The site of the proposed Jordan Cove LNG terminal. The sand dune the crowd is standing on would be removed and turned into a 40 foot deep channel leading to a berth for tankers.
Amelia Templeton
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is requiring Jordan Cove Energy, a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, to submit a new application now that the facility would be used to liquefy and export natural gas instead of importing it.
However, FERC officials said that the associated Pacific Connector Pipeline has not been asked to file any new applications, and that the pipeline's certificate of convenience and necessity is still valid.
That certificate gives the Pacific Connector the ability to use eminent domain to acquire easements on private land. The pipeline would connect Jordan Cove’s coastal export terminal to natural gas suppliers at a major hub in Malin, Oregon. The 36-inch pipeline would run directly across several hundred private properties.
Jordan Cove initially applied for permits to build a facility to import natural gas, but publicly changed course in fall of 2011, and received a permit to export to free trade agreement countries from the Department of Energy in December 2011.
Opponents of the project have suggested for years that it was always intended as an export facility. The boom in hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, and shale gas production in the U.S. has increased supplies and lowered prices. Markets in Asia now pay roughly four times as much for LNG as the going price for natural gas in the U.S. Jordan Cove is the first LNG project on the west coast granted an export license since 1967.
A small crowd of Coos Bay residents braved several hours in the rain to tour the proposed LNG terminal site with FERC officials.
Jordan Cove has acquired industrially zoned land for its proposed export terminal on a wind-swept sand dune that once belonged to Weyerhauser on Coos Bay’s North Spit.
The terminal would consist of a 350 megawatt power plant and liquefaction facility, two LNG storage tanks, each 180 foot tall, and a berth where tankers would dock and connect with cryogenic pipes to fill up with the supercooled LNG.
The power plant is not under FERC’s jurisdiction and will require its own specific license from an Oregon board.
Bob Braddock, a project manager with Jordan Cove, said he anticipates 90 ships docking at the terminal per year when the facility is operating at full capacity.
FERC staffer Paul Freidman told the crowd that the agency won’t allow Jordan Cove to build the facility using the approval they were granted three years ago for an import terminal.
“Jordan Cove has entered into what we call the FERC pre-filing process. The end of that process is a new application and a new facility, and we will do a new environmental document,” Freidman said.
Friedman expects Jordan Cove to file a new application no sooner than October 2012.
Supporters and opponents of the LNG project gathered later at an open house hosted by Jordan Cove.
Bill Gow, a rancher who lives near Roseburg, said he doesn’t have a problem with natural gas as a resource, but he views the pipeline as an extreme invasion of his property.
“I didn’t buy that ranch to make money. It’s my legacy. It’s what I love. It’s not for sale unless I choose,“ Gow said.
Frances Eatherington also owns property that the pipeline would cross. Eatherington said she thinks the companies involved in the pipeline lied to obtain the power of eminent domain.
“The fact that we would be a cog in the wheel between fracking and exporting global warming creating fossil fuels to China is a heavy pill to swallow,” Eatherington said.
Other local residents turned up to express their support for the export project.
“If this terminal was built 5 years ago, we’d have jobs in Coos Bay today,” said Roy Metzger, an appraiser with Coos County. “We wouldn’t be stuck in this downturn.”
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger appears to side with the landowners. Kroger has twice filed motions asking the FERC to set aside its approval of the terminal and pipeline. In a December motion, Kroger argued that an export facility would not contribute to the natural gas supply in the Northwest and could drive gas prices up. He questioned what public benefit the proposed pipeline and terminal would bring to outweigh the harm done to landowners.
Members of Oregon’s congressional delegation have also weighed in. Congressman Peter Defazio recently introduced legislation that would block developers from using eminent domain to obtain an easement from a private property owner for an LNG pipeline.
The proposed Pacific Connector Pipeline route. Credit: KS Wild