In Our View: Let States Decide

Pacific Northwesterners, be thankful to senators from Oregon and Washington who are trying again this year to let states — not the federal government — make final decisions about where liquefied natural gas plants will be built. Earlier this month Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley reintroduced legislation that would shift the power for these siting decisions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to state agencies. Democratic senators from Washington, Maryland and Connecticut also are sponsoring the measure.

This bill represents an excellent way to preserve Northwesterners’ control over our destiny when it comes to protecting the environment against the intrusion of the petroleum industry. For years Oregon and Washington have kept at bay all efforts to begin offshore drilling in this region, and that same kind of control is necessary for LNG plants as well. As expressed in this statement from Wyden: “Oregonians have said time and again that they don’t want some federal agency 3,000 miles away forcing LNG terminals on them.” Nor do Washingtonians. He added: “I’m not going to stop until Oregonians get to decide whether or not they need LNG terminals and, if they do, where to put them.”

This anti-LNG movement has gained momentum in recent years as the FERC has approved the Bradwood Landing project being developed by Northern Star Natural Gas of Houston. The site is about 30 miles east of the mouth of the Columbia River. The Columbian has strongly opposed the Bradwood Landing project not because we object to LNG production but because the fragile Columbia River estuary is the wrong place to build the massive plant, open it to large ocean-going LNG ships and gouge an attendant pipeline from Oregon to Washington.

Wyden’s bill would not directly affect the Bradwood Landing project, unless the FERC approval is overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where both states and several tribal and environmental groups have filed their appeal. Nor would it affect FERC approval of an LNG project in Coos Bay that will include a pipeline to California. But if Wyden and the other senators succeed, an LNG project proposed for Warrenton, Ore., which has not been approved, would be directly affected.

Unfortunately, the fate of this legislation is not as certain as Northwesterners would like. A similar attempt was made in the past session of Congress but fell short of approval.

The Daily Astorian of Astoria, Ore., editorially supported the Wyden bill last week and offered this sublime assessment: “All in all, the FERC process thus far shares many similarities with the financial mistakes that blew up into the Great Recession — a careless rush that is all about easy answers and quick profits. What we need, both as a region and a nation, is to slow down and ask the right questions.” The newspaper also noted: “The FERC licensing process is all about who gets to federal regulators first with a completed and defensible application … not about establishing the basis of national need and strategic siting for a terminal … (which) is the role the federal government should play in this process.”

Northwesterners learned six decades ago to be suspicious of federal decisions about our environment. As a consequence, we’re still trying to get the feds to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation near Tri-Cities, the most contaminated site in the nation.

There’s nothing wrong with the FERC having input on various decisions about the LNG plants. But when it comes to ultimate authority about sites, the states’ imminently qualified environmental agencies should step forth as final arbiters.