Oregonians Fight Mount Hood Natural Gas Pipeline on the Ground

By Johnny Kilroy on March 5, 2010 From Restoration campaign

Oregon’s grassroots activists have seen their share of forest degradation, and they won’t quit fighting it any time soon. 

In the Mount Hood National Forest, resistance is cranking up to the Palomar natural gas pipeline that could break ground as soon as 2011.

Palomar Gas Transmission, LLC, has proposed to build 213 miles of pipeline (36 inch diameter) in Oregon, from Shaniko to Bradwood.  The Mount Hood segment, about 47 miles long, is aiming right through the national forest, across the Clackamas River (a Wild and Scenic River), near to the remote Timothy Lake, and adjacent to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.


(View of Mount Hood from Timothy Lake.  Photo:  Gary Halvorson under CC license.)


This raises a number of objections from local environmentalists and land owners, as to what might happen to compromise the national forest’s integrity. 

One of those people is Amy Harwood, Program Director for a local Mt. Hood advocacy group called Bark, that has joined the fight against the Palomar project since it was publicly announced in 2006.


Fighting

Bark has been taking curious folks into the Mt. Hood forest since 1993 to see what’s actually going on.  They call it “ground truthing.”  Why rely on corporate and government reports, when you could get first-hand knowledge of an area that’s scoped for development?

As Harwood explains, it’s a practice that proves very useful in public hearings, resource assessments, and filing complaints, where large companies and government agencies often try to discredit citizens’ knowledge of what’s going on.  TENTHMIL recently reported on similar ground-scoping activism.  For environmental proponents, shedding light puts clout in their arguments.


(Amy Harwood, Program Director, Bark.  Photo courtesy of Amy Harwood.)

 


From her treks through the forest and from meeting with representatives of PGT, Portland General Electric, and the U.S. Forest Service, Harwood has made herself a major voice in the pipeline discussion, one that can’t be brushed off.

“This was a really big leap for us, getting involve in energy issues,” she says, “to start thinking about how public lands are going to become part of our energy future.”

Environmental Impact

Natural gas has heavy impacts on the environment, from its production, transportation, risk, and combustion.  TENTHMIL has previously discussed environmentalists’ contest with liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, which were recently approved for construction on the Oregon coast and the Columbia River.

Forests are the chief concern with the pipeline project.


(Image:  PGT.)

 
 
Construction of the pipeline would require a clear cut corridor through sensitive ecosystems of the Mt. Hood forest.  About 709 acres of the national forest, including 106 acres of old growth, would be directly impacted, according to Forest Supervisor Gary Larsen.

For the initial construction of the pipeline, the first clear cut would be 150-300 feet wide.  After the pipeline is actually built, then the corridor must be kept at least 50 feet wide.  PGT would replant the area cut for construction, but Harwood says,

“You don’t replant an old growth forest, that’s impossible.”

Furthermore, this could open the door for other developments.

Portland General Electric, the major utility in the area, would relish the prospect of putting electric transmission lines along that same corridor, eastward over the Cascade Mountains.  If it were allowed, then the corridor could be expanded to 3000 feet.

Harwood paraphrases a conversation on the topic with PGE representatives,

“Lo and behold, about three months ago, we got a call from Portland General Electric saying ‘Hey, we want you to come in and take a look at some of these maps, and tell us what you think.  We’re thinking about expanding some corridors, and putting some new transmission line across Mt. Hood, we want to make sure we hear from you before we put this out to the public.’  We go into the office, and of course, one of the routes that they’re proposing is this Palomar pipeline, and I said ‘Well, that’s not a corridor yet,’ and they said ‘Well…it might be soon.’”

The Mt. Hood forest is an invaluable public resource, spanning 1.1 million acres of land.  It provides clean air and drinking water to many Oregonians.  It also offers recreation opportunities to over 4.5 million people per year; it is the immediate getaway for over 2 million in the Portland and Vancouver areas.


The value of recreation and clean water far outweighs that of liquidated timber assets.  Figure:  USFS, Mt. Hood Strategic Stewardship Plan 2006

In this respect, it is very unique and dear to many Oregonians.  Also, Mt. Hood is where Shaun White snowboards in the summer…and that’s just badass.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with help from the U.S. Forest Service, is preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Palomar pipeline.  FERC will propose amendments to the Mt. Hood Forest Plan, where there are inconsistencies.

Natural gas picks up speed…like a manatee

Natural gas comprises about a quarter of our national energy consumption. 


(Image:  FERC.)

 

There are 11 LNG terminals in the coastal United States, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s listings on 17 December, 2009.  Two more have been approved for Oregon (one would go in Bradwood, and the other in Coos Bay).  Twenty-one more terminals, across the country are to be built or expanded. 

That market may be growing, according to the Energy Information Administration, but it is still a finite fossil fuel.  Whereas, renewable energy consumption is expected to grow by 258%.


(Figure:  EIA.)

 


The CA Energy Commission said in a 2003 report,

Because North American supply basins are maturing, the U.S. will need to rely more on imported supplies, including liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In the last five years, LNG imports to the U.S. have decreased by 12.8%. 

Yet, natural gas consumption in the U.S. has increased 2%, and is expected to grow by 8.8% over the next 25 years, according to the Energy Information Administration’s 2010 Annual Energy Outlook (early release). 

But then, consumption is a difficult thing to predict.  For instance, how many times in your life have you accurately predicted your alcohol consumption for a single night?

Where exactly is that market?

Sating the Insatiable?

Some concerned citizens think that the pipeline would serve to deliver gas to California, a speculation which Palomar, on its website, purports to debunk:

MYTH:  The primary purpose of Palomar is to deliver LNG-sourced gas to California.
FACT:  Palomar’s primary purpose would be to deliver natural gas east to west over the Cascade Range into the Willamette Valley. If an LNG terminal is built on the Columbia River, the natural gas from the terminal could be delivered by Palomar to the interstate pipeline grid after consumer demand for gas in Oregon was satisfied.

The Palomar pipeline would tie Bradwood Landing (a site approved for a new LNG importation terminal) into TransCanada’s Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) System.  The GTN main line runs from British Columbia to California, where it meets with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s line.

California imports over 85% of its natural gas, according to the state’s online energy almanac.  Once gas is imported to the state, three major utilities sell 98% of it to consumers.

Where do you think that gas is going?

The fact is that California imports most of its natural gas (and much of its electricity and water) from out of state to satisfy its voracious population first.  Since the early 1970s, California utilities have been pushing for LNG importation terminals on the west coast. 


(Image:  CA Energy Almanac.)

Still, Palomar maintains,

Perhaps the most important long-term benefit that Palomar will bring to Oregon is enhanced security of the natural gas supply serving the state.

I have to hand it to Oregonians.  They know how to call some bull, and keep on it until it goes away.  Clear cuts and pipeline through the Mt. Hood National Forest is something that many state residents, Portlanders especially, cannot abide. 

“What we want to do is…put the ‘public’ back into ‘public lands,’” says Harwood.  “We’re moving a mile-a-minute with this thing.”

On the second Sunday of each month, Bark takes interested citizens out on “ground truthing” hikes through the Mt. Hood National Forest.  The next hike is on 14 March, 2010.  Check it out, go and get down and dirty with them. 

(Look for the podcast, where Amy Harwood talks with TENTHMIL about the Palomar project).

Keep up with the Palomar pipeline at FERC. 

 

 

This was Oregonians Fight Mount Hood Natural Gas Pipeline on the Ground, an entry in our Restoration Campaign from March 5, 2010. It was filed under Forest

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