Taking a pass on the PIPELINE

Farmers, vintners, timber owners are upset about a pair of 100-mile-long gas pipelines proposed for Washington County

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 14, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Chase Allgood / News-Times

Steve Wick looks out over his Gaston property, where he hopes to one day plant grape vines.

ADVERTISEMENTS

In 1992 Steve Wick found paradise. That’s when he and his wife, Carol, bought a 60-acre swath of rolling countryside a mile outside Gaston on Olson Road.

Earlier this month, as the morning fog rolled lazily down the back of the Coast Range, Wick walked along an outcrop and surveyed his little corner of the Chehalem Valley, where an egret has taken up occasional residence.

On the grassy hillside, he envisions vines of ripening grapes, ready for the fall crush.

“When you plant grapes,” said the aspiring vintner, “the natural layering of the soil is really, really important.”

And Wick’s ground has the perfect layering. Elk Cove, Kramer and Elvenglade vineyards all call the lumpy agricultural district along Olson Road their home.

But Wick might not get a chance to make wine at all if a pair of natural gas pipeline projects come to fruition.

Both projects have set a preliminary path through Wick’s property.

“It’s going to render the ground useless,” Wick said.

Wick and many of his neighbors have decided to band together and fight the pipelines.

“We all love it out here,” Wick said. “So when someone comes in saying they’re going to put a pipeline through and ruin your plans — we get upset.”

Two projects

The pipelines in question are 36-inch natural gas transmission lines that would carry gas through more than 100 miles of rural Oregon from Clatsop County to Molalla.

Two companies, Oregon LNG and Palomar, are proposing similar projects. Both pipelines would connect to controversial liquid natural gas facilities proposed along the Columbia River near Astoria.

Liquid natural gas (or LNG, as it is known) has dominated the front pages of the Daily Astorian since the first murmurs of a terminal cropped up in late 2004.

“LNG: What is the fire risk? North Coast leaders grill visiting scientist about worst-case scenarios,” read a headline from last week.

Some opponents say the large tankers bringing the super-cold, liquefied gas from overseas could be easy terrorist targets. Others worry that the dredging needed to allow them to move through the river could disrupt wildlife habitat.

The developers say that the impacts are overblown and fully mitigated through a long federal process.

Perusing the files of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it’s clear that like most environmental scraps, the sides are drawn in bright lines.

A group of small-scale fishermen have filed a letter with the agency in support of the Oregon LNG terminal because they see the gas as more fisherman-friendly than wave energy buoys.

Meanwhile, a host of environmental organizations, including residents prodded by the Columbia River Keepers, have filed letters in opposition.

But since word of the pipelines reached property owners in Washington and Yamhill counties this summer, the debate has fallen along the traditional fault line of the Willamette Valley.

This is a land war.

Large cities avoided

The Washington County leg of both pipelines dodges all the county’s major cities. It weaves a path through the Gales Creek Valley, near Timber and Glenwood, and follows Highway 47 south.

Then it takes a jog to the west of Gaston, or to the east. Pipeline officials say that the final paths haven’t been determined.

If you call the City of Gaston, more than likely Margaret Bell will pick up the phone. The city recorder has been handling the city’s response to the pipeline companies.

A little over a month ago, Bell got a request from Oregon LNG for an archeological research permit on land to the east of town, near the city’s water treatment plant. She denied the request.

“Everything else we had seen was on the west side of town,” Bell said.

Bell hasn’t heard back from Oregon LNG, but she doesn’t think her concerns, or those from members of the Gaston City Council, will make a difference to the two companies seeking access for field surveys.

“Their permission really does not come from the property owner,” Bell said. “Their permission comes from FERC, and FERC can grant them eminent domain. They can walk in and pretty much do what they want.

“That, quite honestly is the attitude,” Bell added.

State Sen. Betsy Johnson, who represents Banks, Timber and Gales Creek, is just as frustrated by the process as Bell.

“I am deeply concerned about the process,” Johnson told the News-Times.

At a recent FERC meeting in Clatsop County, Johnson asked that the federal agency make some information available to landowners. A consultant for the agency told Johnson that the meeting was about gathering information, not giving it.

1 | 2 Next Page >>