Coos County voters rejected a measure Tuesday designed to prevent a liquefied natural gas plant from being built on Oregon's coast.
Measure 6-162 would have essentially blocked an LNG export terminal and pipeline proposed by Canadian company Veresen.
The measure failed with 75.91 percent of voters opposed and only 24.09 percent of voters in favor, according to election results released by Coos County.
It would have created a county-wide bill of rights that would ban transporting fossil fuels through the Coos County, other than existing infrastructure or fuel for vehicles.
That could have made it more challenging for Veresen's contentious Jordan Cove LNG facility to be built.
"What we've been doing isn't really working," measure co-petitioner Mary Geddry told EarthFix earlier this month. "So we have to get to a point where… a community can say, 'We're not going to negotiate how many toxins or poisons we're willing to accept in the air,' which is what happens when you work through the regulatory process."
Opponents of the measure significantly outspent supporters, with more than $600,000 raised to defeat the measure, according to the Coos Bay World.
Those opponents argued the county rights measure would have endangered jobs.
Coos Bay Mayor Joe Bennetti told EarthFix the measure gave the "wrong impression that we're not open for business."
If the measure had passed Coos County also would have been likely to encounter legal challenges.
