The state of Washington’s Ecology Department Friday appealed FERC’s approval in September of NorthernStar Energy’s proposed Bradwood liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Columbia River in Oregon. The rehearing request is procedural related to Washington’s interest in part of a connecting gas transmission pipeline that would run through a portion of the state.

Earlier in October, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire had expressed her displeasure with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) taking action on the Bradwood Landing project and connecting 36-inch-diameter pipeline before the state authorities had reviewed the project (see Daily GPI, Oct. 13).

Gregoire wrote in September to NorthernStar CEO William “Si” Garrett, expressing concerns that “Cowlitz [WA] County residents feared the FERC’s action would give the company unbridled eminent domain authority, and the company will seek to use that authority [in obtaining its pipeline route].” Subsequently, NorthernStar assured state officials the work on the pipeline is still two to three years off, so there is time to work through any issues.

The Washington agency’s latest FERC letter cited reasons for wanting a rehearing that a Portland, OR-based Northern Star spokesperson told NGI Sunday “have all been addressed previously in various filings to FERC during the three and a half years [the federal regulators] were evaluating the project.”

The state’s filing comes as Bradwood Landing LLC and NorthernStar Energy informed FERC that they accept a certificate authorizing the construction of the facilities which was issued Sept. 18 (see Daily GPI, Sept. 19). However, they said they reserved the right to change their mind if the “terms of the certificate change as a result of any rehearing petition or petition for judicial review that may be filed by any party.”

In the meantime, Bradwood proponents are working closely with Oregon and Washington state resource agencies to secure all of the local permits that the FERC approval was conditioned upon them obtaining — air, water, Coastal Zone Management Act consistency determination, etc. These are expected to be completed in “the next several months,” the spokesperson said.

Washington’s FERC filing asks that the Bradwood approval be set aside to determine first if the federal panel violated part of the federal Clean Water Act by approving the LNG terminal application before NorthernStar had obtained certification from state regulators, and whether it also violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by “failing to thoroughly and fairly analyze the environmental impacts” of the project.

NorthernStar’s spokesperson emphasized that the state filing is not a “direct challenge” to the pipeline, but rather a challenge to the process used so far, contending that FERC cannot issue a certificate order until state permits are issued.

“FERC’s long-standing practice has been to condition projects on receipt of necessary state permits,” said the NorthernStar spokesperson. “Regardless of FERC’s approval, we are still required to obtain various state permits.”

The bottom line for Washington is that the FERC order “must be withdrawn to permit sufficient environmental analysis,” the filing said.

“The Commission’s order is based on inadequate information and needs to be fully reconsidered after this basic information becomes available,” the filing stated. “In light of the significant impact of the Bradwood project on the resources of the Columbia River and the communities that share that resource, as well as the lack of essential information regarding the project’s impacts, the record does not support authorization of the project.”

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