Astoria residents protest Columbia River LNG plant

By KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Mar 4, 2010 at 12:40 PM PST
Astoria residents protest Columbia River LNG plant »Play Video
Protesters of a proposed LNG plant near Astoria wore shirts saying, "I am NOT an LNG 'acceptable risk'."

ASTORIA, Ore. - Citizens filled the gymnasium at Knappa High School, located east of Astoria, to express their concern and to learn more about the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant along the Columbia River.

The hearing, held Wednesday night, centered on the plant's impact on the river and one of its endangered resources - salmon.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Equality (DEQ) had told the backers of the LNG project that they most likely wouldn't receive the needed approvals to move forward with the project unless they held more meetings and shared more information with the public.

But even more information won't change some people's minds.

Dan Sears, from Columbia Riverkeeper, is encouraged that the DEQ has taken a hard stance towards this LNG project.

"The DEQ is an agency that has the power to stop LNG in Oregon, and the people tonight are going to be calling on the DEQ to do just that. To use good science to protect our salmon, our farms and our forests," Sears said.

The backers of this LNG project point out that this open forum was not required, but with the size and scope of this project, that there will be more meetings in the coming months.

From the Web site of Oregon LNG, a local leader in LNG pipelines: "LNG is a natural gas cooled to approximately -260° F at ambient air pressure. Liquefaction reduces the volume of natural gas by approximately 600 times, making it much more economical to transport. Specially designed ships are used to transport the LNG. Once at its destination, LNG is converted back to its gas state by passing the liquid through vaporizers that warm it to approximately 35° F. Essentially, LNG is the same natural gas more than 64 million Americans use to heat and cool their homes, only in a liquid state."

Liquified natural gas has been a hot topic in the region as of late.

Senators from Oregon and Washington have joined with East Coast counterparts to file a bill in Congress that would return control over liquefied natural gas ports to the states.

The bill filed Tuesday would remove a provision of the 2005 Energy Policy Act that gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission control over the import and export of natural gas, and restore state control.

Oregon and Washington are fighting the Bradwood Landing LNG project being developed by Northern Star Natural Gas of Houston near the mouth of the Columbia River. They claim it is not needed and federal approval was granted before full environmental reviews were in.

"Oregonians have said time and again that they don't want some federal agency 3,000 miles away forcing LNG terminals on them," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement. "I'm not going to stop until Oregonians get to decide whether or not they need LNG terminals and, if they do, where to put them."

And this past December, Oregon Governor, Ted Kulongoski, came out publicly against a Coos Bay LNG terminal approved by federal regulators. Kulongoski and conservationists said they will try to reverse the decision and are prepared to take the fight to court if necessary.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 3-1 in Washington, D.C., to approve the Jordan Cove project.

Ships would deliver the super-cooled gas to a terminal to be built on the North Spit of Coos Bay. The gas would be distributed through a new 230-mile pipeline, also approved by the council, that would cross the bay and hundreds of rivers and creeks to connect with existing networks serving Oregon, Northern California and northern Nevada.