In light of the recent court finding and the ongoing debate as to whether the County should do business with chromite mining company Oregon Resources it might be worth taking at earlier County alliances, namely NW Natural. Most of these notes and quotes are from The World archives-

Referring to the first customer hookup –

November 6, 2004 – This is a great milestone, said Mark Dodson, CEO and president of NW Natural. “We’ve been working with Coos County and others to bring natural gas to the South Coast for many years. It could not have happened without some remarkable teamwork from local officials, state government and private enterprise.”

The local distribution system, which includes mains and service lines, is owned and maintained by NW Natural. The county’s main gas transmission line isn’t expected to be completed until late December or early January, according to the Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty.

The county-owned 60-mile natural gas pipeline will transport gas from the Williams interstate pipeline near Roseburg to Coos County and will feed gas into the distribution system built by NW Natural. Natural gas service eventually will be provided to the cities of Coos Bay, North Bend, Coquille and Myrtle Point. A lateral to Bandon also is planned.

Regarding the benefits to the local economy.

January 31, 2004 – Ask Ron Opitz about the future economic development potential of the natural gas pipeline and he’ll tell you there’s no need to look ahead.

“The pipeline is having an economic impact right now,” the executive director of the South Coast Development Council said…
…he cited a phone call from a local construction company owner, who asked for a contact person for MasTec, the company hired to construction the pipeline. The owner said his company “was on the brink,” Opitz said, and its more than a dozen employees were in danger of losing their jobs.

“They did directional drilling,” Opitz said, “so I gave him a number to contact MasTec.”

He said the contractor called back later to tell Opitz his company was sub-contracting on the project.

From that to this –

February 24, 2004 – A Coos Bay directional drilling company hired as a subcontractor by Henkels & McCoy, the company installing a natural gas pipeline in Coos Bay for NW Natural, has been cited by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality with water-quality violations.

The DEQ announced Monday that Nu-Venture H.D.D., L.C.C., was cited for violations the DEQ said occurred when the company discharged drilling mud on property located on 26th Street, off Ocean Boulevard. The DEQ charges the discharges allowed mud to enter state waters via a wetland connected to Pony Creek.

MasTec files suit –

MasTec Inc., the Miami-based company hired by Coos County to install a 60-mile-long natural gas pipeline from Roseburg to Coos Bay is suing the county for breach of contract and asking in excess of $9.8 million in damages.

The suit was filed in federal court Wednesday by David Bledsoe of Perkins Coie LLP in Portland and received by the Coos County Board of Commissioners late Thursday. The suit charges the county has refused to approve submitted invoices and has not paid for change orders and has “clearly expressed its intention not to pay MasTec in the future for work already performed or to be performed.”

The lawsuit states that MasTec is due more than $5.8 million in progress payments for work under the contract and is due an additional almost $962,000 for work performed under requested change orders that have been invoiced. Also due is $3,007,685, according to the suit, for work performed under requested change orders and not yet invoiced.

Finally, a judge finds that MasTec must pay $1.5M in penalties for violating the Clean Water Act and charged the County with being partially responsible –

lawyer who argued on behalf of The Sierra Club, said Hogan’s ruling showed “these were very serious and ongoing violations by MasTec. Anytime you see a million-dollars plus assessed in a penalty for a Clean Water Act suit, that’s a major penalty.”

County Commissioner Nikki Whitty, who served as one of the government’s key point people on the project, had this to say: “I’m just glad it’s over.”

Over for whom, I wonder? Nikki? The people whose property was affected? The taxpayers who took it in the shorts? Whitty and former commissioner John Griffith clearly earned public skepticism regarding the current actions regarding leasing mineral rights to ORC. ORC is anxious to close a deal and Opitz was gunning for them until he took ill recently but newly elected commissioner Bob Main wants to take a closer look and get some professional help before signing.

This is purely a guess but I suspect ORC needs to reach certain benchmarks, namely mineral leases, before receiving another round of funding and this may be why they are in such a rush to close a deal.

(hat/tip themguys for doing the research)