Coos Bay: Little City Big Port - OPB News

Terminal Wins Next Round!!! Here's The Story!!http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/05/news/doc475704ac00a0d440627341.txt

Coos Bay: Little City, Big Port

By Chris Lehman
Coos Bay, OR November 14, 2007 2:17 p.m.

Officials want to build a container terminal along the Coos Bay channel

The southern coast of Oregon is one of the most isolated parts of the state. But leaders in one coastal town want to turn the seclusion to their advantage.

As part of our series on Northwest communities re-inventing themselves, correspondent Chris Lehman reports on Coos Bay, a little city with plans for a big port.

To really understand Coos Bay, you have to know its history. And to understand the history, you have to know the geography.

Anne Donnelly: "Essentially the story of all human culture here is told in the topography."
That's Anne Donnelly, director of the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum.

Anne Donnelly: "There's a horseshoe of high ridges that surround us to the south, the east and the north. And the only easy way in and out is either by water or by coming along the flat land which is right along the coast."

Despite those restrictions, it actually worked pretty well for moving logs. Ships full of lumber left Coos Bay by the thousand until the timber industry collapsed in the 1990's. Unemployment topped 10 percent. Schools closed as people left town for greener pastures.

Now, officials want to turn that around with a plan to create a new international shipping terminal. Martin Callery is with the Port of Coos Bay.

Mike Callery: "We want to see people be able to keep their kids in this community rather than their kids graduating from high school and having to go away because there arenít decent-paying jobs in this community."
The terminal would be an entry point for goods arriving from the Far East. Containers filled with everything from televisions to toys would be unloaded onto trains and sent all over the United States. The port would be small compared to places like Long Beach or Seattle. But Martin Callery says more imports from Asia could spell success for places like Coos Bay.
Mike Callery: "We've got an under-utilized rail line. We have an under-utilized harbor. And we have an opportunity to put goods into the rail system at a point that's not congested such as LA, Long Beach, or Oakland."

But unlike those places, there's very little infrastructure in place to transport goods inland from Coos Bay. Take the rail system. It's certainly not congested these days.

Chris Lehman: "I'm standing on a set of railroad tracks just outside of Coos Bay. For 91 years, this would have been a dangerous place to be. But the last train left Coos Bay in September, when the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad closed their route to the coast. And without this rail connection, the container port could be little more than a pipedream. But Martin Callery says the shuttered rail line won't stand in the way."

Mike Callery: "No one has ever denied the fact that the rail line between Eugene and Coos Bay would have to be rehabilitated."

Callery says they're in talks with a larger railroad company that's willing to sink millions of dollars into upgrading the line. But port officials have another project up their sleeves if the container port doesn't pan out.

A liquefied natural gas terminal is on the drawing board. The fuel would be taken off of tanker ships and piped inland.

Both projects have their share of skeptics in the community. Historian Anne Donnelly says whatever direction Coos Bay takes, she's hoping the region doesn't become too dependant on any one thing, like it did in the days of timber.

Anne Donnelly: "Because we did clearly have a lot of eggs in one basket and when that basket broke, so to speak, we're paying the price for that now."

And speaking of price, container terminals don't come cheap. The state legislature pitched in $60 million to fund improvements to the Coos Bay shipping channel. But most of that money can't be spent unless Port officials can convince a shipping company to make Coos Bay the next major west coast port of entry.

States, feds, counties all will have say in LNG's OK, FERC says

States, feds, counties all will have say in LNG's OK, FERC says

By Tony Lystra - The Daily News.com - Longview, Washington

So who has the authority to approve NorthernStar's liquefied natural gas terminal, anyway? Is it the feds?
The counties?
The state agencies?

The answer, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is all of the above.
NorthernStar Natural Gas's plan to build its LNG import terminal on the Columbia River has triggered a complex array of local and federal laws and processes. FERC, Clatsop and Cowltiz counties, as well as state agencies in Oregon and Washington all are expected to consider permits for the project.

But there has been some confusion about whether FERC will respect the rulings of local agencies.

This week, Clatsop County sent a letter to FERC, asking the agency to clarify its authority in considering the terminal.

County Administrator Scott Derickson wrote that the county's officials were surprised to hear testimony during an Oct. 22 meeting that FERC might be able to "overrule" the county's authority in considering 27 changes in land-use policy to make way for the terminal.

"Does FERC have the authority to invalidate, waive or modify local land-use regulations or local conditions?" the letter asked.

Derickson said in an interview Friday that he could not recall who had made the allegation during the October meeting, but he said county officials are worried that FERC might preempt the county's decisions.

"It is a question about whether local communities are going to have a meaningful opportunity to engage in the siting of energy facilities that can impact their community," he said.
NorthernStar Natural Gas, of Houston, plans to bring LNG carriers 38 miles up the river to Bradwood, Ore., which is in Clatsop County. It would store the superchilled gas in two large tanks across from Puget Island, then revaporize the fuel and pump it to market via a new pipeline crossing Clatsop, Columbia and Cowlitz counties.

NorthernStar spokesman Joe Desmond said in a statement Friday that FERC is "reluctant to preempt local bodies."

"In general, FERC defers to applicants who voluntarily agree to land-use and other conditions," Desmond said.

Paul Friedman, a FERC environmental project manager who is working on the proposal, said the Natural Gas Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 give FERC "total authority" to site onshore LNG facilities. In most cases, FERC, he said, can override the decisions made by counties in Washington and Oregon.

However, there are several ways local jurisdictions can exercise their authority in the matter, Friedman said.

FERC cannot override another federal law in considering a terminal, he said, and there are several federal laws the terminal must meet in order to be approved.

The state of Oregon has been charged with ensuring that NorthernStar's facilities meet the requirements of the Coastal Zone Management Act, or CZMA. And the state, Friedman said, will look to land-use decisions made by the Clatsop County commissioners in determining whether the terminal meets the act's standards.

If Oregon denied a certificate under the CZMA, NorthernStar could appeal to the U.S. Department of Commerce, not FERC, said Tamara Young-Allen, a FERC spokeswoman.
In addition, the state of Washington has the power under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act to determine whether the terminal and pipeline would be destructive to the state's waterways. Cowlitz County's decisions on whether the terminal and pipeline meet the Washington State Environmental Policy Act will influence whether the state Department of Ecology issues a clean water permit for the facilities.

NorthernStar must also get a clean water permit from the state of Oregon, Friedman said, and for that permit to be issued, Clatsop County will have to issue a so-called "land-use compatibility statement."

"So states do hold some trump cards," Friedman said.

Cowlitz County is expected to consider whether the terminal and its accompanying pipeline meet the requirements of the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA. Cowlitz County is also expected to consider shoreline and pipeline permits for the project.

Mike Wojtowicz, the director of the county's building and planning department, said there's no question who really has the authority in Cowlitz County's case: FERC.

"They got it," he said. "My understanding is that both federal law and caselaw render the county's permits moot."

Friedman confirmed that if Cowlitz County denied NorthernStar's permits, the project could still be built per FERC's authority.

So why bother approving permits in Cowlitz County?

"It's a voluntary thing, but we think they should do it," Friedman said of the local process. "It's one way of proving to us that you're going to reduce environmental damage by following local procedures."