Clatsop County staff signed off Thursday on a number of local conditions imposed on the NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp. Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Oregon side of the Columbia River. The county commission is expected to take up the issue in six to eight weeks, a Bradwood spokesperson told NGI Thursday.

New findings that Bradwood submitted to the county addressed the areas of shoreline monitoring, dredge material placement, a construction worker park-and-ride lot, mitigation generally, erosion and sediment control, road improvements, plant decommissioning and riparian vegetation. For five of these the staff recommended approval, but for several others the staff recommended conditions be imposed regarding the shoreline monitoring, work, park-and-ride, the mitigation plan and the decommissioning.

The Bradwood spokesperson reiterated that the company’s mitigating plan is currently under review by various federal agencies as part of its consultation process required by the Endangered Species Act. “Staff found the mitigation plan complied with local standards and that the plan could be approved with conditions after the state and federal permits are obtained,” the Bradwood spokesperson said.

The state of Oregon continues to challenge NorthernStar’s project, as it also has with competing LNG proposals (see Daily GPI, Jan. 22). Action in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is still considered a number of months away, according to NorthernStar officials, who noted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has dropped out of the case.

In addition, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in March obtained a 60-day extension for completing the biological assessment that is pending on the Bradwood project. Thus, it will be later in the summer before the biological opinion is rendered. However, no further delays can occur without the joint agreement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and NorthernStar, a spokesperson for the project sponsors said.

With support from organized labor throughout the Pacific Northwest, Bradwood’s backers are stressing that the proposed terminal and an associated 36.3-mile large-diameter gas transmission pipeline will provide a new source of natural gas directly into Oregon and Washington state. They tout 450 jobs being created during the three years of construction and 65 permanent jobs.

In commenting on the latest local affirmation in Clatsop County, NorthernStar President Paul Soanes said Bradwood can live with any of the suggested additional conditions recommended by the county board’s staff. “Overall, we’re pleased with the staff’s work and appreciate their constructive review and suggestions so that we can comply with the county’s conditions on our land-use approval.”

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