Meeting examines natural gas drill, pipeline proposals

A public meeting sponsored by Wahkiakum Friends of the River was held December 3 to inform the public of potential natural gas explorations by Colorado based Venoco. The company wants to drill in the Skamokawa area to find natural gas deposits.

Columbia Riverkeeper representative Dan Serres addressed the crowd of nearly 40 people with a presentation alleging there to be more to the relationship between Venoco and NorthernStar than a lease option on a Pacific Ocean oil platform.

“When we found out there was a business relationship between the two, we became concerned that there was some misrepresentation going on from the Maverick side,” Serres said. CRK looked at the leases to find connections between the companies and found them to have the words “drilling and storage” which raised concerns.Serres said the group was concerned because of the history of “bait and switch” in gas companies in the state. In Coos Bay, he reported, a company said they would use a 12-inch existing pipe, however, months later it was said to have built a 36-inch high pressure natural gas pipeline.

“NorthernStar at Bradwood came in and said ‘we are going to use this 36-inch pipeline and this pipeline alone. We have no plans to connect ourselves to the California market, this gas is for Oregon alone.’”

Since then, a connection was proposed between NorthernStar and the Palomar project with a 230 mile pipeline that goes over the Cascade Mountain range, Serres said.

“There is reason to believe that these two projects might be connected, particularly when we looked at the leases and saw that they involve gas storage,” he said. “Our role in looking at this is asking questions basically about the connection to NorthernStar. It’s still hard for some of us to believe there is no connection between potential gas storage here in Wahkiakum and Cowlitz counties and the NorthernStar project.”

Venoco Government relations and regulatory manager Steve Greig said he could understand the concern about the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Columbia River, but Bradwood Landing has nothing to do with Venoco.

“I honestly cannot say that more emphatically," he said. "It has nothing to do with us!”

The NorthernStar connection, he said, started when Venoco purchased oil platforms in California. One of the platforms, Platform Grace, was not in production yet. It was being used to transport oil to another platform.

A panel of three persons including Wahkiakum County Commissioner Blair Brady answered questions from the crowd regarding the impact on the environment; however, some of those questions went unanswered.

Cathlamet Resident Craig Brown questioned the impact on the geology of the area. “What happens when you fracture through on your way to a natural gas field; fracture through a water table? Do you not create the possibility for a mix between gas and water or perhaps even other cavities for water to move off into away from where wells existed?"

Kathy Killman, president and principal engineering geologist with Icicle Creek Engineers representing the Department of Natural Resources, declined to answer the question, instead directing it to a Venoco representative.

A representative from DNR was unable to attend the meeting due to budgetary restrictions.

Because many of the questions the meetings attendees asked were unable to be answered, Grieg told the group they would be happy to set up a meeting with individuals able to provide answers to questions. “I think some of those questions are valid, we just don’t have people here to answer them.”

On December 4, Bradwood Land Executive Vice-president, External Affairs, Joseph Desmond sent Brady and the county board of commissioners a letter denying a connection between Venoco and Bradwood Landing projects.

"There is no connection whatsoever between Venoco's proposed gas exploration activities and our Bradwood Landing terminal," the letter said. "NorthenStar Natural Gas, through its Clearwater Port subsidiary, holds a lease option on Venoco's Platform Grace, an offshore oil platform off the coast of southern Californai which we have previously proposed converting into an offshore LNG receiving terminal. There is no connection whatsoever between NorthernStar Natural Gas and Venoco beyond the lease of Platform Grace.

"NorthernStar Natural Gas is not involved in any way with Venoco's proposed exploration in Wahkiakum County and has no position on it. Any assertion to the contrary is untue."