Following an Oregon state-sponsored assessment that natural gas prices this winter will rise and a newspaper editorial favorable to liquefied natural gas (LNG), a NorthernStar Natural Gas official expressed confidence Tuesday that the company’s Bradwood Landing LNG project along the Columbia River will gain FERC approval despite its removal from the commission’s agenda.

Indications that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was going to take up the issue Thursday prompted the Portland Oregonian in its pro-LNG editorial to speculate that the proposed Bradwood Landing project might win a FERC permit soon. The project had been on the agenda (see Daily GPI, July 16).

“We do not know the specific reasons behind the schedule change,” said NorthernStar Senior Vice President Joe Desmond, who heads the company’s external affairs for its two LNG projects in Oregon and offshore California. The Oregon project is farther along in the federal regulatory process.

Desmond said he assumed that FERC staff needed more time to work on its recommended action to the five federal regulators on the Commission. He said they probably are seeking to have a recommendation reflecting the most up-to-date information available.

“We’re certainly prepared to wait a little longer to ensure the order is prepared,” he said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday a spokesperson for the NothernStar offshore California LNG proposal, Clearwater Port, said the project has joined with the California Maritime Academy (Cal-Maritime) in Vallejo, CA, to create a joint program expanding West Coast training in the handling and transport of LNG products.

“The program puts in place the first formal continuing education LNG training available from a nationally recognized institution on the West Coast,” the NorthernStar spokesperson said. “Cal-Maritime is one of seven maritime academies nationwide and the only one on the West Coast.”

In calling the LNG debate “overheated” and littered with fear tactics, the Oregonian said a fear-based campaign in the United States has prevented development of a West Coast terminal for shipments of imported LNG supplies. It concluded that opponents’ claims that LNG is unsafe just “don’t hold up.”

NorthernStar now contends that the Cal-Maritime training will help recognize that “skilled and well trained workers are vital to continuing our industry’s exemplary record of safe operations.”

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