On Monday, on behalf of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and Surfrider Foundation, Crag staff attorney Meriel Darzen filed an appeal of the most recent approval of the Jordan Cove LNG terminal in Coos Bay. The proposed Jordan LNG pipeline and export facility threatens over 400 waterways, eliminates critical estuarine habitat and permanently alters recreational opportunities essential to the local population and tourism industry. The energy export facility, proposed for the north side of the Port of Coos Bay, has been heavily opposed by local citizens, environmental groups, fishermen and many landowners whose property would be subject to the Pacific Connector Pipeline that would deliver gas to the facility.
The appeal will go to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. We previously prevailed on this issue in 2017, and the Land Use Board sent the permit back to the County, which has now approved it again. Unfortunately, the County again chose to ignore the concerns of the community and experts, and wrongly determined that impacts from the project, including the loss of benthic and estuarine plant and animal communities resulting from the dredging and loss of access for recreation and fishing, would not constitute a substantial interference with the public trust, despite extensive testimony and evidence to the contrary. Crag and Oregon Shores have already appealed a separate permit relating to the LNG terminal that would allow disposal of dredged material from Coos Bay.
The proposed LNG facility would receive approximately 1.04 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas via pipeline, liquefy the gas to produce approximately 6.8 million metric tons of LNG and load the LNG on tanker ships for export to international or domestic markets in the non-contiguous U.S. The facility consists of multiple components including: (1) the LNG export terminal, (2) a marine slip and access channel, (3) a barge berth, and (4) a gas processing center, with other related infrastructure and development also proposed for development in and around the vicinity of Coos Bay. The project’s operation would entail approximately 110 annual LNG tankers traversing the Bay to and from the terminal, interfering with popular commercial and recreational activities in the bay including fishing, kayaking, crabbing, and activities including surfing by the south jetty by the bay inlet. LNG tankers are some of the largest oceanic vessels, often as large as three football fields in length.