This is the News

March 2, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Longview Daily News editorialized in its Sunday edition that “Politicians should stop stalling LNG.” The Daily News editorial follows a similar editorial from the Feb. 11th Oregonian newspaper, which also called on policy makers not to interfere with the permitting of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas import terminal near Astoria, Oregon.
 
As the Daily News said in its editorial:
 
“A stable supply of affordable energy is essential to maintaining and creating jobs. Hydropower won’t meet future needs. New dams are not being built. Coal, while plentiful, carries unacceptable environmental costs. Liquefied natural gas is a clean source of energy. There are ample supplies worldwide, and the gas can be imported safely in a liquefied form.
 
“Politicians do their constituents no favor by stalling this project. The Bradwood Landing terminal is a net benefit for the region’s economy, both short-term and long-term.”
 
“We’re pleased and encouraged to have the support of the Daily News’ editorial board,” said NorthernStar Natural Gas President Paul Soanes. “Bradwood Landing will create hundreds of jobs during its three year construction, but more importantly, could create 5 – 20,000 new jobs in the Pacific Northwest by increasing the available supply of natural gas. Bradwood represents a huge economic opportunity for the region.”
 
Last month’s Oregonian editorial said that: “… state officials should work with the Bradwood developers, Houston-based NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc., and resist the politically easy temptation to side with environmentalists who oppose the project on an array of objections that don't hold up particularly well under scrutiny… Too many jobs are at stake here for politically driven foot-dragging.”
 
Bradwood Landing’s coalition of supporters includes the Oregon AFL-CIO, the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, the Oregon Machinists Council, the Washington Machinists Council, Carpenters Local 1707 and the International Longshore Workers’ Union (Columbia River Oregon Area), the Steamship Operators Association, and more than 2,500 citizens which have sent letters or cards of support to FERC, Clatsop County and the Governor.
 
The Bradwood Landing LNG terminal and its associated 36.3 mile pipeline would provide a new source of natural gas directly into the Oregon and Washington natural gas market. It would create more than 450 jobs over three years of construction and 65 permanent jobs while contributing more than $7.8 million annually in taxes to Clatsop County.  The annual operating and maintenance budget will exceed $30 million.
 
A regional analysis of the effects of increased natural gas supply from a Columbia River LNG terminal by University of Oregon economist Dr. Phil Romero, showed that Bradwood could reduce the wholesale cost of natural gas by 13 percent. Dr. Romero’s analysis showed this decrease in energy costs would help support the creation of between 5,100 and 20,300 jobs.
 
As the only FERC-approved U.S. West Coast LNG terminal, Bradwood Landing could begin construction in 2009 and be operational by 2012.
 
The full text of the Daily News editorial follows below.

 
Politicians should stop stalling LNG

Sunday, March 1, 2009
March 1 Daily News editorial

Debate over a Houston-based firm’s plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal at Bradwood Landing has entered its fourth year. In that time, extensive studies have been conducted on the proposed LNG terminal’s environmental and economic impact. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given the project its approval.

Still, opponents of the LNG terminal — landowners whose property would be crossed by gas pipelines, and groups and individuals concerned about the project’s impact on the Columbia River — have lost none of their zeal. The volume of well-organized protests has been such that a number of Oregon and Washington politicians have gravitated to their cause. Southwest Washington Congressman Brian Baird, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and, to a lesser extent, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire are among those lawmakers who’ve weighed in on the side of opponents.

The Bradwood Landing project probably cannot be stopped by any amount of politically inspired opposition. If the developers satisfy state requirements — as they appear to have done to FERC’s satisfaction at the federal level — the LNG terminal will be built. But politicians can delay the project. Kulongoski, for example, filed suit in federal court last month, after FERC turned down an appeal to revisit their approval of the LNG terminal.

That’s not the sort of leadership Oregonians need. Dragging out this approval process long after the project has been deemed safe and beneficial may serve some narrow political interest, but it serves no public interest. The region needs the economic boost and the energy this LNG terminal would provide.

A 2007 study conducted by University of Oregon business and economics professor, Philip Romero, showed construction of the Bradwood Landing terminal would lead to the creation of some 10,000 new jobs and increase the gross domestic product for Oregon, Washington and Idaho by more than $1 billion. According to Romero, the terminal could reduce natural gas prices by 13 percent when — or if — it begins operating in 2012.

Lee Beyer, the chairman of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, last spring told Kulongoski that the LNG terminal would help the Northwest hold down regional natural gas prices and ensure a stable supply of the energy. “Other regions of the country are all looking to secure access to additional gas supply sources, such as LNG and nonconvential gas, to replace supples from quickly diminishing domestic and pipeline import sources,” Beyer wrote in a memo to the governor. “The Northwest should do the same.”

A stable supply of affordable energy is essential to maintaining and creating jobs. Hydropower won’t meet future needs. New dams are not being built. Coal, while plentiful, carries unacceptable environmental costs. Liquefied natural gas is a clean source of energy. There are ample supplies worldwide, and the gas can be imported safely in a liquefied form.

Politicians do their constituents no favor by stalling this project. The Bradwood Landing terminal is a net benefit for the region’s economy, both short-term and long-term.

Copyright © 2009, The Daily News All rights reserved.




<< Back to News