Coalition Announces Appeal of Coos County Pipeline Approval
Coos County, OR – Citizens Against LNG and Friends of Living Oregon Waters (FLOW) along with Coos County residents Jody McCaffree, and Harry and Holly Stamper, filed a notice of appeal today with the Land Use Board of Appeals in response to the Coos County Commission’s September 8th conditional land use permit approval for the proposed Pacific Connector pipeline.
“The county decision unfortunately disregarded a number of its own rules meant to protect private property rights and the unique natural assets of our area. We’re filing an appeal in order to rectify that,” said Jody McCaffree, Coos County resident and chair of Citizens Against LNG.
The September 8th final decision by Coos County Commissioners did not address many relevant issues raised by residents of Coos County and interested organizations in testimony and at the hearing held on the Pacific Connector gas pipeline application. Over one hundred people participated in the public hearing, raising issues related to property rights, safety concerns, fire hazards, and environmental impacts. Petition organizations along with county residents plan to show in this appeal process that the Pacific Connector gas pipeline application is not in compliance with Coos County zoning and land development ordinances.
“It’s unthinkable that our County Commissioners would usurp residents’ property rights in favor of a foreign energy concern and large corporate interests while at the same time endangering citizens of Coos County. We’ll fight them to the end,” said Holly Stamper.
“Coos County ignored the serious impacts to sensitive waterbodies, many which contain threatened salmon and steelhead. This is totally unacceptable,” said Monica Vaughan FLOW organizer.
The proposed Pacific Connector gas pipeline is a project of PG&E Strategic Capital (a subsidy of PG&E Corporation of California), Williams out of Oklahoma, and Fort Chicago of Canada.
The Pacific Connector would impact a 49.72-mile segment of Coos County. The proposed 234 mile, 36 inch pipeline would operate at 1,440 pounds per square inch pressure. The hazard area for a pipeline of that size and pressure is between 900 and 1,000 feet out from the center of the pipe. That is 1,800 to 2,000 feet across (approximately 1/3 of a mile). Most of the Pacific Connector would be located in rural, steep, geological hazard prone areas with few if any roads and all volunteer-run fire departments with limited resources. The pipeline would cross 59 perennial and 28 intermittent waterbodies, 14 ditches, one stock pond and the Coos Estuary in Coos County alone.
