***For campaign press release click here***
Yesterday, the Palomar Pipeline project submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission essentially pulling their application and indicating that the pipeline in its entirety is on indefinite delay. This is a great victory for the Hey NW Natural campaign and all coalition partners calling for a complete cancelation of the Palomar Pipeline project.
The letter said,
“This is to advise FERC that our project plan to transport gas from Bradwood Landing now makes no sense because NorthernStar is bankrupt. Therefore, our pipeline, if built, will be empty. Not a good plan. Palomar continues to seek additional commercial underpinning for the project, which means that we are talking to Oregon LNG about being their pipeline, but we’re not so sure that project is going to fly. We already lost $17,200,000 on Bradwood so we’re a little gun shy.
As much as we hate to say it, FERC might as well stop reviewing our project. We may amend our application if we can find someone to put gas in our pipeline. In the meantime, we will continue to go through the motions so we can pretend our project isn’t dead.”
OK, so maybe those weren’t the exact words. But, the meaning of the letter is essentially the same. (Read their exact language at the bottom of this post).
Now that Bradwood LNG is off the table after filing for bankruptcy, there is no source of gas for the Palomar Piplein the project is desperate for additional financial backing. The project backers, NW Natural and TransCanada, plan to amend its application to make significant changes to the pipeline project, and are suspending the premitting and surveying process. This comes hand in hand with the US Forest Service ceasing its processing of Palomar’s application through Mt. Hood National Forest.
This is a huge victory for us, and a huge blow to Palomar. We’ll continue to fight until the Palomar Pipeline is officially canceled and there are no remaining applications for LNG projects or pipelines.
The reason behind this victory is trifold: market conditions to import LNG don’t make sense, the Palomar Pipeline is a bad project with extreme negative environmental costs, and hundreds of Oregonians and Southern Washingtonians actively opposed this pipeline and worked to stay involved in the process! You’ve sent letters to your representatives, contacted NW Natural, talked to your neighbors and brought an awesome energy to the Rally at the NW Natural Shareholder Meeting. Lets keep it up!
Thank you for everything you have done. You are part of a diverse coalition with strong grassroots organizations like Bark and Columbia Riverkeeper as our backbone. Be sure to check out Bark and Columbia Riverkeeper and make a donation to assure we can keep these victories coming!
To read more about this victory, see this article in Blue Oregon by the dedicated Hey NW Natural campaign volunteer, Nick Engelfried, read this article at the Daily Astorian, or watch this news segment on KGW.
Thanks for all you’ve done!
Congrats on the this extraordinary victory. For the past two years, I have been trying to educate municipalities, landowners and local communities that they do have a voice in this process, or at least can make a difference. I am troubled because many of the federal agencies and the applicants don’t make it easy for the public to figure out how the process works. Here’s a booklet that explains the FERC process and explains the rights that communities and landowners retain – http://lawofficesofcarolynelefant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/FINALTAGguide.pdf.
I know from my own experience working with landowner groups how much work was involved in this victory. Congratulations to you.