Activists condemn pipeline proposal

MYRTLE CREEK — About 50 people attending a Thursday evening presentation on foreign natural gas importation said the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, a proposed inland transporter, would negatively affect their land and the environment if built.

Rory Cox, California program director for Pacific Environment, a group opposed to foreign natural gas importation, told a standing crowd at Myrtle Creek’s Millsite Park that the Pacific Connector is one of at least a dozen pipelines the energy industry has proposed to build on the West Coast in hopes of getting at least a couple pushed through to development.

“The industry is throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks,” Cox said.

Douglas County residents from Camas Valley to Milo have joined forces with Coos Bay residents in hopes of stopping plans for the Jordan Cove Energy Project in North Bend and its pipeline, the Pacific Connector.

If built, the 3-foot diameter Pacific Connector would potentially transport 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day across 225 miles of southwest Oregon to another north-south running gas conduit near Malin east of Klamath Falls.

The gas would be shipped from Pacific Rim drilling locations to North Bend. It would be chilled to liquid form for tanker transport at minus 260 degrees and then reconverted to its gaseous state at the proposed LNG terminal in North Bend.

The Southern Oregon Clean Energy Coalition opposes development of the terminal and pipeline for the import of liquefied natural gas. The coalition and Cox said the country should pursue cleaner, renewable energy instead.

“It’s time to use renewable energies,” said Joanne Gordon, whose property near Milo lies in the path of nearly a mile of the Pacific Connector.

Cox said a myth has been perpetuated in North America that domestic natural gas is in short supply and that imported gas would make up for the shortfall.

“In Canada right now, they’ve got more natural gas than they know what to do with,” he said.

Cox added that several LNG terminals have been proposed on the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast as well. He said the nation wouldn’t need them if all 50 states adopted the environmental rules and regulations of his state.

“If we just abide by our clean energy laws in California, we don’t need LNG terminals at all,” he said.

Cox said California’s demand for natural gas has dropped 20 percent since the peak demand of 2002. He cited energy conservation for the decline and used a California Energy Commission report to back his claim.

“There’s not spiraling demands like these agencies say there is,” he said.

However, Cox and the energy coalition say California’s large population is being targeted by the energy industry. Yet of the dozen LNG terminal proposals on the West Coast from Baja, Mexico, to British Columbia, only a couple are in California, situated off the shores of Oxnard.

“You’ll notice there are none proposed in Northern California,” Cox said, “because they’ll just chase it out of town.”

Cox said one proposed LNG terminal and pipeline on the Mexican coast is already under construction. Situated between Ensenada and Tijuana, Cox figures the energy industry will keep pushing proposals until at least one more is approved for construction.

The Pacific Connector would be a jointly owned and constructed project between Williams, a pipeline construction firm based in Salt Lake City, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and Fort Chicago Energy LP.

The project is currently in pre-filing status with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The energy companies are expected to make a formal application for the project with FERC as early as January 2007.

Besides North Bend, Cox said Oregon has four other LNG terminals proposed along and near the mouth of the Columbia River.

Cox said that currently 40 percent of California’s energy comes from natural gas, most of which is piped from Wyoming.

Cox said imported gas will be more expensive than domestic natural gas, since the costs of recovery, transportation and foreign taxes will likely be passed on to rate payers.

Cassie Murdoch-Staton of Myrtle Creek said plans for the Pacific Connector project were pushed through the back door of her community by energy companies with federal government support.

“That’s what’s got me more angry than anything,” she said.

Murdoch-Staton said the project is largely being ignored by rural residents and elected officials. She plans to begin a petition against Pacific Connector on behalf of the Southern Oregon Clean Energy Coalition.


• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.