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A company trying to build a liquefied natural-gas pipeline is taking its fight against Clatsop County to the next level.

The Oregon Court of Appeals has agreed to hear arguments from Oregon Pipeline Co. (Oregon LNG) against Clatsop County commissioners for allegedly flip-flopping, illegally, on a decision to permit the pipeline.

County commissioners approved the company’s application in 2010. However, the three members who approved the application were replaced in the November election. The new members reserved the decision.

Company executives went to circuit court in the hope of compelling the new commissioners to honor the original agreement. Executives cited a state law requiring local governments to decide 鈥渃ompleted鈥� applications within 150 days, unless the applicant agrees to an extension.

Not getting the answer they wanted in circuit court in June 2011, executives filed with the Court of Appeals.

County officials argue the new commissioners had authority to reconsider the previous approval. They add appeals of that position should properly go through the state Land Use Board of Appeals and not the court system.

The proposed 85-mile pipeline is designed to cross the Columbia River from Washington into Columbia and Clatsop counties before it ends in the city of Warrenton. Construction of the pipeline, not counting the terminal in Warrenton, is estimated to cost $487 million between 2014 and 2018. Critics have fought the project based on concerns about safety and uprooting property owners.