Panel to Discuss Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline

pipelineSeveral organizations throughout the Willamette Valley are holding a public forum Wednesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at the Benton County Library to discuss proposed natural gas pipelines and export terminals in Coos Bay and Warrenton.

Panelist speakers include Dan Serres with Columbia Riverkeeper, OSU Professor Emeritus of Oceanography Charlie B. Miller, and Ted Gleichman of the Sierra Club. The speakers will discuss the Pacific Connector Pipeline and Jordan Cove terminal in Coos Bay, which would export up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from Coos Bay to Asia.

The terminal would require construction of a new 420 megawatt power plant used to liquefy the gas for transport in tankers, as well as an extensive network of gas storage tanks and a large shipping terminal, all located within the tsunami zone on the north spit of Coos Bay.

The Pacific Connector Pipeline, which would supply the Jordan Cove export terminal, would transport 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas fracked in the U.S. and Canada from Klamath Falls to Coos Bay. The proposed pipeline would cross 230 miles of public and private lands in Oregon, create a 95-foot-wide permanent clear-cut zone, and cross 400 streams and rivers including the Klamath, Rogue, Umpqua, Coquille, and Coos.

“The intention of this forum is to first and foremost help educate people about liquid natural gas (LNG), including what it is, where it comes from, and the impacts and dangers of such long pipelines and export terminals on Oregon and ultimately on the climate,” said Jean Townes, a member of the Corvallis chapter of 350.org. “Many people don’t know the details and assume natural gas is fairly benign, but significant amounts of greenhouse gas are lost during fracking and transport. And to compress the volume of natural gas for export overseas requires constructing an entire power plant and other infrastructure in a tsunami zone.”

Sponsors of the event include: the United Methodist Church of Christ, Climate Justice Committee, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, Integrity of Creation, First Congregational United Church of Christ, the Sierra Club,350.org Corvallis, Allied Students for Another Politics, and the Natural Step Ministry Team. The Corvallis-Benton Country Library is located at 645 NW Monroe Avenue.

More information about the forum is available online at www.facebook.com/groups/350Corvallis/events, or by calling 541-745-5210.

By Kirsten Allen

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