Jordan Cove LNG Project Stalls Out In Win for Environmental Activists
By Brian Wagenaar
September 1, 2021
In a monumental win for environmental and climate activists in Oregon, the Jordan Cove liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline and export terminal has been formally stalled after its developer, the Pembina Pipeline Company, failed to secure a series of required permits by the established deadline. This development makes it increasingly unlikely the pipeline will ever be built. Gas to supply the LNG port was slated to come from the Western Slope.
In order to complete the project, which would connect a 229-mile-long pipeline in Malin, Oregon to an export-only terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, Pembina would have to start the permitting process over again. That is a tall task that would take many years and undoubtedly face massive legal and popular scrutiny.
The Jordan Cove LNG project, if built, would send roughly 7.5 million tons of gas, or about 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day, to the Pacific market. None of the gas within the pipeline system would be utilized within the U.S., or even North America.
To reach the terminal for export, the proposed pipeline would have needed to cross 5 major rivers of significant natural, spiritual, recreation, and economic importance, as well as through dozens of privately held allotments, and a city of about 30,000 people.
The project has been opposed by a coalition of tribes (predominantly the local Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon), commercial fisherman, landowners, climate advocates, and recreationists for more than a decade.
While this victory is huge for activists, nearly three dozen similar projects are under development in North America, each threatening to lock in decades of heightened greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and expose natural and human communities to risks of costly spills and accidents.
Americans have had enough of the misinformation coming from giant oil and gas corporations. We know that these pipelines are dangerous, that they threaten our lands and waters wherever they operate, and that their operators never fail to oversell the economic and employment benefits while misrepresenting the real environmental, social, and economic costs.
Enough is enough, it’s time to end the era of pipelines and oil and gas infrastructure, and invest in a cleaner, renewable energy future.
 An artistic rendering of the proposed terminal, Source: Jefferson Public Radio
You can read more about the Jordan Cove project at the links below:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pembina-pauses-development-oregon-jordan-cove-lng-plant-2021-04-23/
https://www.ijpr.org/environment-energy-and-transportation/2021-08-19/missed-permits-suggest-an-unlikely-future-for-jordan-cove-lng-pipeline
https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/08/21/jordan-cove-liquified-natural-gas-project-misses-four-permit-deadlines/8227954002/
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