Coos Bay, Oregon, LNG Facility Won’t Go Forward

The developer of the controversial LNG export project in Jordan Cove, Oregon, is calling it quits. On Dec. 1, the affiliate of the Canada-based developer Pembina asked federal regulators to vacate the permits to construct the $9.8 billion facility entailing 500 acres of the North Spit across the Coos Bay and a 229-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline with one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day of capacity. The fuel was expected to go to Asia.

The developers “remain concerned regarding their ability to obtain the necessary state permits in the immediate future in addition to other external obstacles,” states the filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“This is amazing news,” said Don Gentry, Klamath Tribes chair. “We knew the project wasn’t viable because of all the risks that it brought to our communities.”

“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.

FERC approved the Coos Bay LNG project in March 2020, but its advancement depended on acquiring state permits. Officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality denied the project Clean Water Act permits. Subsequently, the developer asked the federal commission to review the fairness of the decision. Federal regulators upheld the state’s decision.

Pembina’s decision to drop the project this week came after announcing it had put the effort on hold last May and after FERC unanimously voted Nov. 18 for a briefing to review the LNG project authorization under the Natural Gas Act. The act allows developers to seize private property under eminent domain.