Direct Action on the proposed route of the Palomar Pipeline

For Immediate Release
July 12th, 2010

Activists Drop Banner to Remind Oregon LNG of Local Successful Resistance

Ripplebrook, OR- Forest defenders from all over the US convened this week to artistically confront the local liquefied natural gas (LNG) proposal in Oregon, with Oregon LNG being the newest target.

In recent news, Northern Star, the corporation that was previously funding an LNG terminal near Astoria called Bradwood Landing, declared bankruptcy.
And just last week, Palomar pulled its application from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Palomar Gas Transmission, a company that proposed an $800 million natural gas pipeline across the Oregon Cascades told the FERC that their project is in indefinite delay, and needs to secure "additional commercial underpinning" before it can progress. Palomar claimed it "was reviewing its project plan" in light of the bankruptcy of its biggest prospective customer -- a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Columbia River that suspended its own permitting efforts in May of this year.

Palomar said it was continuing some long-term field surveys on species that could be impacted by the project so FERC can resume its environmental analysis of the project when supplemental material or a revised application is submitted. Over four years ago, Palomar asserted that their schedule intended to begin cutting trees on the pipeline corridor in the summer of 2010. As this project stands, Palomar is not even close to completing their environmental impact statement, let alone beginning construction of this controversial, legally vulnerable proposal.

A number of decorated signs were placed along the road preceding the banner. They highlighted previous victories of the anti-LNG campaign, as well as called out the proposed Oregon LNG terminal. A double decker banner was hung 40 feet high from trees across Highway 46 this morning.
“We are winning, and still fighting!” was the message declared. “With the public outcry against the Bradwood Landing causing Northern Star to file bankruptcy, and now Palomar claiming the proposal is on indefinite delay, forest and climate advocates have seen a definite shift in progress,” says Meredith Cox of the Trans & Womyn’s Action Camp. “But we also realize that this fight is not over, and it’s become even more apparent that we now need to shift our resistance against Oregon LNG.”

The action is claimed by the Trans & Womyn’s Action Camp, which is an annual ecological and social justice camp in Cascadia that strives to confront local environmental devastation.

More information can be found at www.portlandrisingtide.org
Photos: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2010/07/400964.shtml