KNAPPA, Ore. – A proposal for a liquefied natural gas terminal on the lower Columbia River near hit a wall of hostile opposition Thursday night at a hearing called to allow area residents to express concerns.
River pilots and tugboat operators told the U.S. Coast Guard and federal energy regulators they were confident the massive tankers could be brought upriver safely, but many speakers expressed fear of environmental damage, terrorist attacks and the possibility of an explosion and firestorm.
The proposed site at Bradwood Landing, a former lumber mill, is 38 river miles from the Columbia’s mouth. Northern Star Natural Gas wants to build two liquefied natural gas storage tanks with the intent of sending out about 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, enough to meet about a third of the Pacific Northwest’s needs.
Many in the crowd of several hundred were from Puget Island in the Columbia River, the tip of which is about a half-mile from where the tanks would be placed. A fireball from the tanks, residents said, could injure some islanders.
Liquefied natural gas ships, which can be 1,000 feet long, would discharge cargo about twice a week.
“If it goes ahead,” area resident Robert Pile said, “the natural setting of the lower Columbia would change radically, and for practical purposes forever.”
He said while there is an assumption no disaster will occur, “the possibility remains.”
Northern Star has sent preliminary application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It hopes to begin building in 2007 and be operational by 2010. It notes that energy demands in the region are going up, and are best met by natural gas, which is abundant, clean and relatively cheap.
The terminal is a way to free the region from reliance on gas from other areas of the country, spokesmen said.
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