Zombie Pipeline: Stop the Pacific Connector Pipeline to the Jordan Cove LNG terminal
We have an opportunity to stop the Pacific Connector Pipeline from going through 30 miles of public Forest Service lands to feed the Jordan Cove LNG terminal. Pacific Connector wants to clear cut a 100′ wide swath through some of our most important wildlife reserves in the Winema, Rogue, and Umpqua National Forests.
Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied this project last December, the Forest Service wants to give a “Special Use Permit” to allow Pacific Connector to continue doing work on the route, like surveying for rare species which will help them circumvent the Endangered Species Act by getting a permit to “take” endangered species in the way of their pipeline.
If the Forest Service gives Pacific Connector a Special Use Permit (SUP), even after the pipeline has been denied, it will make it that much easier for Pacific Connector to come back from the dead.
The Forest Service is asking you for your opinion on this SUP before February 13… only a few days away, so please write today.
Email your comments to:
comments-pacificnorthwest-umpqua@fs.fed.us
Tell the Forest Service:
1. Cleanup work should be the only work allowed by this Special Use Permit (SUP). Pacific Connector needs to remove everything they left behind before the pipeline was denied, like miles of plastic flagging, hundreds of signs, and the blue-paint on thousands of trees they had hoped to cut down.
2. The Forest Service will only require this clean-up work if the pipeline is “permanently cancelled”, but they failed to explain when they think that happens. Tell the Forest Service that FERC already permanently cancelled this project on December 9, 2016, when they denied the Jordan Cove project.
3. It is not clear what this SUP renewal is renewing, as the Forest Service lost the original 2006 SUP including all paper and electronic copies. The 2012 SUP did not allow renewals and was for a different area of the forest.
4. Most importantly, tell the Forest Service that more analysis is required for work on any project that has been found to NOT be in the public interest (FERC found this when they denied the project last December). At least an Environmental Assessment should be done if the Forest Service is going to work against public interest.
Remember, mail your comments, using one or more of the points above, before this coming Monday, February 13. Comments will be accepted past the date but it would be best to get them in ASAP.
For more detailed comments look HERE.
Written by: Guest Author
