Opponents take LNG to court

Coalition fighting proposed natural gas terminal says feds didn’t do their homework or prove need

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jan 28, 2010

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In 2008, the federal government gave a nod to the developers of Bradwood Landing, a liquefied natural gas terminal proposed to be built along the Columbia River.

The decision drew the ire of state officials in Oregon and Washington and a group of environmental activists.

Now they’re going to court.

In legal briefs filed this week in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a coalition of environmental groups argues that when the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee, or FERC, approved the Bradwood Landing application, it didn’t do its homework – or prove that Oregon needs an LNG terminal.

“FERC failed to consider the harm to salmon and the very real costs of this project to Oregon’s farms, forests and energy prices.” said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, the nonprofit spearheading the coalition.

VandenHeuvel said he hoped the court would side with FERC commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, a Nevada Democrat who voted against the Bradwood Landing proposal, saying that domestic gas reserves and other alternatives to building Bradwood Landing made more sense.

Wellinghoff has since been named the chairman of FERC, and has been meeting with concerned citizens and state officials in Oregon about the proposed LNG terminals and the pipelines that would follow.

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