CFD’s Comments on the Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline

Though it becomes clearer every day that we are standing on the threshold of climate catastrophe, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering a project that would expand earth-destroying extractive industries and flatten Oregon forests. Cascadia Forest Defenders unequivocally opposes the construction of the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and pipeline. A foreign corporation’s profits should never be chosen over the health of the land, the water, and the people who need them.

FERC failed to consider an assortment of the ways in which this project would devastate the environment, not only here in Oregon but across the country and around the world. Liquified Natural Gas is methane, a greenhouse gas 86 more times more potent than burning coal. Methane leaks into the atmosphere during the processes associated with LNG drilling, transportation, and processing. It also notoriously contaminates groundwater; methane concentrations are 17 times higher in drinking water wells near fracking sites than in normal wells.

Approving the Jordan Cove terminal and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline would expand the fracking operations that enable that leakage to happen. There are already more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the US, each of which requires one to eight million gallons of water for each fracture job. Enabling this industry to grow even more is an act of blatant disregard for the planet, for our limited life-sustaining natural resources, and for the wellbeing of the people most influenced by fracking operations.

Here in Oregon, the project would cause hundreds of landowners would lose their properties to eminent domain. No company should have the right to condemn Oregonians’ land and lifestyles – especially not a company that will cut corners around safety standards by using thin pipes and inefficient welds. Many of the landowners who face eminent domain threats have been speaking out against the pipeline for years; why haven’t you been listening?

The project additionally commissions a vast clearcut – a 100-foot wide easement across 75 miles of southern Oregon public forests, most of which have been reserved for threatened species like the Marbled Murrelet, the Northern Spotted Owl, and the Coho Salmon. 400 waterways will have their stream-side vegetation permanently cleared. This is unfathomable and inexcusable.

Consider the environmental consequences of this project more carefully. Extend the public comment period so that the people most influenced have a fair opportunity to weigh in on it. Decide on the Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline from a perspective that values factors more important than corporate interests. We assume that you are familiar with the Tar Sands Blockade, a massive national movement against the Keystone XL Pipeline. Those of us who spent time there aren’t fond of fracking, habitat destruction, or ruining rural peoples’ lives — and we certainly are getting sick of the federal agencies condoning those things. Make the right choice, FERC. If you build it, we will fight.

For the wild,
Cascadia Forest Defenders