Dan & Patty Armstrong

Dan and Patty Armstrong are the owners of Thistle Ridge Ranch in Yamhill County, in the heart of the Willamette Valley, and directly in the path of the Palomar Pipeline. As fourth generation Yamhill County residents and dedicated members of the anti-LNG movement, these local food producers have a deep appreciation of the bounty of the land and their responsibility for caring for their environment and community.  The Armstrongs are long-time members of the group Oregon Citizens Against the Pipelines, a group of rural Oregonians who gather their communities monthly in solidarity to stop LNG and related pipeline development in our region. At our last meeting we asked Dan for his thoughts on LNG pipelines, the impact to his land and his commitment to stop this development from destroying local economies and critical habitat. Here’s what he had to say:

In 2007 I learned from a letter sent by Palomar Pipeline that they intended to condemn my land and run a pipeline through my two best pastures. It felt like a kick in the gut. Not long afterward a letter from Oregon LNG informed me that they intended to run a pipeline almost the length of my western property line, completely destroying a twelve year old native woodlot/wildlife planting and taking out a beautiful, highly productive, big old walnut tree. Instantaneously, I knew either of these pipelines would be a genuine tragedy for this small piece of our planet.

Bison grazing on Thistle Ridge Ranch

Since arriving at this place after a career as a Navy Flyer, my goals were to finish raising my family, grow most of my own food and restore this acreage to as healthy a state as I could. The kids are gone, but a pipeline, (or two), would make those other life-long pursuits difficult and impossible. I was determined to fight them every inch of the way. Initially there was a lot of angst, uncertainty and despair. These were the days of the last Administration and I knew the federal government had no concern what so ever for my interests. I also knew the enormous power of the energy industry.

In my career, I had made six aircraft carrier deployments to the Persian Gulf and had seen super tankers lined up the entire length of that body of water like school children. I had flown missions in the First Gulf War to preserve America’s access to that energy. I witnessed first hand how our nation’s pursuit of foreign oil and gas was corrupting our leadership in the world, bankrupting our economy and severely damaging our military. Now bringing that foreign energy right through my little paradise was more than I could stand. I was sick and I was angry.

Letters to newspapers and every level of government were of little use. It was not until the creation of Oregon Citizens Against the Pipelines, (OCAP), with the aid of Columbia Riverkeeper, that we begin to gain traction. OCAP has been effective. Our united efforts, (and some good fortune with other circumstances; notably a change in Administration and decline in energy demand) have given us the time to broaden the awareness of the disastrous effects, locally and nationally, now and for decades to come of our dependence on foreign fossil fuel. Individual citizens are seeing that they can influence the course of our national energy policy. For us locally, the greatest impact we can make is to prevent the construction of these pipelines, which bring with them decades of continued pollution and dependence.

Family of goats on Armstrongs' land

I will continue to tend the bees; vegetable garden; orchard; chickens; goats and buffalo and the land; and be very grateful for it all. And I will fight these pipelines at every opportunity, knowing their creation brings with it significant, long term degradation of our planet.