Contacts:
Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Allie Rosenbluth, Rogue Climate
Nathan Matthews, Sierra Club

After Years of Community Organizing, Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal and Fracked Gas Pipeline Project is Dead

Pembina Announces It Has “Decided Not to Move Forward With the Project” and Asks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to Cancel Its Permit

WASHINGTON, DC — Pembina, the Canadian company that tried to impose a fracked gas pipeline and export terminal on communities across Southern Oregon, today filed a formal request asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to cancel its permit for the project.
 
The company’s pipeline and export terminal subsidiaries “have decided not to move forward with the Project,” the request says.
 
They “remain concerned regarding their ability to obtain the necessary state permits in the immediate future in addition to other external obstacles,” the filing adds.
 
Pembina’s cancellation of this project follows years of opposition from a broad coalition of Oregonians concerned about risks to health and safety, climate change, environmental impacts, landowner rights, impacts on indigenous communities, and the need to shift to clean energy jobs instead of expanding fossil fuel use.
 
More than 50,000 Oregonians filed comments with state agencies when Pembina was unsuccessfully trying to show that it qualified for state permits. Tens of thousands attended public hearings over the past several years to express their opposition.
 
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality denied Pembina’s application for a Clean Water Act Section 401 permit in 2019 and Pembina withdrew their application for a removal-fill permit from the Oregon Department of State Lands in 2020. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce sustained Oregon’s objection to Jordan Cove LNG under the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission determined that Oregon had not waived its authority to deny the Clean Water Act Section 401 certification.
 
“This is amazing news. We knew the project wasn’t viable because of all the risks that it brought to our communities,” said Chairman Don Gentry of the Klamath Tribes. “I am thankful for the cooperative effort to bring about this victory. This is a significant relief for our members who have been so concerned about the impacts for our members and the region as a whole”    
 
“This is a great day for landowners along the pipeline route, and a great day for Oregon,” said Deb Evans, an impacted landowner.  “This has been a long time coming, and we are so relieved that the threat of eminent domain is no longer hanging over us.”  
 
“The defeat of this project shows what communities can accomplish when we insist that public officials put the public interest ahead of the special interests of big corporations,” said Hannah Sohl of Rogue Climate, an organizing group of residents of the South Coast and other Southern Oregonian counties. “Now, we need those same public officials to act with urgency to speed our transition to clean energy jobs and greater energy efficiency.”
 
“The Jordan Cove Energy Project has occupied our South Coast community and the State of Oregon for over 15 years,” says Mike Graybill, former director of the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. “Today’s long overdue decision provides an opportunity to move on to a discussion of a more sustainable future.” “Jordan Cove LNG finally recognizing that this ill-advised project will never be built represents a hard-fought victory for Oregon communities who have worked for more than a decade to protect their land and water from dangerous fracked gas infrastructure,” said Nathan Mathews, senior attorney at the Sierra Club. “The fossil fuel industry would have us believe that their plans for a massive expansion of gas exports are a done deal, but this is proof that that’s far from the case. We will continue to work alongside communities from coast to coast as they fight back against the industry’s destructive expansion plans.”
 
“For too long, Oregonians have been living under the cloud of a potential dirty fossil fuel project destroying our shores, waterways, wildlife, and livelihoods,” said Susan Jane Brown, Wildlands Program Director for the Western Environmental Law Center, and an attorney representing conservation interests challenging the Jordan Cove Energy Project.  “At long last, Pembina finally recognizes that Oregon is no place for fracked gas infrastructure.  Our coalition has proven that endless pressure endlessly applied will win the day.”
 
“This victory shows that we can accomplish great things when we collaborate together to fight against the destruction of our rivers and natural environment by the fossil fuel industry,” said Emily Bowes, Conservation Director at Rogue River Keeper.

“Pembina has finally admitted what we knew all along – Oregon communities would never stand aside to see this project built,” says Courtney Johnson, executive director of Crag Law Center. “We could not be more proud to have fought beside community members for more than 15 years to overturn local permits and convince state regulators of the flaws in this project.”

“Today we are celebrating the protection of public health in southern Oregon from this deadly and dangerous gas pipeline and LNG export terminal,” said David De La Torre, Healthy Climate Program Director with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “When communities come together to safeguard clean air, drinking water, and a healthy climate, we grow ever closer to a world with justice for all.”
 
“At long last, the fifteen-year shadow over the proposed pipeline route and Coos Bay is lifted,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “Today we celebrate with the communities, Tribes, landowners, organizations, and individuals who diligently fought against long odds to keep their rivers, forests, ocean, airsheds, communities and our climate safe from this reckless proposed fracked gas pipeline and terminal: and won.”
 
“We applaud the tireless efforts of our fellow advocates, tribes, and landowners that led to the project owner’s decision to abandon this dangerous export terminal and pipeline project,” said Daniel E. Estrin, General Counsel and Advocacy Director for Waterkeeper Alliance. “While these ‘David vs. Goliath’ battles to protect our environment and climate from the fossil fuel industry often start with what feel like very long odds, we see time and again that when communities stand up and arm themselves with the law and science to fight for what’s right, we often beat those long odds. We especially appreciate the seriousness with which the State of Oregon took its responsibility throughout these proceedings to protect its residents, waterways, and our shared climate from disaster.”
 
From Lesley Adams, RRK Founder and Current Board Member, “Rogue Riverkeeper was founded in the early days of the Jordan Cove LNG proposal because we knew our rivers and fish and forests were more valuable than fossil fuels.”
 
“The nation needs to recognize Oregon for standing together and fighting this environmental monstrosity. Protect our Mother Earth as she gives us life and I pray to the creator for blessings for the Rogue Climate Organization as they are modern day warriors. Thank you.” Perry Chocktoot, director of the The Klamath Tribes Culture and Heritage Department. 

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The post Press Release: Jordon Cove LNG Pipeline Project DEAD first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

What a wonderful week for Cascadia!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday, the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and 230-mile Pacific Connector pipeline was dealt what we hope is a fatal blow by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which – in a surprise but welcomed move – denied the fossil fuel company’s request to strip Oregon of its Clean Water Act authority. Oregon previously denied Jordan Cove this essential permit – a decision that now stands. Cascadia’s staff, allies, and supporters like you have fought Jordan Cove for 15 years: it’s long past time the threat of this dangerous proposal is lifted from our rural communities, affected Tribes, remaining old-growth, imperiled species, waterways, and our climate.

Later in the day, Washington’s Department of Ecology denied a key permit for the proposed Kalama methanol refinery in Kalama, Washington, effectively killing the project. The proposed refinery would have tied this Washington community to a dirty fossil fuel project for a generation and undermined progress to address climate change.

These two victories — rooted in sustained grassroots activism — demonstrate the power of advocacy, of working across difference: landowners, students, conservationists, Tribes, all coming together in common cause to realize a better, cleaner future.

WEDNESDAY

Then came Wednesday when we woke to a list from the incoming Biden-Harris administration of over 100 anti-environment regulations it intends to review, including the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves, the stripping of 3.4-million acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule, dangerous regulations limiting or eliminating public engagement on projects that imperil our environment, like reckless timber sale planning. Some of these efforts will take time, but they are a very positive signal that the administration intends to prioritize undoing much of the harm done over the past four years.

A few hours later, once formally in office, the administration withdrew the Keystone XL pipeline permit, rejoined the Paris Climate Accord (effective in 30 days), ended the construction of the border wall, placed a moratorium on leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ordered a review of the shrinkage of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument. The new White House Press Secretary explained these were just the initial actions and noted the need to study the “social cost of greenhouse gas emissions,” clearly acknowledging the existential threats posed by climate change.

THURSDAY

And yesterday, we learned that in response to our administrative protest, the Bureau of Land Management withdrew the 62-acre Beaver Creek timber sale in the Umpqua Field Office of the Coos Bay District along with the entire Environmental Assessment. The proposed logging was in potential nesting habitat for the imperiled marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl in forest areas with trees up to 129 years old. The project had potential negative cumulative impacts with the proposed Pacific Connector pipeline and additional timber sales, as well as increasing fire risk to a rural community, and impacting residential water sources. The agency will now engage in new environmental analysis.

As National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman said at the presidential inauguration, “there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Thank you for being the light these past four years, these past two-plus decades. We are looking forward to holding this administration accountable to its promises, to pushing it to do more to conserve and recover the wilds of Cascadia and beyond, and to celebrating more victories with you all.

It has been an inspiring first week, and together, we will accomplish so much for Cascadia.

The post BLOG: A Week to Remember first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Dylan Plummer, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 531-1858, dylan@cascwild.org

Potentially fatal blow for fracked gas export terminal and pipeline proposed in Oregon

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) upheld the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s denial of a key permit for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. The Jordan Cove LNG project cannot move forward without a Clean Water Act approval from the state of Oregon.

This is the latest in a series of regulatory losses for Jordan Cove LNG, representing a huge blow to the 15-year-old proposal that has been vehemently opposed by Tribes, impacted landowers, fishermen, climate advocates, and others. The project has also not qualified for other critical state, federal, and local permits needed to move forward.

In its summary of today’s meeting, FERC wrote: “The order finds that Jordan Cove and Pacific Connector never requested certification with respect to the Commission authorizations for the Jordan Cove Energy Project and that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality could not have waived its authority to issue certification for a request it never received.”

“The FERC decision is very encouraging. It is certainly our hope that Pembina will give up on this devastating project once and for all,” said Chairman Don Gentry of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin Tribes.

“The evidence in the record was clear, FERC had no choice other than to deny Pembina’s request to waive Oregon’s 401 water quality authority,” said impacted Douglas County landower Stacey McLaughlin. “Any approach to seeking approval of its Pacific Connector Pipeline and Jordan Cove Energy Project without proper permits compromises the safety of Oregon’s landowners. Pembina is proving it cannot be trusted—this is not a characteristic seen in a ‘good neighbor.’”

“The headwinds for the Jordan Cove project continue to blow strongly. FERC’s decision to uphold Oregon’s authority to deny a water quality certification for the project demonstrates that measures are in place to protect the Coos Bay estuary and rivers of southern Oregon,” said marine biologist and Coos County resident Dr. Jan Hodder.

“Today’s unanimous FERC decision shows that when our communities come together and speak out, we win! Thousands of southern Oregonians have raised their voices to stop this project for years and will continue to until the threat of Jordan Cove LNG is gone for good,” said Hannah Sohl, executive director of Rogue Climate. “Now we must focus on creating good, local jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency in Oregon.”

“Today’s decision is a huge win for clean water and healthy communities who’ve been fighting this harmful project for nearly 15 years,” said Robyn Janssen, director of Rogue Riverkeeper. “FERC’s decision to uphold Oregon’s 401 denial gives me hope that this is the end for Jordan Cove LNG.”

“Today’s decision confirms Oregon’s right to protect its communities and waters from big polluters like the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline,” said Andrew Hawley, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “We have battled this harmful behemoth for decades and defeated it at every turn. With everything we know today about climate change this project must never again rise from the ashes.”

“Jordan Cove LNG would have threatened the drinking water of nearly 160,000 Oregonians. Today’s FERC decision is a win for public health,” said Damon Motz-Storey, Healthy Climate Program director at Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Oregon’s right to deny Clean Water Act permits on the basis of unacceptable harm to our water resources is vitally important. This is a day to celebrate.”

“For 15 years this climate-polluting proposal threatened landowners, waterways, forests and imperiled species across southern Oregon,” said Dylan Plummer, grassroots organizer with Cascadia Wildlands. “Today, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and tomorrow we will redouble our efforts to end this project for good.”

“The latest rejection of the Jordan Cove project is yet another victory for our clean water and our communities. We’ve said time and again that this project will never be built, and today’s announcement is just further proof of that,” said Sierra Club senior attorney Nathan Matthews.

“Jordan Cove LNG was poised to become the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our state of Oregon should it have been approved, responsible for 15 times more emissions than the now-closed Boardman coal plant’s annual emissions. This project was a disaster in waiting for the climate and communities in its path, and today’s news from FERC is a welcome relief after years of fighting this dirty project,” said David Turnbull, strategic communications director at Oil Change International. “Let’s hope this is the start of a new era at FERC, where communities and our climate are protected rather than ignored in the face of industry demands.”

The post Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Upholds Oregon’s Denial of Key Jordan Cove LNG Permit first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact
Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org, 914-261-4626
Susan Jane Brown, Western Environmental Law Center, brown@westernlaw.org, 503-914-1323
Allie Rosenbluth, Rogue Climate, allie@rogueclimate.org, 541-816-2240
Dylan Plummer, Cascadia Wildlands, dylan@cascwild.org, 541-434-1463

Southern Oregon Advocates Challenge Federal Approval of Jordan Cove LNG

[Washington, DC] — Today, southern Oregon organizations filed a lawsuit challenging Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. FERC issued its approval in March, conditioned on the project qualifying for critical permits from the state of Oregon. Three of those permits have already been denied or withdrawn.

A group of Oregon landowners impacted by eminent domain filed their own challenge to the project late last week. Many others, including the state of Oregon, multiple Tribal governments, and fishers and crabbers, had also all requested FERC revisit its ruling on the widely opposed project, and have 60 days from FERC’s May 22 denial of rehearing to file their own lawsuits.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Rogue Riverkeeper, Rogue Climate, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens for Renewables, Friends of Living Oregon Waters, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oregon Wild, Oregon Women’s Land Trust, and Waterkeeper Alliance, represented by the Sierra Club and Western Environmental Law Center, challenges FERC’s approval of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Natural Gas Act. The groups will argue FERC failed to consider critical information about the proposed facility and that it is not in the public interest.

“Today, we’re standing up for the health of the Rogue River and the health of our communities in southern Oregon,” said Stacey Detwiler of Rogue Riverkeeper. “With two permit denials from the state of Oregon, Jordan Cove LNG should never have made it this far. Together, our communities will make sure that this harmful project is stopped once and for all.”

“FERC should not have burdened Oregon’s environment, communities, and landowners by approving a pipeline that nobody needs and that Oregonians don’t want,” Nathan Matthews, Senior Attorney with the Sierra Club. “Jordan Cove has failed to obtain key permits from the state of Oregon because it is clearly not in the public interest. Had FERC done the full analysis the law requires, they would have come to the same conclusion.”

“Even though Jordan Cove failed to secure even one necessary state permit, that could change, and the project still requires federal approval,” said Susan Jane Brown, attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “Federal approval is the keystone to the Jordan Cove Project, and because of the project’s glaring climate, clean water, and other ecological impacts, we want to knock out that flawed federal approval.”

“Jordan Cove LNG would harm recreation, our local fishing industry and the health of the bay, in addition to threatening the safety of thousands in Coos County,” said Jody McAffree of Coos County organization Citizens for Renewables. “Over 15 years Jordan Cove LNG has not moved forward because people who live and work in the impacted communities have challenged the ill-conceived project at every turn. Now we’re taking our fight to the federal level and won’t stop until the project is gone for good.”

“The Jordan Cove LNG project would devastate the local environment and weaken efforts to combat the ongoing climate crisis,” said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Trump administration can’t keep ignoring the harm fossil fuel development does to our climate and endangered species. This project should never have been proposed, and we’ll continue to fight it.”

“This project was previously considered and rejected by FERC because there was not sufficient need for gas to justify the adverse environmental and landowner impacts,” said Daniel E. Estrin, Waterkeeper Alliance general counsel and advocacy director. “Since that rare rejection almost four years ago, global demand for LNG exports has dramatically decreased, yet FERC attempts to bring this frightening zombie back to life. This reversal is the epitome of unlawful, arbitrary and capricious agency action, and would be a disaster for Oregon’s waterways and our climate. It will not stand.”

“Over 40,000 people sent comments and hundreds turned out to hearings across the four impacted counties to ask FERC to deny Jordan Cove LNG, which would risk our climate, clean drinking water, public safety, and more,” said Allie Rosenbluth of Rogue Climate. “FERC has failed to listen to the people of southern Oregon who stand united against Jordan Cove LNG. Now, our communities’ concerns about this project will get their time in front of a judge.”

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More information about the Jordan Cove Project

The post Press Release: Landowners and Organizations Challenge Federal Green Light for Pipeline first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

By Sam Krop, Cascadia Wildlands Grassroots Organizer

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we spent the weekend field checking a threatened area of old growth forest along the proposed Jordan Cove pipeline route out in the Oregon coast range between the towns of Remote and Sitkum, by Coquille.

As we drove along the coast range, we couldn’t help react at how nuked with clearcuts/tree plantations the area is. Both on private and BLM land, drainage after drainage of hillsides expose bare, eroding soil, murky streams and endless logging trucks hauling massive Douglas fir rounds to the mill. Most of the forest stands that we drove through were uniform — unhealthy and fire prone tree plantations that were protected as late successional reserve (LSR) by the NW forest plan in the 90s.

Thankfully, we had a tip about a potential spot of old-growth, spotted owl habitat somewhere deep off trail along the pipeline route. Skeptically, we drove through clearcut after tree plantation to get to the place we were told the old-growth could be. We parked at the end of a dusty logging road and looked into a dense and dark tree farm. Donning our coats and hats to protect from the thousands of delicate and flammable young tree branches in the plantation, we dove in.

In about a quarter mile of bushwhacking through the young tree farm, the forest began to change and open up as it sloped downwards towards a steep drainage where we could hear a stream noisily flowing below.

Emerging onto that waterway from the crowded and dark young forest was like the unraveling of a tension you don’t know you’re carrying. Soon we were greeted by massive old-growth trees and ancient snags, the guardians of a network of waterways at the base of the slope. We followed a trail across the first creek, which we later named ‘stinky creek’ after the many stink currants we identified growing all along it.

Looking down, we saw bear and coyote scat and even came across scattered piles of elk bones feeding the forest floor.

Looking up, we admired towering ancient and rotting snags with their myriad pock-marks from woodpeckers, sapsuckers and insects, the forest’s very own ecosystem engineers. These critical habitat snags were marked by the pipeline workers with bright orange flags that read “killer trees.” Laughing at the backwardness of reducing these life bearing snags to murderers, we noted that these would surely be the first cut if pipeline construction were to occur in this forest.

Walking through this forest, we simply couldn’t wrap our minds around how someone could see this place and think to destroy it.

We cut south from the pipeline route to follow the maincreek, lured in by the picturesque Cascadian river, which we later found out is home to threatened coastal coho salmon.

The river pools and bubbles up around rocks, flows under low hanging branches, splits and rejoins itself running steadily west through the forest.

Just as we felt things couldn’t get more beautiful, we stumbled upon a waterfall—a perfect smooth buttslide branching from the main stream, fed from some unseen tributary originating deep in the forest north of the river.

When we scrambled to the top of that waterfall, low and behold, we found another, even bigger waterfall with a little swimming pool at the base. In shock, we realized that this double waterfall is just a couple hundred feet south of the marked pipeline corridor.

After centuries of survival through fire, wind and flood, the idea that a pipeline would destroy this pristine area is unthinkable.

What’s more, the presence of fire on the landscape is notable in the context of a highly explosive fracked gas pipeline. In a place where fires are recurrent and necessary for forest health, an inevitable fire coming into contact with a hazardous pipeline is terrifying even to consider. This situation is made more concerning by the highly flammable young timber plantations that surround this patch of pristine forest.

Settling down for the evening in our campsite just above the old-growth, we couldn’t help but wonder how someone could plan to construct a pipeline through the pristine forest we explored that day. It’s conceivable only when realizing that those behind this destructive project have likely never been to this place or seen any of the places the pipeline would impact for themselves. Pembina, the Canadian pipeline corporation backing the Jordan Cove LNG Project, are completely disconnected from the places and communities they plan to destroy. They don’t care about the old-growth or the threatened species that depend on it. They don’t care about the sacred places for indigenous cultures along the pipeline route. They don’t care about the landowners who would have their family properties used as right-of-way, against their will, for the construction of this fossil fuel transport project. Those responsible don’t know these places, and they really don’t care to.

As we readied for bed that night, a dark shadow flew over our heads and let out an owl’s hoot. Moments later, that call was joined by another owl responding from the darkness just above our heads. We sat silently and listened, thrilled that we were visited by these feathered friends spying on our dwindling campfire. While we were convinced that it was a family of spotted owls communing with us on behalf of the forest –  we later ID’d them as barred owls, which made sense given that we were camping in the young plantation just above the old grove. Still, we felt the forest was greeting us after our long day appreciating it, and it felt pretty amazing to make a couple bird friends during these isolating times in the COVID pandemic.

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Cascadia Wildlands is proud to be a part of a strong and growing coalition of conservation activists, landowners, tribes, and community members working to stop the Jordan Cove LNG pipeline. We are a part of this movement because we know intimately what is at stake if this project were to be built, and with that knowledge in mind, we won’t stop until the pipeline is stopped once and for all.

If you can help with this important effort, please take a moment and learn how to get involved. Last week, 29 members of US Congress sent a letter to FERC demanding a halt to construction and approvals during the coronavirus outbreak. None of Oregon’s Federal Representatives signed on to this letter to FERC.

Send an email to tell Oregon’s Congressional Delegation to urge FERC to halt approvals and construction during the coronavirus outbreak.

You can check out the album here with photos from our trip to this slice of old-growth in the pipeline path.

The post BLOG: Field Checking Old-Growth on the Jordan Cove LNG Pipeline Path first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact
Gabe Scott, 541.434.1463, gscott@cascwild.org
| Originally posted by Allie Rosenbluth, Rouge Climate, 541-816-2240, allie@rogueclimate.org |

Oregonians Unite to Demand Rehearing on Jordan Cove LNG Federal Approval
The Klamath Tribes, affected landowners, and public interest organizations request rehearing on fracked gas export terminal and pipeline in southern Oregon.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Klamath Tribes, impacted landowners, and over 25 public interest organizations submitted a joint request for rehearing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on its decision to conditionally approve the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. The broad coalition’s rehearing request challenges FERC’s imbalanced and inadequate review of the Jordan Cove LNG proposal.

The joint rehearing request, filed by Sierra Club on behalf of organizations including Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations and League of Women Voters chapters in the four impacted counties, asks FERC to withdraw its approval of Jordan Cove LNG and redo its environmental, public convenience and necessity, and public interest analyses of the project. The rehearing request argues that the project is not in the public interest because of significant adverse effects to public health and safety, Tribal resources, private property rights, the environment, and the climate.

“Today, as always, the mission of the Klamath Tribes is to protect, preserve, and enhance the spiritual, cultural, and physical values and resources of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin Peoples by maintaining the customs and heritage of our ancestors,” said Chairman of the Klamath Tribes, Don Gentry. “The Klamath Tribes have resolved that all of its cultural resources are sacred, and are opposed to the many actions planned with the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline (PCGP) that will destroy or otherwise impact the sacred cultural resources. ”

This March, FERC approved Jordan Cove LNG with the condition that the project must qualify for critical permits from the state of Oregon, three of which have already been denied or withdrawn, before construction can begin. FERC made this determination as the country was adapting to address the global public health crisis of COVID-19, adding the threat of eminent domain and major pipeline and terminal construction to communities sheltering in place in southern Oregon. However, the FERC conditional approval does allow Pembina, the Canadian fossil fuel corporation behind Jordan Cove LNG, to start the process of seizing  private property of Oregon landowners against their wishes through eminent domain.

“It is unconscionable that a for-profit corporation can exercise eminent domain against Oregon landowners for a pipeline already denied multiple times by our own state government,” said Stacey McLaughlin, an impacted landowner in Douglas County. “The taking of our property so a Canadian fossil fuel corporation can export its gas to Asia makes a mockery of our Constitutional rights. Every American should be alarmed by this threat to our liberty.”

“Pembina has been unable to secure any of the necessary state permits to build in Oregon because there’s no getting around the fact that this project would pose an unacceptable threat to Oregon’s communities and waterways and is clearly not in the public interest. It’s disappointing that FERC failed to recognize this, and we urge them to reconsider this misguided decision,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Nathan Matthews. “Regardless, FERC’s approval does nothing to change the fact that this fracked gas export terminal has no path forward and will never be built.”

“Jordan Cove LNG would harm recreation, our local fishing industry and the health of the bay, in addition to threatening the safety of thousands in Coos County,” said Jody McAffree of Coos County organization Citizens for Renewables. “Over 15 years Jordan Cove LNG has not moved forward because people who live and work in the impacted communities have challenged the ill-conceived project at every turn. Now we’re taking our fight to the federal level and won’t stop until the project is gone for good.”

Last week, Jordan Cove LNG submitted its own rehearing request regarding FERC’s approval of their own project. The company is asking FERC to reconsider conditions including authorization from the State of Oregon under the Coastal Zone Management Act and compliance with the Traditional Cultural Property that protects cultural resources of Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw in Coos Bay.

“By challenging their own approval, Jordan Cove LNG is showing that they cannot meet Oregon standards and that they need the rules changed in order to move their project forward,” said Allie Rosenbluth, Campaigns Director of Rogue Climate. “The State of Oregon, and communities across the region, have already made it clear that there’s no getting around these rules for this project that would cause irreparable harm to clean water, the climate, and coastal communities. It’s time for Pembina to give up and withdraw this project immediately.”

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The opposition to the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline consists of impacted landowners, Tribal members, commercial fishermen, youth, health professionals, and community leaders from four impacted southern Oregon counties and regional allies. We seek to protect our health and safety, resources, and way of life by ensuring that this harmful project is never built.

The post Press Release: Oregonians Demand Rehearing of Pipeline Project Approval first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

COMMENT HERE BY MARCH 10 AND URGE THE REJECTION OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES! * The comment period for this is now closed *

The administration is expected to gut the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by making more projects exempt from the environmental review it requires, and by stripping requirements for federal agencies to consider “cumulative” impacts such as contributions to climate change. By mandating risk evaluation to the environment and human health and allowing public review and participation, NEPA is one of our strongest tools for intervening against projects that destroy forests, ruin drinking water for our communities, and imperil endangered species. Despite the fact that 95% of federal projects are exempted from this law and review, the White House is proposing to increase the projects exempted (specifically including pipelines like the Jordan Cove LNG Project) in order to further gut environmental protections in this country.

The proposed rule is riddled with vague, banal language, and the devil is truly in the details. The full proposed changes can be found here, but in summary, CEQ’s proposed rule, if finalized, would:

• Weaken the obligation for federal agencies to constructively use the NEPA process to protect, restore, and enhance the environment. This would embolden radical political agendas supported by extractive interests, such as fossil fuel companies.
• Attempt to avoid the federal government’s duty to take responsibility for the indirect or “downstream” effects of its actions, such as the effects to the environment and public health of burning coal, oil, and dirty natural gas extracted from federal public lands.
• Eliminate the duty of federal agencies to consider the cumulative impacts of their actions. Under the proposed rule, a federal agency could, for example, approve a new coal, oil, or natural gas extraction project without accounting for the climate or public health impacts of the project when combined with other existing or reasonably foreseeable fossil fuel projects approved by that agency.
• Weaken the responsibility of federal agencies to provide a clear basis for choice by the agency and the public by rigorously and objectively considering reasonable alternatives, in particular those alternatives proposed by the public.

• 

  Chill the ability of the public to hold agencies accountable to the law by requiring the public to post a monetary bond prior to seeking administrative review.

• Allow federal agencies to decline to undertake environmental analysis if the agency believes that analysis conflicts with other laws. For example, the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest has long (and wrongly) argued that NEPA and other laws like the Endangered Species Act do not apply to the Oregon & California lands in southwest Oregon because of those lands’ unique multiple use statutory direction.
• Allow project backers to undertake environmental analysis of the proposed project even if there is a conflict of interest between the project proponent and protection of the environment.
• Provide virtually unbridled authority to federal agencies to determine whether impacts are sufficiently significant enough to warrant an environmental impact statement. Existing regulations include specific criteria that must be used in making this determination, including where a proposed action involves highly controversial, highly uncertain, or unknown risks or would risk significant impacts to unique resources such as Wild and Scenic Rivers or Wilderness Areas.

Cascadia Wildlands and our conservation allies will be pushing back against these proposed changes legally and otherwise, but it is important that the Trump administration is shown the level and degree of public support for federal environmental protections that have long safeguarded our treasured wild places. Your voice is needed!

Comments can be submitted via the federal government’s online portal here or mailed to:

Ms. Mary Neumayr
Chair
Council on Environmental Quality
730 Jackson Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C.  20503

Suggested talking points (please personalize yours): Please urge the Council on Environmental Quality to abandon this rulemaking process. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a critical law that has helped local communities protect themselves and their environment from dangerous, rushed, and poorly planned federal projects for over 45 years. The NEPA process simply and sensibly requires our government to take a cautionary approach by identifying any significant impacts a project may have on our health, environment, and livelihood before construction begins. NEPA and its implementing procedures provide a strong foundation for informed, science-based decision-making and already provide ample flexibility. We will not stand by while our country’s foundational environmental protections (that were signed into law by President Nixon) are gutted in the name of corporate greed.

The post Action Needed: Trump Attacks Bedrock Environmental Law first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Sam Krop, Cascadia Wildlands, sam@old.cascwild.org, 541-434-1463
Allie Rosenbluth, Rogue Climate,  allie@rogueclimate.org, 703-298-3639

OREGON AGENCY SAYS NO TO JORDAN COVE LNG PROJECT
Oregon denies critical clean water act permit for Jordan Cove LNG 

[SALEM, OR] – The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today delivered a potentially fatal blow to the Jordan Cove LNG project and the Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline which has faced fierce opposition for more than a decade by a grassroots coalition of impacted landowners, anglers, small business owners, tribal members, health professionals, and many more Oregonians and Northern Californians.

In today’s action, Oregon DEQ denied the Clean Water Act Section 401 permit because the massive LNG export terminal and pipeline could not demonstrate that they would meet Oregon’s clean water standards. Jordan Cove LNG and the Pacific Connector Pipeline cannot be built without the state permit. With their denial, DEQ released 200 pages of detailed findings about how the project does not meet Oregon’s water quality standards.

DEQ notes that “DEQ does not have a reasonable assurance that the construction and authorization of the project will comply with applicable Oregon water quality standards.”

This decision follows a record-breaking public comment period that closed last August in which 42,000 people submitted comments raising concerns about the impact the Jordan Cove LNG project would have on fishing, recreation, public drinking water, and the economy of southern Oregon.

“Oregon’s decision shows that when we come together and speak out, we can win,” said Hannah Sohl, Director of Rogue Climate, one of the organizations involved in a broad coalition opposing the LNG project. “For years, a record number of Oregonians have urged Gov. Brown and Oregon agencies to put the public interest over the special interests of Canadian fossil fuel corporation Pembina. It is great to see Oregon DEQ do just that. Oregon should be focused on creating good-paying jobs in renewable energy, not on new fossil fuel projects that hurt us all.”

“Today’s denial is great news for our Klamath Tribal members and other Oregon citizens that have been concerned about protecting  fisheries and Oregon’s waters. The impact this project would have on our waterways is only one of many reasons the Jordan Cove LNG project should be stopped for good,” said Chairman Don Gentry of the Klamath Tribes. “The Klamath Tribes are very encouraged that the state of Oregon is making this move to protect clean water, cultural resources, and our traditional territory.”

“For 15 years, we have known that this project would harm our local Coos Bay area – threatening our public safety, our estuary, and our fishing,” said Jody McCaffree, a Coos Bay activist who has fought the Jordan Cove LNG since first learning about it 15 years ago. “I am so relieved to see the State of Oregon take this stand for a healthy Coos Bay community and clean water in our state. We will remain vigilant until this project is dead and gone.”

“Today’s decision shows that the state of Oregon is standing up for our clean water and our communities,” said Stacey Detwiler of Rogue Riverkeeper. “Despite efforts from the Trump administration to weaken the Clean Water Act, this decision reflects the threat to our waters from the project and the impact of overwhelming public opposition.”

This decision comes on the heels of Pembina announcing last week that they are cutting their projected spending for 2019 in half and are delaying the proposed launch date of the export facility by a year as they wait for state and federal regulators to make decisions on project permits.

Other permitting periods like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) are still moving forward. The comment period on the DEIS is open until July 5th, and hearings are expected to take place across southern Oregon in late June. However, the project cannot be built without the Clean Water Act permit.

“Oregon DEQ’s decision to deny this permit will now allow Oregon landowners to get on with our lives after 15 yeaars of living under the threat of eminent domain,” said affected landowner in Klamath County,  Deb Evans. “We are incredibly thankful for Oregon DEQ’s decision to deny this permit.”

“We are pleased Oregon DEQ followed the law and the science. DEQ concluded the risks to our water, wildlife, and communities were simply too great to allow this project to go forward,” said Andrew Hawley, staff attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center. “This decision shows that the Clean Water Act still works in Oregon to protect our citizens, our rivers, and our fish.”

“Today’s DEQ decision is a win for the public health of all Oregonians,” said Patricia Kullberg, MD, MPH of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline would degrade drinking water for nearly 160,000 Oregonians and threaten the health of babies, pregnant women, the elderly, low income communities and communities of color. This is what the Clean Water Act was meant to do: protect the environment and public health by keeping our water safe and clean.”

“We’re thrilled that the state of Oregon is standing up for Oregon’s drinking water, local fisheries, and world class waterways by denying this project,” said Sam Krop of Cascadia Wildlands. “This denial should show Pembina their fracked gas project isn’t wanted in Oregon.”

“As we’ve said all along, it’s never a question of whether a pipeline and fossil fuel facility will threaten our communities and waterways, it’s a matter of when. We applaud the recognition — once again — of the dangers Jordan Cove and the Pacific Connector pose, and for the DEQ rejecting them. Today’s decision is a reminder that the people’s power, no matter the attempts from corporate polluters and the Trump administration, will never be silenced,” said Rhett Lawrence, Conservation Director with the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“Frontline organizations across the state oppose the fracked gas pipeline. We believe Oregon needs a Green New Deal that transitions us from dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure to green jobs and community-controlled, clean and renewable energy, and it begins by ending bad projects like this one” said Janaira Ramirez, Coalition Organizer with the Oregon Just Transition Alliance.

“Pipelines always leak. They violate tribal and rural communities’ land and water rights. Fossil fuels make a few people wealthy as they degrade our air and water and exacerbate climate breakdown. We hope DEQ continues to protect the quality of our sacred environment from insatiable corporate greed,” said Khanh Pham, Organizing Director with OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon.

The DEQ denial is linked here.

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The post Press Release: Critical Jordan Cove LNG Permit Denied by Oregon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

More information about this pipeline scheme found here.

On Tuesday, January 15, 2019 the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) will hear from the public about whether Jordan Cove’s Removal-Fill permit should be denied or approved. This is one of the state permits that, if denied, would stop the Jordan Cove LNG even if the Federal Government approves the project. The removal-fill permit for the Jordan Cove Energy Project covers the three main elements of the project: 1) the liquefied natural gas (LNG) slip and access channel; 2) the LNG terminal; and 3) the fracked natural gas pipeline.

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Rally begins at 4pm outside of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs, followed by a public comment hearing from 5:30-8pm inside. This is the chance for community members outside of South Oregon to speak out against this project. Wear red to show solidarity with our mighty coalition and bring your signs, your friends and your spirit as we demonstrate our opposition to this toxic fracked gas project! * Wear RED to show your solidarity with fracked gas resistors across Oregon! *

A few documents to help you comment: DSL Comment Writing Guide and Giving Testimony Guide

Carpool information:

• From Corvallis: Carpool meets 2:30 pm on 1st st. behind Super 8
• From Eugene: Meet at FUMC (1376 Olive St.) at 2:15. Buses Leave at 2:30. **Important: reserve your seat via e-mail: 350Eugene@gmail.com** You must register by Jan 12th. Register asap. Seats are going fast! (Free – Donations are welcome)

Submit your comments online here.

The comment deadline is February 3, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. Comments must be received by this date and time to be considered.

DSL asks that all attendees contribute to a respectful setting and productive public comment hearing by following the Ground Rules & Comment Process. Your comments may also be submitted in these ways:

• By web form on the DSL website. Please note: attachments cannot be added to the web form.
• By email to DSL at jordancove@dsl.state.or.us. Please note: this is a new email address. All comments submitted to the previous address have been added to the comment record.
• By fax to DSL Coordinator Bob Lobdell at 503-378-4844
• By postal mail to Jordan Cove comments, Oregon Department of State Lands, 775 Summer St. N.E., Ste 100, Salem, Ore.

The post Join Us for a Rally Against the Fracked Gas Pipeline – January 15, 2019 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

On a spotless, windy morning on July 1, over 50 concerned citizens gathered around a boat launch on the North Spit of Coos Bay to explore the place that would be most impacted by the construction of the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export terminal. The event was organized by Cascadia Wildlands in conjunction with the University of Oregon’s Outdoor Program for the purpose of bringing fracked gas resistors from across Oregon to Ground Zero of the pipeline fight.

We planned to get a view of the project area from land and water, with outings both on kayaks and on foot in the network of trails around the North Spit. This process of field checking is a tried and true tactic that land defenders use to not only strengthen the relationship between activists and the places we’re working to defend, but also to collect data through observation and citizen science that can be used to submit comments and better resist harmful projects.

At the boat ramp that morning, we were joined by residents from Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Cottage Grove, Coos Bay, and as far south as San Francisco. A typical field-checking trip will bring in anywhere from a handful to a couple dozen people, so this showing of over 50 people highlighted just how many are invested in stopping this project. This is no surprise. Jordan Cove’s associated 230-mile Pacific Connector Pipeline would bisect southwest Oregon, cross five major rivers and over 400 waterways, clearcut a path through 70 miles of public forest, and impact 28 species protected under the Endangered Species Act. It would threaten traditional tribal territories and sacred burial grounds, and require the government’s use of eminent domain against unwilling landowners. The export terminal itself would be built in a tsunami zone along a well-used and relatively unmarred shoreline.

Of course people were interested: this is the largest fossil fuel project proposed in the state of Oregon.

In the crowd gathering around the boat ramp were parents, grandparents, students, children, activists, and landowners whose property is directly in the proposed path of the pipeline. Although we knew that there are a lot of folks resisting this project, looking around at everyone who had given up a summer Sunday to field check the area, it was obvious that our community of resistance spans farther than many would guess.

Before setting off to explore, we gathered for an orientation. We discussed the background of the project, noting that this is the third iteration of the proposal (the reason why we call it the zombie pipeline), and that in the past, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied the project because it was not deemed beneficial for the public.

We passed out project maps and plans showing where the terminal would be built and what would go into the facility. In pouring over these maps, many people were surprised by just how massive this project would be. Aside from the gargantuan LNG terminal itself, the project includes the construction of administration buildings, housing for workers, an access and utility corridor, and of course, the widening and deepening of the Coos Bay channel to facilitate the large tankers required to transport the super-cooled liquid gas from the terminal to buyers in Asia. Comparing the maps to where we were standing, it was clear that this project would turn a quiet, relatively untouched coastline into a major industrial center.

With maps in hand, we set off in groups to explore areas in and around the proposed project. The first brave kayaking group geared up and headed to their launch site at Jordan Point. The winds were heavy, gusting up to 20 mph, but the group managed to get around the point and into Jordan Cove, where folks beached and explored on foot the area where the pipeline would enter and connect with the access corridor to get to the terminal.

Meanwhile, other groups set off to explore the North Spit trails and the coastline where the LNG terminal itself would be built.

In our explorations, we found thriving and intact wetland, native and threatened plants like the silvery phacelia and wolf’s evening primrose, oyster and clam habitat and nesting areas for the threatened snowy plover. We also saw locals fishing, clamming, hiking, swimming and generally enjoying this place that they know as their backyard playground. While the winds were too strong for much kayaking, our group spent a total of five hours trekking the area on foot and set eyes on every place that the terminal construction would touch. We walked the coastline from the boat launch north to the Roseburg laydown site, from Jordan point south through Jordan Cove, and all along the North Spit where dredging would occur along the shore.

Each of us field checking came to the table with different skills, experiences, and reasons for resisting this project. At the end of the day, though, we were able to unite around a shared love for the North Spit of Coos Bay and an understanding that this terminal cannot be built.

When we were done field checking for the day, our group reconvened at the local brewery for some refreshing drinks and a debrief. At the brewery, we completely filled the space with fracked gas resistors (photo at right) where locals and landowners stood on chairs to address the group, and share their stories and reasons for not wanting to see the pipeline go through. Listening to them speak, many of us couldn’t help but get teary eyed and angry at this obviously irresponsible and destructive proposal. At the same time, being in that space together emboldened us for the work that’s yet to come.

While most field-checking trips that Cascadia Wildlands leads connect people with threatened places, this trip went a step further by connecting people with people. The experience of being on the North Spit with fracked gas resistors from all over Oregon demonstrated the strength, mutually supportive, and strong nature of our community. Despite the fact that this fossil fuel project is daunting and the forces behind it powerful, standing together on the shores of Coos Bay, we realized that our power is greater. We plan to win this fight against destructive fossil fuels with arms linked and standing together. Will you join us?

GET INVOLVED

Check out our WildCAT volunteer team here for more information on how to get involved with Cascadia’s grassroots resistance to this project.

Currently, public comment periods for the Army Corp of Engineers and Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality water quality permits are open! Contribute your voice to the chorus in opposition to this project. 

To tell the Army Corps of Engineers to reject the Jordan Cove Project, click here.

To send a comment to the Department of Environmental Quality, click here.

Click for more information on:

The Pipeline
The Terminal
Global Warming Issues
Environmental Issues
Economic Issues

The post A Report Back on Field Checking the Proposed Jordan Cove LNG Terminal first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.