To: Governor Kitzhaber, Oregeon Governor, Director Pedersen, Director Rue, and Colonel Aguilar

Protect The Northwest From LNG Export Facilities

Dear Governor Kitzhaber, Director Pedersen, Director Rue, and Colonel Aguilar,

I urge you to deny all permits or certifications for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export project and associated 230-mile pipeline (NWP-2012-441) and the Oregon LNG export project (NWP-2005-748) due to excessive harm to our state’s waterways.

Salmon are an iconic part of the Pacific Northwest, and an important part of our regional economy. The proposed 5.8 million cubic yards of fill into 400 waterways for Jordan Cove LNG would harm the habitat these fish depend on. The threatened watersheds, including the Klamath, Rogue, Umpqua, Coquille and Coos Rivers are known for their salmon and steelhead fishing. Salmon depend on clean, cold water, and many areas of southwest Oregon are already facing problems with warming waters and sediment. In fact, substantial money is spent by state, federal and private entities to restore clean water and improve salmon habitat throughout the region.

Similarly, Oregon LNG’s project completely undermines our region’s investment in salmon restoration. Oregon LNG proposes destroying over 130 acres of high-quality endangered salmon habitat in Youngs Bay, located in the Columbia River Estuary. This is one of the most popular recreational and commercial fishing areas on the Columbia River. LNG tankers require exclusion zones, which would restrict fishing and directly interfere with recreational boating. On top of this, federal safety regulations require a permanent vessel exclusion zone extending out into Youngs Bay.

The extraction, transport and eventual burning of fracked gas cannot be considered a bridge fuel. The gas in question – methane – is 86 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and recent studies from Stanford to NASA point to the lifecycle of gas being as bad for the climate as coal. Once the Boardman coal plant shuts down in 2020 the Jordan Cove project would be the single largest greenhouse gas source in the state of Oregon, if we allow it. Exporting gas to new markets would accelerate fracking in the Rockies and would damage the State’s efforts to halt climate change.

Finally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration tells us that exporting gas and bringing American consumers into competition with the world market for this gas would raise rates in Oregon and throughout the U.S. Higher gas prices would harm ratepayers and domestic manufacturing, shipping more jobs overseas.

These projects would harm Oregon’s clean water and the people and species that depend on it. They are clearly not in the public interest, and I urge you to protect the people and watersheds of Oregon from exploitation by denying all permits and certifications that your agencies are evaluating for LNG export.

Thank you.

Why is this important?

Jordan Cove and Oregon LNG cannot build the terminals or pipelines without a Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit. The Army Corps can deny the permit if it determines that the projects are not in the public interest. Neither of these proposed projects are in the public interest and, therefore, should not be constructed.

Further, Clean Water Act Section 401 empowers states to decide if federal permits comply with state laws designed to protect water quality, fish, and other aquatic life. The Corps cannot issue the critical in-water work permit (aka “Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit”) if DEQ denies 401 certification.