A gleeful email from Brett VandenHeuvel of Columbia Riverkeeper says it all.

Hi all,
Today, the court vacated the Bradwood FERC license, meaning there is no longer a license to build LNG terminal and no longer the right of eminent domain for the Bradwood pipeline.

Officially, the court said that Bradwood faces grave uncertainty of ever being built due to the bankruptcy, so the court declared our challenge “moot” (no longer a live controversy). At the same time, the court vacated (threw out, revoked) Bradwood’s license. So, this is exactly what we asked for – no more license. The opinion is short. We would have loved for the court to rule on the merits and tell FERC they violated the Clean Water Act, NEPA, etc, but court didn’t feel it needed to address these issues. In the end, we got what we wanted: FERC’s license is now invalid.

Thanks so much for all your work on this over the years. I’m constantly inspired by the passion, intelligence, and thoughtfulness of this group, from SW Washington, Astoria, Portland, the Willamette Valley, southern Oregon and everywhere in between.

As of today, there is no eminent domain for any LNG pipeline in northern Oregon or Washington – Oregon LNG and Palomar do not have their FERC licenses. Unfortunately, the Jordan Cove project in southern Oregon has eminent domain authority today. We still have a lot of work to do, but it is nice that Bradwood is finally put to bed. Onward.

Press release and court’s opinion at www.columbiariverkeeper.org

Don’t forget to call your reps about the LNG Fast Track bill, HB 2700!! (sorry, couldn’t resist)

Best,
Brett

Brett VandenHeuvel

Executive Director, Columbia Riverkeeper