As recently as last March, Bob Braddock, the project manager for the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal was claiming that the report that his company was considering changing the terminal into a export facility was not just false, it was a stupid idea. The reason it was so stupid and made no sense, according to Braddock, was that “It’s not like there’s gas right next to our terminal.”
No gas to export. My, how things do change.
Five months later, the first phase of the Jordan Cove LNG export operation is completed and already in operation. That’s El Paso Corp.’s $3.5 billion, 680-mile, 42-inch diameter Ruby pipeline that runs from Opal, Wyoming to Malin, Oregon. Ruby started shipments in late July, and was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony September 1st. Ruby is huge; it can transport 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). The cover story for Ruby is that it will deliver natural gas from the Rockies shale-gas deposits to California. But that’s nonsense since California is already supplied with all the natural gas it can use by the TransCanada GTN (Gas Transmission Northwest) pipeline. That pipeline begins at the British Columbia-Idaho border and terminates (where else?) in Malin.
Anyone who believed the story we were fed about Ruby, must have thought that the investors who put up the $3.5 billion for it were too wrong to just be stupid, they had to be crazy. Hah! Crazy like a skulk of old foxes. You do the math: natural gas can be purchased in Opal for about $4 per Bcf, and Japan is paying five times that amount. The trick is to get the Wyoming gas to Japan. No problem there. That’s a piece of cake!
What’s missing is a pipeline from Malin to a deep water sea port, and a terminal that has three or four LNG trains. An LNG train is a processing plant that produces LNG by super-cooling natural gas into liquid state. You can see what an LNG train looks like on pages 3 and 6 here:
The missing pieces are the Pacific Connector pipeline and an LNG shipping terminal on the North Spit of Coos Bay. The cover story for those two projects is that their purpose is to import natural gas for the benefit of the Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. http://www.pacificconnectorgp.com/benefits.php
That claim is a crafty stratagem to acquire this state’s power of eminent domain to seize privately owned land for the pipeline right of way. The law requires that the right of eminent domain must be used in such a manner as to benefit the public welfare or public interest. But, if the pipeline is for exporting natural gas, only the investors benefit and the necessary condition is not met, which means that the land for the pipeline cannot be legally seized against the will of the land owners. Oh, what to do?
The solution is to lie and say that the terminal and pipeline are dual-purpose, import and export. That will do the trick and the right of eminent domain will be granted. Once the pipeline is completed getting an export license will be a gimme. Then the gas will flow from Opal through Malin to Jordan Cove, and then, one after another, the LNG carriers (enormous, highly specialized tankers) will dump their radioactive ballast from the harbors of Japan into Coos Bay, and fill up with LNG for the trip across the Pacific.
On Wednesday, September 21, at 4:00 pm, at the Owen Building, 201 North Adams in Coquille, the Coos County hearings officer, will hold a public hearing on remand from the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) regarding the conditional use permit application for the Coos County portion of the Pacific Connector pipeline. The hearing is limited to testimony on the potential impacts on Olympia oysters in Haynes Inlet. Evidence and argument that is not related to Olympia oysters will not be considered. (Notice of Land Use Hearing, Coos County Planning Department)
So, all that stands between Williams Partners L.P., Fort Chicago Energy Partners and PG&E (the owners of the terminal and pipeline) and hundreds of billions of dollars… is an oyster. Anybody want to bet on the oyster? A lot of Oregon landowners have to. It’s their only hope.
Excellent discussion by Bob Fischer.
While our little oyster friend is currently leading the charge against the Jordan Cove LNG project, he has an excellent and powerful friend waiting in the wings, namely, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Documentation provided to FERC by Jody, the Western Environmental Law Center, the State of Oregon, and other organizations clearly indicates the Jordan Cove import terminal is dead in the water because of failure to comply with NEPA.
Add to this the sudden emergence of a dual import/export terminal, i. e. the sudden miraculous transformation of Braddock”s “stupid idea” to a great idea, without any a priori NEPA consideration what so ever, and there is no way in hell that the 9th Circuit could sustain the issuance of a permit by FERC without a complete re-do of the entire NEPA process.
So come on FERC, stop stalling and issue an effective permit – the 9th Circuit awaits.
There is no doubt about the outcome of the rubber stamp for JCP. This has been another time delay, orchestrated because they had no import contracts at the time they got their FERC permit, stall until your ready. They’re just about ready, now.
are you (Joe public) convinced yet that LNG is the future and fracking is safe? Have you digested enough commercials from their experts? Have they destroyed all the copies of Gasland? Who else do they have to pay off?