Three days of local town hall sessions conducted by a FERC administrative law judge (ALJ) that end Thursday in Portland regarding a proposal to build a third LNG receiving terminal in Oregon drew strong criticism from the project’s backers, who allege that the process is secretive and undemocratic.

On his way to a second town hall meeting in Astoria, OR, Wednesday, Oregon LNG CEO Peter Hansen vowed to NGI that his firm would retain its right to rebut critical comments from local landowners along the proposed route for a 122-mile natural gas transmission pipeline that is planned to connect the LNG facility with the interstate and local distribution pipeline/storage systems in the greater Portland metropolitan area.

While he is prepared to see how the meetings and ALJ’s report play out, Hansen said he was “somewhat shocked that a process like the one unfolding could be initiated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [FERC].”

The focus of Hansen’s ire is a series of meetings conducted by FERC Deputy Chief ALJ Bobbie McCartney at the direction of FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff in which landowners have alleged that Oregon LNG project representatives have tried to coerce them into giving them project easements for pipeline rights-of-way. Hansen objects to not being able to cross-examine the testimony he said is being taken by the FERC judge in the meetings.

“Why this process should be a town hall meeting concept is unclear to me,” Hansen told NGI Wednesday, following the first meeting Tuesday in Forest Grove, OR. “They are talking about anything and everything regarding the pipeline, although originally it was just supposed to deal with our interaction with the landowners.”

Hansen alleges that the process that McCartney put in place allowed citizens to submit “secret testimony” to FERC, but was subsequently changed since Oregon LNG attorneys complained about it. “It is a little difficult to swallow being accused of something in secret and not being allowed to question our accusers and not knowing who it is and what they are accusing you of.”

Oregon LNG feels that its rights to due process are being violated, and is prepared to eventually challenge its legality if necessary, said Hansen, noting that the company will have a chance to make a statement at the conclusion of the third meeting Thursday. “We’ll see what comes out of it because we have behaved around these landowners exactly as are supposed to, and I haven’t heard anyone provide any kind of evidence to contradict that,” he said.

An Oregon Public Broadcasting report Tuesday quoted landowners as raising three main issues: (1) the company allegedly ignoring their concerns about potential pipeline locations, (2) the company also “bullying” people allegedly, and (3) Oregon LNG not providing information that people seek.

Although the local news reports did not confirm it, Hansen said the opposition is being organized by Columbia Riverkeeper, an environmental group that has established an organization against the pipeline, and has opposed a competing LNG terminal proposal along the river, NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp.’s Bradwood Landing project.

In addition to its proposed receiving terminal at Warrenton, OR, near Astoria where Wednesday’s meeting was held, Oregon LNG has proposed a 122-mile, 36-inch-diameter transmission pipeline running southeasterly into the Portland area with a 10-mile, 24-inch-diameter pipeline lateral connecting to the Northwest Natural Gas distribution backbone system and the Mist gas storage field.

Hansen said the Oregon LNG has not signed leases with any of the landowners, although it has obtained access agreements for about 70% of the pipeline route to complete environmental and cultural studies along the proposed right-of-way. Eventually the LNG developer will negotiate leases after it has obtained its FERC and other permits.

“We have collected a wealth of data on the pipeline environment, but we don’t have property rights agreements in place yet,” he said.

©Copyright 2010Intelligence 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.