The most advanced of several proposals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the state — at least from a federal perspective — Northern Star Natural Gas’s proposed $520 million LNG receiving terminal a Bradwood, OR, 37 miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Coast, will be the subject of a federal hearing in the local Oregon community this Thursday. As it has in similar hearings elsewhere along both the East and West Coasts, safety is expected to be a major topic of discussion.

Privately financed Northern Star, a combination of Northern Star Natural Holdings LTD, and the San Francisco-based investment firm Babcock & Brown, is seeking to do a couple things that have proven difficult for earlier LNG projects on both Coasts: (a) move upriver a good distance requiring proposed tanker shipments to move under major bridges, and (b) seeking federal review before going through a full local screening.

Two interested observers among many parties that will be represented at the hearing held jointly by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard in Bradwood are Calpine Corp., the California-based power plant developer/operator that has preliminary plans for a LNG receiving terminal at the mouth of the Columbia River, and the Oregon Energy Siting Council, which has the mandate in the state to “ensure the state has adequate energy supply while protecting the state’s environment and public safety.”

The state siting council has listed the Northern Star project as the only LNG proposal under its review so far since the sponsors filed last February to FERC to start the pre-filing review of a draft environmental impact report. Subsequently, the Oregon Energy Department held a public information meeting last May regarding the proposal to develop ship docking, LNG storage, regasification facilities and 36-inch-diameter, 35-mile transmission pipeline at the 75-acre Bradwood site.

Northern Star proposes to process up to 1 Bcf of gas daily through the facility. The source of the LNG has not been specified at this point.

FERC has indicated the initial hearing is just informational at this point, since the passage this summer of the new federal Energy Policy Act that specifies exclusive siting authority for FERC in land-based facilities. Nevertheless, plans for other LNG receiving terminals in the Northeast have been scuttled by local opposition.

In light of this, a Calpine spokesperson said his company would just be monitoring the upcoming hearing. The merchant power plant operator/developer is busy trying to muster as much local support in Oregon that it can. “We want to avoid last-minute derailment of a project by local opponents,” the spokesperson said.

So far, Calpine, Northern Star and two other entities have proposals for LNG receiving terminals in the Columbia River. In addition, there is one onshore coastal site proposed at Coos Bay in conjunction with a nearby power plant development.

©Copyright 2005Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.