LNG proponents look for action to come this year

Proponents of the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Bradwood, Ore., across the Columbia from Puget Island, hope 2007 is the year they'll start construction.

Bradwood Landing and its parent company, NorthernStar Natural Gas, Inc., continue to address issues and plan with local, state and federal officials to meet concerns about operation of the plant.

On Tuesday, NorthernStar Vice-president Gary Coppedge and staff members Peter Hackett and Kelly Jorgensen discussed the status of the application process at a meeting of the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce in Cathlamet.

The discussion came a week after Congressman Brian Baird announced his opposition to the project.

On February 21, Baird wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting answers to a series of questions posed August 10, 2006, by three Puget Island men, George Exum, Dr. Terry Kriesel, and Frans Eykel, who are members of Wahkiakum Friends of the River, a group which opposes the proposed plant.

Baird asked that he have a reply to the questions by March 16; he added that he would forward the responses to the three men.

FERC should release the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) this spring or summer, the men said. After public hearings, the agency will complete the final EIS and issue or deny the permit.

Bradwood Landing wants to construct two storage tanks about 170 feet high, a dock for tankers hauling the supercooled gas, a gasification plant, and 36-mile long pipeline through Clatsop, Columbia and Cowlitz counties to connect with the Williams Company pipeline in the I-5 corridor near Kelso.

Two tankers would call on the plant each week, with a 24 hour turnaround time for transit and unloading of the cargo. River traffic would be restricted in a 500-yard exclusion zone when loaded tankers are headed up river, the US Coast Guard announced last week. Coppedge added that "known boats" would be able to pass through the zone The zone would be smaller when the ships were docked--200 yards--or unloaded and headed down river.

Bradwood Landing has applied for, or will soon finish, applications for local and state permits in Oregon and Cowlitz County for the project, Coppedge said. The applications will be subject to public review.

The company is preparing to address resource gaps, Coppedge said. These are the gaps in local resources to address the requirements spelled out by the US Coast Guard or other agencies, such as equipment and training for fire departments that may be called to respond to a fire at the plant, pipeline or a tanker.

Bradwood Landing is channeling money into Washington through the Wahkiakum Community Foundation for some of these gaps. The company has promised $100,000 a year to the foundation, $500,000 annually up to 40 years if the plant is built.

Foundation Executive Director Karen Bertroch said a committee of company and community members has awarded the first grants, with 60 percent of the funding going to fire departments.

In Oregon, Coppedge added, funding is going through Clatsop County commissioners, and departments aren't seeing the flexibility the Washington department have experienced.

Coppedge said the company is making the grants because it won't be paying taxes in Wahkiakum County, but there will be impacts to mitigate.

Hackett said the firm has taken river pilots to Boston to see how LNG tankers are handled there, and they have hosted Boston fire fighters who have given programs to departments in Oregon and Washington. More training will be needed, he said.

The firm has also just leased a room in the Scarborough Building in Cathlamet, which it will share with the community foundation. Bertroch said the room will be used as a community center and meeting room. Already a yoga instructor is offering classes there; the foundation and Bradwood Landing will have office hours during the week.

Bertroch was asked if Friends of the River could use the facility April 9 after they present a program to chamber. Bertroch said she would take the request to the foundation's board of directors.