Power generating project on tap

CLATSKANIE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is evaluating a permit application from Westward Energy to discharge fill material into wetlands adjacent to Bradbury Slough and the Columbia River to construct a power generating facility.

The company would build a 520-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined-cycle power generating facility to primarily provide power supply to two aluminum companies that operate smelters in The Dalles, and Goldendale, Wash. The facility would be about 20 acres.

The project would require discharging about 15,515 cubic yards of fill material, which would impact 2.26 acres of water, 1.94 acres of wetlands and 0.32 acres of jurisdictional ditches. A gas pipeline alignment easement would be temporarily impacted.

If the permit is issued, the Corps will determine what is practical and appropriate compensatory mitigation.

As part of its permit evaluation process, the Corps is requesting public review and comment on the proposed project prior to making its permit decision.

For a copy of the Corps’ Public Notice 2002-00169, which describes the proposed project in detail, please write to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CENWP-OP-G (Tina Teed), P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946 or call (503) 808-4384. A copy of the public notice, including photocopies of supporting drawings, is posted on the Corps’ Internet site at https://www.nwp.usace.army .mil/op/g/notices/200200169.pdf

Written comments must reach the Corps by Sept. 20, 2004, and should be mailed to the above address. Send e-mail comments to Tina.J.Teed@usace.army.mil. Comments must reference the public notice number.

The Corps also is soliciting input from federal, state and local agencies and officials, Indian Tribes, and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity on endangered species, cultural resources, water quality, general environmental effects, and other public interest factors.

Earlier this month, Port Westward LNG expressed interest in buying up to 300 acres of land along the Columbia near Clatskanie to build a facility to receive shipments of liquefied natural gas. Natural gas is imported in a cooled-down, liquefied form, and would be distributed via pipes to power plants or stored in nearby underground caves.