Carrie Bartoldus January 16, 2009
Oregon’s newly appointed Attorney General, John Kroger, made no secret on the campaign trail that he was against the LNG industry coming to Oregon. In one of his first public outings since taking office January 5th, Kroger spoke to an audience of approximately 100 people protesting LNG projects being proposed in Oregon. “Do you want LNG from Iran and Russia or do you want energy independence?” Kroger shouted. The chorus echoed back, “No!” Last year’s protest at the state’s capital drew a crowd about double the size.
Among those in the audience were the Columbia Riverkeepers (CRK), there to not only protest but to congratulate their former director, Brent Foster, who joined Kroger’s staff as the new environmental crimes prosecutor. Foster sent out emails in December informing the members of his appointment to the AG staff. “Since it’s often the first question I am asked I will tell you that, yes- my work will include helping articulate how the Dept. of Justice will respond to the proposed LNG terminals in Oregon and their related pipelines.” Foster’s follow-up email asked for contributions to be sent to Columbia Riverkeeper’s so the organization would have the money to “stand up to LNG speculators.”
At a recent viewing of the film Crossroads of the Columbia, Cheryl Johnson, an Astoria activist against LNG development invited guests to ask Foster, who was also in attendance, questions regarding the Dept of Justice and where the LNG projects were involved at the state level. However, Tony Green, communications and policy director for the Attorney General’s office, stated that Foster was not at the viewing of the film as a representative of the Department of Justice but merely on a personal basis and that Foster did not answer any questions regarding the Department of Justice and LNG projects at the event.
Green said that Kroger had been invited to attend Tuesday’s rally by Columbia Riverkeepers and his speech had been, “off the cuff”. Kroger told the group that Iran and Russia would be two major sources for liquefied natural gas in Oregon and that protecting the environment and land for farming and forests are good reasons to oppose the terminals. But, Kroger said, the “most decisive reason” is the country’s dependence on foreign fuel.
That isn’t what Bradwood Landing Senior Vice President for External Affairs Joe Desmond thinks. Desmond appeared on the Lars Larson Show later on the same day as the protest and was asked many of the points that Kroger brought up. “The most likely sources for getting our LNG, at this time, is Australia and Indonesia,” said Desmond. When an angry caller asked Desmond to admit that it would be coming from Russia an exasperated Larson wanted to cut him off but Desmond asked him not to so that he could explain how Bradwood would look for the best prices using the least amount of transportation to cut down on costs. Desmond also agreed with another caller’s concern that the renewable energy might be left behind if the state turned to only one source to supply its energy needs. “We have to realize that wind nor solar can take on the energy needs of Oregon at this time, by theirselves, they just aren’t able to and I don’t think anyone in those fields is suggesting they are,” said Desmond. “Oregon needs to approach the issue of energy with a multi-faceted policy, one that makes energy consistent and affordable for the residential consumer and the industries that rely on it.”
Desmond also fielded questions regarding the environment and salmon mitigation, both areas that Bradwood explained in an exhaustive 50,000+ page document that was recently compiled to be sent to the Land Use Board of Appeals. In what is now a private property, Bradwood plans a 500 acre protected habitat which has many potentials including being opened to the public as a park or having some sort of educational or informational project. Also planned is a voluntary Salmon Enhancement Initiative (SEI), which at $59 million, represents the largest private commitment to improve watershed health on the Lower Columbia River.
Peter Hansen, Oregon LNG’s chief executive officer, said that the countries that their facility would be receiving LNG from would be Qatar and Australia, both very friendly nations with the United States. Hansen said that in talking with Northwest Natural Gas about its plans to bring in the Palomar Pipeline and the accusations that prime farmland was being rendered useless because of the route of the pipeline, NW Natural had told him that the total impacted by the pipeline was one acre of vineyards. Because of the fact that they were required to work with landowners and find routes that impacted the land and agriculture the least, the pipeline will have very little economic or ecological impact on the land.
Hansen is dismayed with the misinformation that is circulated about the LNG industry. At one time touted by all environmentalists as a “green” energy, and still done so in Europe and Asian countries, LNG is suddenly being attacked by environmentalists in the United States, leaving Hansen a little perplexed, along with the atmosphere of xenophobia that the “friendly” people at Columbia Riverkeepers like to preserve. Hansen is Danish, but has been an United States citizen for over 20 years. His partner, Mohammed Alrai, is an American born citizen who has been accused of being from many different countries of the middle-east by members of the Columbia Riverkeepers. Ironically, many of CRK’s members belong to the Rural Organizing Project, an advocacy group which has been fighting for the rights of recent immigrants to Columbia County.
Both Bradwood and Oregon LNG stated that another possible place that was considering sending LNG to Oregon could be Alaska. Because of the harsh terrain between where their natural gas fields are where the gas needs to go, Alaska said it would be much easier and more economical for it to ship its gas to the lower states rather than pipe it and it wouldn’t have to deal with Canada in trying to bring the pipeline through that country to supply our country. Newly elected Senator, Jeff Merkley, made a campaign promise that he would support legislature that would force Alaska to sell to the states before shipping to other countries.
Energy Action Northwest, a coalition that advocates for clean, affordable and reliable energy supplies, is weighing in on the side of the LNG corporations. Edward Finklea, a Portland attorney who has an extensive background in energy issues and policy development, is Executive Director of the advocacy group and recently wrote an article in their newsletter titled, Cold Snap: What must we learn? In the article Finklea details the usage of natural gas in December, during the coldest part of the cold snap, over a three day period. During that historic records for natural gas send-outs were set . At the same time, historic records were set for hourly electric system peak loads. Yet, according to Finklea, during much of the cold snap, winds were at or near 0 MPH, so wind generation was not available to meet demand.
Finklea writes, “The Williams system has been constrained for gas coming out of Rockies off and on since November. Some of the region’s gas utilities had to curtail deliveries to interruptible customers to meet firm demand on the coldest days. We’re running at close to capacity for Rockies gas. When capacity was reached, Canadian gas and storage were the only gas supply options we could turn to this winter.” Finklea goes on to conclude that Oregon risks experiencing gas supply shortages during cold snaps if interstate pipeline infrastructure isn’t constructed or liquefied natural gas projects aren’t allowed to come in.
Green was asked what Kroger thought about Alaska shipping its natural gas to Oregon. Green said that Kroger was against Oregon relying on fossil fuel for energy, no matter where it came from. When asked which renewable energy industry Kroger thought was ready to take on the needs of the Oregon’s industries right now and how much of the grid could it take over from natural gas Green said it wasn’t the Attorney General’s place to set energy policies, only to see that energy companies followed Oregon state laws.
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