March 13 is the date for the Coos County Commissioners to decide whether or not to permit The Williams Companies, Inc., owners of a nationwide system of interstate natural gas pipelines, and one of the nation’s largest transporters of natural gas, to bury 2.4 miles of 36-inch diameter high-pressure pipeline in the Haynes Inlet. That would be the first leg of the Pacific Connector pipeline that will run untapped 234 miles from the proposed liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in Coos Bay to the natural gas pipeline hub at Malin, Oregon.

On the 13th, before the Commissioners take their vote, the County’s Hearings Officer, attorney Andrew Stamp will deliver his long-expected decision that the silt-sensitive, filter-feeding, native Olympia oysters in Haynes Inlet will not be harmed by the many tons of silt and debris that will be churned up and carried to and fro by the tides. There will be hardly any harm at all because of the measures The Williams Companies, Inc. will take to protect the oysters. After listening to that high-budget whopper, the Commissioners will vote.That’s going to be interesting.

Commission Chairman Fred Messerle must recuse himself, because the proposed pipeline would cross his property, and because his wife, Sandra Geiser-Messerle, is the Executive Director of the South Coast Development Council that has been an enthusiastic promoter of the LNG terminal and pipeline since the idea was first floated.

Commissioner Cam Parry is a passionate supporter of the pipeline and terminal. For import or export, oysters or no oysters, it doesn’t matter, he’s for it. Here’s where it gets interesting.

If Commissioner Bob Main listens to the chorus of voices of homeowners, farmers, foresters, fishermen, environmentalist, and anti-LNG activists who want to stop the pipeline, and ponders what they are saying, and then decides that the right thing to do is to vote against permitting dredging a trench through Haynes Inlet, the vote would be a one-to-one tie, and there would be no way of breaking it, because the Chairman of the Board, whose job it is to break ties, will have recused himself. Isn’t that interesting?

If you’re a commissioner, there are times when you have to decide between your own conscience, and the desires of an energy company and its friends in the business community. Sometimes it’s difficult to make the right decision because of all the political pressure and public exposure. The usual maneuver in cases like this is to proclaim one’s firm opposition to the project, and then say, “but, I don’t want to stand in the way of progress, or be the one responsible for losing all those jobs,” and then vote for it. That’s the easiest way, and you don’t have to pay for it until the next election.

No matter what happens Commissioner Messerle will find a way to grant the permit, and that will give the green light to Williams and its corporate partners, Fort Chicago Energy Partners and PG&E Corporation. They’ll bury their pipe in the inlet and start bulldozing their way to Malin. The native oysters in Haynes Inlet will be goners, along with the commercial oysters, the fish, the clams, and most of the marine life in the estuaries and in the bay all the way out past the jetties. Pipelines have caused that kind of devastation in other bays, and it doesn’t take a lot of silt to do it. If it happens in Coos Bay all of us are going to regret it for a very long time to come.