Siding with the Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled late last week that the siting of Northwest Natural’s 62-mile South Mist Pipeline extension was done properly. The ruling clears the way for major construction to begin on the $94 million project this coming spring with an in-service date of the heating season of fall 2004.

Northwest Natural was taken to task by the Friends of Parrett Mountain and other community groups, who believe the siting process of the extension did not take into account potential safety concerns or current farmland protection laws on the books (see Daily GPI, March 11).

The South Mist Pipeline Extension project, which was proposed in March 2001, will connect Northwest Natural’s underground gas storage reservoirs near the town of Mist in Columbia County to Williams’ Northwest Pipeline near Molalla. The company said the pipeline will extend through Washington, Marion and Clackamas Counties, bringing a reliable supply of natural gas to some of the fastest growing residential and commercial areas in the Pacific Northwest.

In March 2003, the council issued a final order granting a site certificate for construction of the pipeline. However, two groups of petitioners sought review of the council’s siting decision. The first — Friends of Parrett Mountain — is a community organization comprised of people from the Parrett Mountain and Sherwood areas who live or work in the vicinity of the proposed pipeline. The second — Washington County Farm Bureau — is made up of the Washington County Farm Bureau, its counterparts in Marion and Clackamas counties, and individual farm owners who will be affected by the pipeline’s construction.

The Parrett Mountain petitioners filed with the court out of concern for the Sherwood fault — a geological formation underlying the pipeline’s proposed route in the Parrett Mountain area. The group pointed out that possible earthquake activity is often associated with faults. The siting council found, however, that Northwest Natural’s application met structural standards and demonstrated that Northwest Natural could design, engineer, and construct the pipeline to avoid seismic and soil-related dangers to human safety.

The farm petitioners argued that the pipeline’s proposed placement would run it through exclusive farm use (EFU) zones. But in its final order, the council found that Northwest Natural had considered reasonable alternatives to EFU locations and the court said the council did not err in its decision.

Northwest Natural spokesman Steve Sechrist said that of the 62-mile pipe, the southern-most 12 miles have already been completed. While construction on major expanses of the project will be deferred till next spring, Sechrist noted that specific bores will be drilled this winter underneath streams and roads — which will not disturb topsoil or sensitive farmland.

At start-up next heating season, the company expects the pipeline to have 195 MMcf/d of capacity. Down the road in 2005-2006, the line capacity is expected to be increased to approximately 550 MMcf/d in order to better serve Northwest Natural’s local distribution customers as well as its interstate storage customers, according to Sechrist.

Northwest Natural said the extension is necessary to keep up with customer growth. As an example, the company added more than 22,000 gas customers in the year 2000. Northwest Natural projects that the number of residential customers will grow by about 2.78% a year through 2019. By 2029, it expects the total number of residential, commercial and industrial customers to double.

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