Despite arguments from opponents, the state of Oregon has issued a permit to the Port of Coos Bay that would allow for the dredging of a new terminal that could be used by ships transporting liquefied natural gas.
The Jordan Cove LNG project would consist of an LNG import and storage facility at the Port of Coos Bay. About six or seven vessels would call per month at the facility, according to its developers, Alberta, Canada-based energy infrastructure investment company Fort Chicago, and Energy Projects Development, Ltd., a United Kingdom-based company that provides engineering and project management services to the oil and gas industry.
Local and regional environmental groups have been opposed to an LNG terminal in the area.
But even with the dredging permit, the project still faces numerous hurdles, including export permits, a biological assessment from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and permitting from the federal Bureau of Land Management for a gas transport pipeline, project manager Bob Braddock recently said during a regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon about a week before the permit was issued by the Department of State Lands.
The planned Jordan Cove LNG project has just a 50/50 chance of being built, and a terminal won’t be constructed unless space to either import or export liquefied natural gas has been rented out, Braddock said during the Dec. 14 luncheon, according to a report in daily Coos Bay newspaper The World.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
