COOS BAY, Ore. — Federal regulators have concluded that a liquefied natural gas export terminal and pipeline planned for southwestern Oregon would cause some limited environmental damage, but nothing that cannot be dealt with by mitigation measures offered by the builders and regulators.
The World newspaper reports that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission came to that conclusion in the draft environmental impact statement released Friday on the Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline. The final report is due in February.
The project would load natural gas from the Rockies onto ships at Coos Bay for transport to Asia. The pipeline would pass through Klamath, Jackson, Douglas and Coos counties.
Conservation groups have been fighting the pipeline, arguing it amounts to a continuous clearcut threatening forests, salmon, water quality and wildlife.
