Opinion - by Rick Nelson

Opposition builds to Oregon LNG

The pressure mounts on proposed plans to locate liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving ports and transmission pipelines in Oregon.
Two receiving plants are seeking permits in the state, one down the coast near Coos Bay and the other at Bradwood, across the Columbia from Puget Island. Other receiving plants have been suggested at Warrenton and at Beaver, also on the Columbia. Two tankers a week would unload the supercooled gas at Bradwood where it would be heated back into gas and injected into a pipeline proposed to follow the river up to Beaver and cross to Mill Creek in Cowlitz County and then across Cowlitz to tie into the Williams Natural Gas Pipeline at Lexington.
Another pipleline is proposed to connect to that pipeline near Clatskanie and then slice across Oregon to connect to a Canada-California pipeline near Bend.
All this natural gas development is making Oregon officials uneasy, for federal legislation passed in 2005 gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) final control over siting of natural gas facilities. There's no track record showing in the FERC will or won't consider state and local government evaluations for the facilities.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski initially took a wait and see attitude, but when it became apparent earlier this year that FERC wasn't going to pay much attention to concerns he and other Oregon state officials expressed, he began to voice opposition to the process. Members of the Oregon delegation in Congress joined him to express their own concerns, which drew a similar response.
So, on Monday we learned that Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and others including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton had sponsored legislation to repeal the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and return state control over siting decisions for liquified natural gas terminals.
In a Saturday campaign appearance in Hillsboro, Sen. Clinton criticized the Energy Policy Act which, she said, gives energy facility siting control to a board stacked with oil industry appointees. Clinton voted against the legislation.
Sen. Barack Obama, the leading Democrat party presidential contender, voted for the act but supported an unsuccessful amendment which would have maintained states' authority over siting the facilities.
Washington Congressman Brian Baird long ago expressed his opposition to Bradwood Landing proposal.
So, it seems that if the Democrats wrest control over the presidency in this fall's elections, LNG proposals such as Bradwood Landing may face a tighter permitting process that gives local governments some say in the matter.