Clatsop County voters reject proposed pipeline for LNG !!
In the first, and possibly only, public vote on LNG and pipelines, the overwhelming voice says NO
by Ted Sickinger
In what may be the only public vote on liquefied natural gas-related projects proposed in Oregon, Clatsop County residents voted overwhelmingly today to prohibit gas pipelines and cables from running across county land zoned for parks, recreation and open space.
Nearly a mile of a proposed pipeline that would serve the Bradwood Landing LNG terminal on the Columbia River runs across such land.
Last year, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners voted to change a law to allow the pipeline passage, which enabled it to issue a land-use compatibility statement for the Bradwood project.
Today's vote to overturn that change came in a special election referendum sponsored by environmental, land-use and citizen groups. The referendum dealt specifically with pipeline authorization, but organizers said it was effectively a vote on LNG.
The vote was 68 percent to prohibit the pipeline passage, with nearly half the county's 21,000 voters returning a ballot.
'Sixty-eight percent in a conservative largely rural county like Clatsop should send a clear message to politicians around the state that LNG is not appropriate for Oregon,' said Brent Foster, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper.
Bradwood's backer, Houston-based NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc., originally sought to block the referendum. NorthernStar spokesman Joe Desmond said that because the county commissioners had already issued a legal opinion that they had no jurisdiction over siting gas pipelines, today's vote eliminated the company's need for a conditional use permit and simplified the process.
'We'll comply with all other conditions' -- federal, state and local -- in siting the terminal, Desmond said.
-- Ted Sickinger; [email protected]
In what may be the only public vote on liquefied natural gas-related projects proposed in Oregon, Clatsop County residents voted overwhelmingly today to prohibit gas pipelines and cables from running across county land zoned for parks, recreation and open space.
Nearly a mile of a proposed pipeline that would serve the Bradwood Landing LNG terminal on the Columbia River runs across such land.
Last year, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners voted to change a law to allow the pipeline passage, which enabled it to issue a land-use compatibility statement for the Bradwood project.
Today's vote to overturn that change came in a special election referendum sponsored by environmental, land-use and citizen groups. The referendum dealt specifically with pipeline authorization, but organizers said it was effectively a vote on LNG.
The vote was 68 percent to prohibit the pipeline passage, with nearly half the county's 21,000 voters returning a ballot.
'Sixty-eight percent in a conservative largely rural county like Clatsop should send a clear message to politicians around the state that LNG is not appropriate for Oregon,' said Brent Foster, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper.
Bradwood's backer, Houston-based NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc., originally sought to block the referendum. NorthernStar spokesman Joe Desmond said that because the county commissioners had already issued a legal opinion that they had no jurisdiction over siting gas pipelines, today's vote eliminated the company's need for a conditional use permit and simplified the process.
'We'll comply with all other conditions' -- federal, state and local -- in siting the terminal, Desmond said.
-- Ted Sickinger; [email protected]
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