Oregon's Elected Leaders Step Up The Fight Against LNG

For Immediate Release
April 8, 2008

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Governor Ted Kulongoski have stepped up to pressure federal regulators who last week dismissed concerns over proposals to build LNG terminals on the North Spit of Coos Bay and on the Columbia River.

Yesterday, Wyden introduced legislation co-sponsored by US Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Liberman and Chris Dodd to repeal portions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which stripped local and state authority to determine whether and where LNG terminals could be sited, and put it in the hands of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

"It’s time to restore the local and state role in these critical decisions about in whose backyard a pipeline or LNG plant will be built. It’s time to reverse the ill-considered decision Congress made in 2005 when it overrode state and local decision-making to put a Federal bureaucracy in charge of LNG siting authority. This bill would do exactly that,” Wyden said.

While Wyden was introducing legislation, Governor Kulongoski turned up the heat on FERC by announcing that the state of Oregon would sue the agency to make sure any LNG facilities slated for Oregon are needed and safe.

Both Democrats acted upon learning that FERC regulators had dismissed their earlier letters and those of Oregon’s congressional delegation asking for a “time out” on the process until it could be determined whether Oregon actually needed the additional natural gas supplies.

Links to the press release announcing the Wyden legislation can be found at http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=295644&; and Kulongoski’s remarks at http://www.kmtr.com:80/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=25f527a2-478a-46e1-8d29-ef39e922089b&rss=191

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