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PORTLAND, Ore. – On a 4-1 vote, the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today approved a
certificate order for the Bradwood Landing liquefied
natural gas receiving terminal which will be built
at the former Bradwood mill site, 20 miles east of Astoria,
Oregon. Developed by NorthernStar
Natural Gas, Bradwood Landing is the first U.S. West Coast
LNG terminal to receive approval from
FERC (FAQ: FERC LNG Siting Process). The certificate order,
which authorizes construction and operations, is conditioned
on Bradwood completing the permit process with State Agencies,
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Army
Corps of Engineers.
FERC granted Bradwood Landing pre-filing status
on March 7, 2005. At three years and six months,
FERC’s consideration of Bradwood Landing ran more than
a year longer than any previous LNG
project and reflects the agency’s detailed and in-depth
review. In addition, Bradwood Landing
expects to secure the balance of permits within the next
several months.
“This is a significant
milestone for Bradwood Landing and makes it the project
best positioned to
help the Pacific Northwest meet their future natural gas
needs,” said NorthernStar Natural Gas CEO
William “Si” Garrett. “We will continue
to work with the states of Oregon and Washington to secure
necessary state approvals and FERC conditions. As we
have always said, we are committed to
meeting all applicable local, state and federal standards,” said
Garrett.
In approving Bradwood, FERC Chairman Joseph
Kelliher said that the Bradwood project “meets our
high safety standards and will have limited adverse environmental
impacts.”
FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller, the first
FERC commissioner from the Northwest, noted in his comments
the strong safety record of the LNG industry and the fact
that there are five LNG storage facilities operating in
the Pacific Northwest today. He also noted that the Columbia
River is a working river, “Hundreds of commercial ships
navigate the river system every year, many carrying cargo
without incident that is classified as hazardous, such as
liquid petroleum products.”
The approval by FERC requires Bradwood Landing
to satisfy 109 mitigation measures to enhance safety and
security of the facility and to ensure Bradwood has limited
effects on the environment. FERC’s detailed review
of Bradwood included two scoping meetings, three public
site visits, 21 interagency meetings, six comment meetings
on the draft Environmental Impact Statement. In addition,
the review period on the dEIS was extended from 45 days
to 120 days to allow for greater public comment. There
were 1,827 individual comments submitted on the project
through the course of FERC’s consideration. The total
public record considered by FERC was in excess of 50,000
pages.
“We are confident that we can satisfy
all of the conditions contained in today’s order in
an expedient manner, which would allow us to being construction
in the second half of 2009,” said Garrett.
As FERC
said today, “We find that there is no material
issue of fact regarding the impact, safety or environmental
issues of the Bradwood Landing Project that we cannot
resolve on the basis of the written record in this proceeding.”
In March, the Clatsop County Commission approved
Bradwood’s
consolidated land use application after a nine month public
process that included an extensive examination of the
facts, days of public testimony and public deliberations
and a record that exceeded 10,000 pages of studies and
documentation.
Oregon imports 100 percent of the natural
gas it consumes. Meanwhile, the wholesale price of natural
gas has increased 300 per cent in the Northwest since
2000, with domestic natural gas trading today at $8 per
million British Thermal Units (MMbtu). Regarding the ability
for LNG to help lower the cost of energy for ratepayer,
a memo from May 30 by Oregon Public Utility Commission
Chairman Lee Beyer to Governor Kulongoski stated that, “It
is worth noting that the reported actual cost of delivering
LNG to U.S. facilities is approximately $4.50 per MMBTU
leaving lots of room for market economics to work.” The
presence of LNG in the Northwest would put downward pressure
on wholesale prices, helping ensure reliable and affordable
energy.
Bradwood’s environmental commitment
includes its voluntary Salmon Enhancement Initiative (SEI),
which at $59 million, represents the largest private commitment
to improve watershed health on the Lower Columbia River.
Using NMFS’ own methodology to
model the benefits of the SEI, the program is projected
to improve salmon survival by 1.77 million juvenile fish
per year. This would represent 50 percent of NMFS’ own
survival improvement target for ocean-type fish, such
as salmon.
The 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.
In a July 15 editorial, The Oregonian, Oregon’s
largest daily newspaper editorialized in favor of the
Bradwood Landing terminal, stating that:
“LNG can be one tool to help America
meet its responsibility to reduce emissions of climatechanging
gases. The Bradwood project should be allowed to move ahead.”
The Bradwood Landing LNG terminal and its
associated 38 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. Today’s FERC approval is a
further step in the permitting of the Bradwood Landing
terminal which could begin construction in 2009 and be
operational by 2012.
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