Oregon LNG contends land use ruling not a setback

Published 4:32 am Thursday, May 7, 2015

WARRENTON — Oregon LNG does not view an adverse state Land Use Board of Appeals ruling as an obstacle to a $6 billion export terminal and pipeline project.

The ruling last week upheld Clatsop County’s decision in 2013 to deny a permit for a portion of the pipeline that would run through the county. The county Board of Commissioners had cited safety and environmental concerns.

In comments to business and energy industry publications, Peter Hansen, Oregon LNG’s chief executive officer, indicated he believes the project meets county and state requirements and is on track for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission review.

Hansen declined to comment to The Daily Astorian when reached this week, but told others the ruling would not halt the project.

“It absolutely does not. This is not the end of the process. Local permits are not required for the pipeline, and we expect to pursue the project regardless of this decision,” he is quoted as telling Natural Gas Intelligence, an industry newsletter.

In an interview with Platts, a division of McGraw Hill Financial that covers the energy industry, Hansen was dismissive of Clatsop County’s handling of the project, which involves an 87-mile pipeline between Washington state and Oregon and an export terminal on the Skipanon Peninsula in Warrenton.

Clatsop County had approved a permit for a 41-mile leg of the pipeline in 2010, then rescinded the approval in 2011 after three new commissioners joined the board. Commissioners rejected a permit again in 2013.

“We have had this ongoing conflict with Clatsop County for years and we knew that they were not going to issue us a local permit, but we don’t need a local permit. It’s a FERC-jurisdiction pipeline and it’s very clear that local governments do not have jurisdiction and the state is not allowed to give them local jurisdiction,” Hansen is quoted as telling Platts.

“Clatsop County has adopted an anti-fossil fuel position; they believe that the fossil fuel era is over and we don’t need fossil fuels anymore. Some of us disagree with that.”

Hansen downplayed the importance of local oversight. “If local permits were required from every little jurisdiction along a FERC interstate pipeline, you would never get any pipeline built anywhere,” he told Platts.

Environmentalists and others who oppose the Oregon LNG project believe the Land Use Board of Appeals ruling could be significant and could interfere with the project’s ability to win state and federal approval.

Oregon LNG’s permit request with Warrenton is pending before a city hearings officer.

“Why would they have spent all of these years and all of these dollars to defend their project in Clatsop County to now turn around and say, ‘Well, Clatsop County doesn’t matter,’” said Cheryl Johnson, who lives in Brownsmead and is active with Columbia Pacific Common Sense, which opposes the project.

Johnson described Oregon LNG’s attitude toward local concerns as rude. “It is exceedingly rude to say that the people who live in this community should have no voice in whether or not the pipeline is permitted,” she said.

“And for them to just dismiss us and the hours of testimony that we have given and the hundreds of pages of testimony that we have submitted, it is beyond rude to just dismiss us and say, ‘Our opinion doesn’t count.’”