The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals confirmed that Columbia River Keepers, represented by Brent VandenHeuval and Janet Wilson, filed a Notice of Intent April 8, to appeal the land use decision of Clatsop County Board of County Commissioners. The BOCC signed Ordinance 08-02 on March 20, amending the Clatsop County combined comprehensive plan and zoning map, the text of the of the Clatsop County Comprehensive plan and the text of the Clatsop County Land and Water Land and Water Development and Use ordinance.
The Board has twenty-one days from the Notice of Intent to send the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) a record of their decision after which time Columbia RiverKeepers have fourteen days to file a response.
The record would include the findings of approval of the core elements of the Consolidated Application from Bradwood Landing LLC, approving Bradwood Landing LLC’s consolidated land-use application for a liquefied natural gas terminal and related facilities for Permits and Development Approvals to Develop an LNG Marine Terminal, Pipeline, and Related Facilities at Bradwood, Clatsop County Oregon.
It would also include the conditions that are a part of the approval, two which appear to be unique in local communities’ dealings with LNG corporations. The first being that Bradwood must have agreements with emergency service responders signed before the county will issue a development permit for construction. The BOCC will allow Bradwood to return to the Board if it can’t reach an agreement with a particular agency. If that happens, the Board will hold a public hearing and make a decision based on the recommendations by the county’s public safety consultant, PBS&J.
The second is one which both the Clatsop County Board of County Commissioners and NorthernStar Energy LLC, acclaim as the first one of its kind in the United States between a local government and an LNG corporation. A memorandum of agreement between Bradwood Landing LLC and NorthernStar Energy LLC and Clatsop County in which the company essentially agrees to honor the conditions as set forth in the findings of fact for approval of the land-use application, even if later waived by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“To ensure that local concerns would be addressed, we also signed a contract with the county committing that we would not appeal the county’s conditions of approval to FERC,” said Joe Desmond, senior vice president for external relations. To our knowledge, we are the only LNG terminal project in the U.S. that has ever proposed or agreed to such a contract.”
No comments:
Post a Comment