that opponents say are toxic and emit climate-changing
greenhouse gases. Native tribes, fishermen and conservationists say the hauls
— trucks and loads with combined weight up to half a million pounds — and
modifications to the roads they travel could hurt the Northwest’s fragile salmon
runs. Groups in Oregon have begun to speak up.
Much of the protest has come from groups directly affected by the megaloads
— people along the route, or who live in the Midwest where the associated
Keystone XL Pipeline will run, bringing the crude tar sands oil from Canada to
refineries in the U.S. But Michael O’Leary of the National Wildlife Federation’s
Tar-free Oregon campaign says the dirty fossil fuel and climate change issue
affects everyone. “On the demand side, we are all part of the consumptive
behaviors,” he says.
O’Leary says Tar-Free Oregon will begin work asking cities, counties and the
state to consider contracting for fuel that is tar sands-free and thus has a lower
impact on the climate. “One of the largest consumers of gasoline is the local
government,” O’Leary says, citing uses from the police to county motor pools.
While the group has had conversations with local governments, such as the
city of Eugene, no agreements have been made. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy was
one of 25 mayors who sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in late
March expressing concern over the Keystone pipeline and asking the State
Department to look at how the expansion of high-carbon tar sands imports can
undermine municipal clean energy initiatives.
O’Leary says Tar-Free Oregon would not ask governments to ban Canadian
oil, just not buy tar sands-produced oil. What if, he asks, the gas pump didn’t just
have an octane rating but a climate impact rating? He says, “10 percent of
Oregon’s fuel is tar-sourced.”
Eugene-based Indigenous People for Sustainable Lifestyles has begun to take
action against the route to the tar sands here in Oregon. Native American activists
Shayleen Macy and Kayla Godowa-Tufti, both of the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs, and Delia Sanchez of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde,
organized an event in Portland’s Kelley Point Park, along the Columbia on
March 20 that they say was both spiritual and a protest.
The group says they do not approve of using the Columbia River, where the
Warm Springs tribe has treaty rights to fish for salmon, as a route to destroy the
boreal forests of Canada and facilitate destruction of the earth.
IPSL is planning another event, a salmon bake at Kelley Point Park on April
23, according to Macy and Sanchez. Sanchez says the group is also coordinating
with Northwest tribal “canoe families” as part of the event. Canoe families have
been reviving the Northwest native canoe culture and Sanchez says take journeys
by canoe as long as 900 miles.
The group meets Tuesdays from 4 to 6 pm at the University of Oregon’s Many
Nations Longhouse. For more information contact Macy at plentycoo@yahoo.
com — Camilla Mortensen
8
MARCH 31, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
PHOTO TAR-FREE OREGON
Activists and tribal members gather at Kelley Point Park
LNG PIPELINES
ONE DOWN
ONE FLIPPING?
Liquefied natural gas advocates have
called those opposed to massive gas
pipeline projects in Oregon “NIMBYs”
(Not In My Backyard) over their objections
to gas companies using eminent domain to
take portions of the their land for projects
such as the Pacific Connector and the
Palomar Pipeline. But opponents say the
issue isn’t just where the pipelines would
go, but the repercussions for everything
from the environment to prices for
electricity and gas customers.
LNG is natural gas that has been cooled
to a liquid for shipping. Once transformed
back to a gas, it is shipped through large
pipelines, similar to the one that exploded
and killed eight people in September 2010
in San Bruno, Calif. Oregonians have been
fighting several proposed LNG import
terminals. One, Bradwood Landing, has
gone under, and its associated pipeline, the
Palomar Pipeline, withdrew its permit
application last week.
Olivia Schmidt, community organizer
for BARK, says despite Palomar Gas
Transmission LLC’s claims its pipeline
was not dependent on an LNG terminal, its
decision to withdraw both halves of its
proposed pipeline indicate otherwise. The
eastern half of the pipeline would have
gone through the Mt. Hood National
Forest, cutting a 50-foot wide swath
through the forest and cutting through the
Clackamas River, she says.
Schmidt says Palomar violates the laws
that protect wild and scenic rivers and old
growth, and it could damage critical
habitat for salmon and steelhead.
While celebrating, Schmidt says the
fight is not over yet. “When and if they
came back we’re here to stop them again,”
she says. Palomar has indicated it intends
to file another application in the future.
She says what has stopped the LNG
companies has “really just been resistance
from the public, which has slowed this
project down enough to reconsider their
investment.”
She points out that even as the diverse
coalition of environmentalists, landowners
and others celebrate Palomar’s current
defeat, Oregon LNG’s proposed terminal
in Astoria is still on the table as is Jordan
Cove and the Pacific Connector pipeline in
Coos Bay.
Monica
Vaughan,
grassroots
coordinator
for
Klamath-Siskiyou
Wildlands Center, says LNG opponents’
fears that the proposed Oregon terminals
would not just import LNG but export the
fossil fuel were realized when Bob
Braddock, project manager for Jordan
Cove, told the energy newsletter “Platts
LNG Daily” that his company had mulled
over inquiries about using the facility to
convert domestic gas to LNG for export.
Braddock has since backpedaled on his
comment.
Under section 7(h) of the Natural Gas
Act, as an import terminal, Jordan Cove’s
Pacific Connector legally qualifies to use
eminent domain to cross properties as the
pipeline would be for the public’s benefit.
As an export terminal it would not qualify
because the gas would not be for “public
convenience and necessity.”
Vaughan says, “For the last couple
years we’ve really anticipated that the
project would be flipped to export because
that’s what would make economic sense.”
She says the proposed Pacific Connector
pipeline to Malin, OR, would link to the
Ruby Pipeline and tap into Wyoming’s
natural gas supplies.
Exporting natural gas would cause
prices for the fuel and electricity to rise in
the U.S. Vaughan says, citing the Industrial
Energy Consumers of America, which
recently came out against an LNG export
proposal in Louisiana.
— Camilla Mortensen
WILLAMETTE
BIKE LANES?
Cyclists have appealed to the Eugene
City Council to include bike lanes in a
planned repaving project on south
Willamette Street.
The local GEARs bicycle group posted
an action alert on its website March 11.
The group said they’d learned of a city
re-paving project on Willamette from 29th
to 32nd avenues that did not include bike
lanes contrary to the TransPlan passed by
local elected officials. “This is a serious
error, especially given the fact that the
Willamette and 29th area was highlighted
at the last Advocacy Committee meeting
as a top problem spot for biking.”
The group called for people to write to
the council urging them to pull the three
block section of Willamette from the
larger 17-block re-paving project so that
the re-paving can be re-planned to include
bike lanes.
Six citizens emailed councilors urging
the elected officials to include the already
planned bike lanes. “Our family relies on
bicycle transport on a daily basis, including
doing our shopping at the Woodfield
Station area. We often take the risky ride
along Willamette Street, but when using
our bike trailers, sometimes we are forced
to take a long detour to avoid the stretch of
Willamette Street between 29th and 32nd,”
wrote Lynn Cody.
Richie Weinman wrote that he lives
near Willamette and that not including the
bike lanes “seems to be inconsistent with
city policy. If you look at a map, you will
see that there aren’t very satisfactory
alternatives to Willamette Street in that
area for bike riders.”
“This violation of the city’s own policy
needs to be addressed,” wrote Carin Wise
of not including the bike lanes called for in
TransPlan.
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