Earlier this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, FERC staff came to visit environmentally sensitive areas along the proposed Oregon LNG pipeline route. Landowners, community members and students joined the tour addressing their concerns with the impacts of pipeline plan as well as concerns regarding the FERC permitting process.
Because the Oregon LNG pipeline route is parallel to the Palomar pipeline route, many of the sites we visited were threatened by not one, but two pipelines. In one location in Gales Creek in Washington Co. the FERC staff were exploring the various impacts of the pipeline routes to see which route would be a better alternative route.
Unfortunately, both would devastate local landowners and community safety. For example, near Gales Creek the Palomar route runs across the ridge top of a mountain range, dangerously crossing steep-sloped landslide hazard areas. While the alternative Oregon LNG route crosses private property owners land in areas that frequently flood, which also happen to be on a earthquake fault line. Neither of these routes should be considered as a safe or environmentally appropriate area for a high pressured non-odorized pipeline with explosive potential.
Read more about the FERC tour from one recent Pacific University student’s perspective here: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2009/12/04/youth-confront-ferc-over-carbon-heavy-lng/#more-14934
