Court throws out Bradwood LNG license

Court throws out Bradwood LNG license
The Daily Astorian

Opponents and environmental groups celebrated Wednesday after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the license for the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal proposed 20 miles upriver from Astoria.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued the license to construct an LNG terminal and pipeline on Sep. 18, 2008.

The court's ruling Wednesday vacates that license.

"Bradwood LNG was a dominant environmental issue for five years and now it is officially over," said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper. "For all the families who were threatened by LNG, their work to protect their livelihoods paid off."

Frans Eykel, a fisherman and member of Wahkiakum Friends of the River who lives near the Bradwood site, added, "The impact to our salmon, forests, and farms was unthinkable. I'm thrilled that Bradwood lost its LNG license and I can get back to catching fish."

The Bradwood project was slated to connect to the proposed Palomar Pipeline. After Bradwood's bankruptcy, Palomar and NW Natural effectively owned the Bradwood LNG permit.

In the wake of FERC's decision, the future of the Palomar pipeline is unclear.

Cheryl Johnson, a local resident and retired school librarian, welcomed the decision. "Our community was threatened by LNG. We knew we could do better than dirty LNG so we stood up to the Texas corporation and won."

• The opinion is available at www.columbiariverkeeper.org.