The yearslong battle over the Jordan Cove Energy Project is heating up as the federal agency overseeing the proposed $10 billion pipeline and terminal pushes to complete a final environmental review.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is working quickly to finish the final environmental impact statement for the project this fall. Federal agencies and other interested parties have submitted comments – some critical – to inform the impact statement.

FERC intends to issue the notice of availability for the final EIS on Oct. 11, and a final order on Jan. 9, 2020.

Meanwhile, more than 100 local residents and environmental activists last week filled a City Council meeting last week to debate a key request for land use approval needed to dredge in a Coos Bay estuary zone.

For Canadian corporation Pembina, the pipeline would provide a route to market for North America’s booming natural gas fields. The proposal has been the subject of debate for more than a decade – long enough for the planned terminal to go from an import terminal to an export terminal, as the business case shifted to sending liquefied natural gas to Asian markets.

The Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline would stretch approximately 229 miles beginning at an interconnector near Malin, in southeastern Oregon, across land owned by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation and private landowners. But the debate is perhaps most pointed in Coos Bay, where massive ships would be loaded with liquefied natural gas for export abroad.

Pembina seeks permission to dredge in the bay, which would require a zoning change. The bay is dredged regularly to provide ocean access for the area’s commercial and recreational fishing fleets, but Pembina wants to dredge in a 3.3-acre estuary that is an important nursery for the South Coast’s crabbing industry.

A consultant hired by Coos Bay, the Lane Council of Governments, has recommended the City Council deny the land use change.

“It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of this estuary as a nursery for Dungeness crabs,” said Michael Graybill, retired manager for the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Graybill said he recently pulled up crab pots that were teeming with hundreds of juvenile crabs. “Dredging the channel margins will kill tens to hundreds of thousands of crabs,” he told the council at the Aug. 27 meeting.

Jody McCaffree, who leads a group called Citizens Against LNG, said the terminal could threaten the area’s thriving recreational fishing industry. The Coos Bay area hosted 31,560 recreational boating trips annually, mostly tied to crabbing and fishing.

“We have a thriving adventure coast here dependent on our natural resources,” she said.

Local residents whose land the pipeline would cross have also been among the opponents.

“Even though we received a decent offer for a settlement on our property, we refused to sell out to Pembina,” said Clarence Adams, a resident of Winston, south of Roseburg. “To us, it’s about quality of life.”

Trade unions have been among the project’s steadfast supporters. Union leaders, port officials and other local boosters point to the economic benefits the project would bring to the coastal community, which has struggled to replace timber jobs.

“This is a project that could be potentially huge for this whole area of Oregon,” Ken Messerle, a former state senator from the Coos Bay area, told the City Council.

According to Pembina, the project would create 6,000 construction jobs at its peak and generate property tax revenues of $60 million a year to southern Oregon counties and $50 million to the state.

The council chose not to make a decision at its Aug. 27 meeting so that it could consider oral and written testimony submitted recently. The council is scheduled to again take up the matter on Jan. 21, 2020.

A lawyer representing Pembina said the public comments were lacking in substance.

“There were a lot of heartfelt statements,” said Steve Pfeiffer, a partner and land use attorney at Perkins Coie in Portland. “There’s definitely a lot of passion. There’s a lot of conclusions. But there’s a limited amount of evidence to back them up.”

Pembina must address a complex tangle of local, state and federal regulatory approvals before any construction can begin on Jordan Cove. While federal regulators have largely welcomed the project, Pembina has encountered obstacles at state and local levels.

By all accounts, FERC is moving quickly to accelerate federal approval. The draft EIS was largely favorable, and Pembina is anticipating approval in January, a spokesman said.

In July, FERC announced it would open a new LNG division, with regulators based in Washington, D.C., and Houston, signaling the federal government is open for such business. There are also signs the Trump administration is pushing for the project. The Guardian reported emails suggested Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had met with a Jordan Cove lobbyist and expressed support for the project. Bernhardt’s former lobbying firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, had lobbied for Jordan Cove, the newspaper reported.

Other federal agencies are involved because it crosses their land. The Bureau of Land Management, in a July 3 letter, stated it would enforce seasonal and daily timing restrictions near marbled murrelet stands and breeding restrictions for the northern spotted owl.

The BLM recommended FERC reconsider its finding of no significant cumulative impact to cultural resources. The agency also urged FERC study the project’s impact on housing in the Coos Bay area.

At the state level, Jordan Cove has encountered roadblocks. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in May denied the project a needed water quality certificate. Jordan Cove is working with the agency to satisfy requirements in anticipation of reapplying for the water quality certificate this fall, Pembina spokesman Paul Vogel said.

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The consortium pushing a revamped plan to build a massive natural gas port in Coos Bay says the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president had no impact whatsoever on its decision to reapply for permits.

Despite reports last year heralding the death of the $7.5 billion , backers are currently preparing another application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — a third try — and this one they say will have a much stronger chance of success.

And the ascension of a fervently pro-deregulation Republican to the nation’s highest office had nothing to do with it, according to Michael Hinrichs, spokesman for Calgary-based Veresen, the project’s lead investor.

“Like a lot of the nation, many on our team were surprised by the outcome,” Hinrichs said. “We certainly didn’t plan for one administration or the other. The decision to reapply occurred pretty much immediately when we realized our last appeal was denied.”

The project was first considered by FERC in 2007. In that iteration it would have served as an import facility that received gas from the Middle East and Russia. Despite winning approval, changes in the global market for fossil fuels altered the picture for developers, who abandoned their plan to import.

The most recent application, this time for an export facility at the same location, was rejected by FERC last year. It would have provided more than 8 billion cubic feet of LNG per day. But Obama-era regulators argued that the project application failed to demonstrate existing commercial demand. The plan was also opposed by environmentalists and many landowners along the 235-mile connector route through Oregon.

Hinrichs said the latest iteration includes more than 50 route changes to accommodate property owners. And two Japanese buyers interested in the vast natural gas deposits of the U.S. West are now involved. A 420-megawatt power plant has also been cut from the plan.

But the FERC application is just the first of around 30 state and federal permits needed for the project to move forward.

Another apparent advantage for supporters is Jordan Cove appears to have a . Trump’s administration may have tipped its hand when economic adviser to the president Gary Cohn said at a policy talk that it’s looking to expand fossil fuel extraction in the U.S. West.

“The first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to permit an LNG export facility in the Northwest,” Cohn said at the time, according to the Washington Post.

In response, Oregon’s two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, wrote letters urging the president to stay out it. (Neither has formally taken a side for or against the project.)

Longtime project opponent Robyn Jenssen, executive director of Rogue Riverkeeper, said the opposition coalition is still engaged and keeping a close eye on the project.

“Under the new administration, there will probably be more support, but I would honestly say that the campaign against it has grown and that it’s bigger and better than ever,” she said. “Things actually haven’t changed. It’s actually fired up this side even more.”

Rogue Riverkeeper is concerned the project will negatively affect waterways in the upper Rogue Basin. But Jenssen said it’s difficult to know where to focus opposition with so much hinging on handshake agreements among the owners and their partners.

“It’s a lot of talk until we see some documents,” she said.

Another boost for project supporters came last month when Coos County voters rejected a ballot measure that would have banned the project. Emboldened by the chance of success after 15 years, Hinrichs said owners are ready to file “pretty much” every document again.

“By the time Jordan Cove moves fully through this process, we think that it’s going to be one of the most thoroughly vetted projects in the nation,” he said. “We know that there are going to be legal challenges – Oregon has strict environmental laws. But I think we’ll meet all those and the federal laws, and we’re more than willing to do it because we know that our project is sound.”

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An answer to meeting America’s growing energy needs could soon be blowing in the winds along the Oregon Coast.

Seattle-based Principle Power, a renewable energy technology developer, is working to deploy a floating wind turbine system in deep water off the coast of Coos Bay. The WindFloat system derives from technology used on floating oil rigs and looks to tap into an energy source that could be a game changer for the town.

“The floating platforms open up whole new areas to development that were previously unacceptable,” said Kevin Banister, vice president of Principle Power.

Specifically, Principle Power is looking at ocean real estate 10 to 15 miles from shore, where the sea floor drops dramatically and wind resources are more consistent. The platform technology lets the company place 300-foot-tall turbines in water up to 1,640 feet deep; most existing ones are found in shallow water.

It’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to power generation. The company for the past year has tested a deep sea turbine, off the coast of Portugal, that has generated 3.5 gigawatt-hours of electricity.

The Coos Bay turbine could perform for 20 years and generate as much as 30 megawatts annually. But Principle Power also envisions constructing at the port of Coos Bay a production-and-launch facility that could send WindFloats around the world.

Banister said Japan, for instance, is hungry for renewable power solutions to replace nuclear resources in the wake of the 2011 tsunami. The fact that Japan is a mountainous island nation surrounded by deep water also makes WindFloats ideal.

The U.S. government sees huge potential for the technology. Principle Power this month was one of seven companies across the nation to receive federal funding for offshore wind power development. The Department of Energy gave each project $4 million to complete engineering and permitting. Within the next few years, the DOE will select three of the seven to receive more money for construction. Each of those companies could receive up to $47 million over four years, subject to congressional appropriations.

According to a new report by the DOE, offshore winds are able to generate 4,000 gigawatts of clean electricity – four times the nation’s current total generation capacity. Additionally, such an industry could support 200,000 manufacturing, construction, operation and supply chain jobs, and entice $70 billion in annual investments through 2030.

Principle Power’s objective is to break ground in 2016 and be up and running with the first turbine the following year. Banister said the biggest obstacle will be permitting.

“We’re proposing to do something that’s different on the West Coast,” he said. “That hasn’t been done before out here and we just need to make sure we work hard and closely with the (various) agencies so that we can do this (within the planned) time frame.”

The fate of Principle Power’s project is tied somewhat to the fate of the $7.5 billion Jordan Cove project, a liquefied natural gas export facility that Canadian company Veresen Inc. hopes to build in Coos Bay.

Elise Hamner, communications and community affairs manager for the Port of Coos Bay, said the Jordan Cove team would pay for 85 percent of the cost to develop an access channel to the berthing area that Principle Power would need to launch its floats. Principle Power would place its facilities on port-owned land, and the port and Principle Power together would be responsible for the remaining 15 percent of the Oregon Gateway Marine Terminal Complex.

Hamner said the port is trying to set up a deal where the Jordan Cove team would purchase the power from the first WindFloat for use in its power-intensive natural-gas-liquefaction efforts.

The Jordan Cove project is in the permitting process; its team is hoping to begin construction by 2014. Opponents, leery of potential environmental and safety impacts, have formed a coalition called Citizens Against LNG. Hamner said she is not aware of any opposition to the wind project.

“We are right at the north end of primo wind resources; they are unsurpassed anywhere on the West Coast,” she said. “We have a good marine services fleet that can service this type of equipment in the ocean. There are just a lot of things that line up to make it a good spot here at Coos Bay.”

Another potential conflict for Principle Power may come from commercial fishermen who operate in the deep waters where the company hopes to anchor. Banister said he has worked closely with local fishermen to navigate those concerns.

On the horizon, Banister sees WindFloats dotting the Pacific from Coos Bay to Northern California. Such a system could help alleviate transmission bottlenecks between Oregon and California.

Principle Power’s budget for the first phase of the project is $4.8 million (including the DOE’s grant), but Banister said that will go up as the project progresses. He said it is too early to talk about the total economic impact, but noted that construction and operation of a WindFloat facility would be considerable – construction of the underwater power cables that transmit electricity from the turbines to shore can cost up to $2 million per mile.

“Hopefully this will be the first project among many as we think this industry is going to evolve out here,” he said.

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City officials in Coos Bay say they will likely need at least $80 million for wastewater treatment over the next 20 to 30 years, and they want to start by building a new plant.

Coos Bay has two wastewater treatment facilities. The proposed one would replace one that exists on the bay.

“It would be double the size,” said Jennifer Wirsing, the city’s engineering service coordinator. “We haven’t necessarily gotten any larger in terms of population as a city, but it’s a matter of inflow and infiltration. ‘I and I’ is no stranger to these coastal cities.”

Broad plans for the facility were sent to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for approval. Meanwhile, engineers at will create some preliminary designs.

Project design will cost $2 million to $2.4 million, Wirsing said. Construction would be $20 million to $24 million, she said.

The plan is for the facility to feature sequence batch reactors, Wirsing said, so that wastewater can be treated with ultraviolet light instead of chlorine. Compared to other systems, this one is more efficient, simpler to use and less expensive to operate, she said.

“What we’re choosing is not necessarily new technology, but it’s tried and true,” she added.

Maintaining wastewater treatment facilities on the coast is difficult, Wirsing said. “We have the elements here,” she said. “Oregon is a harsh climate no matter where you live, but our plant is located right in the bay. Between the rain and the wind – and even the seagulls and other animals – we definitely have a very harsh climate over here. We also have the salinity from the salt air.”

The wastewater treatment plant that Coos Bay officials want to replace was built in the 1960s and upgraded in the ’90s.

“There are parts that date back to the ’50s and ’70s,” Public Works Director Jim Hossley said.

The new plant, scheduled to be completed in 2017, would be a block away.

“We’ve been working on this since 2007,” City Manager Roger Craddock said. “It would be a lot nicer if we were flat and didn’t need all this infrastructure.”

Craddock said this is the most money the city will spend on a single project in the next 20 years. Nonetheless, he added, there are other expenses. Coos Bay also has 27 pump stations that regularly need to be updated.

“We do about one pump station a year,” Craddock said. “We finish one and start to plan for the next. Those can be rather expensive in themselves. They can run up to $1 million.”

The plant will be paid for by local residents. Coos Bay residents have seen their sewer rates go up around 6 percent a year for the last couple of years. They should not expect that to change, Craddock said. Nonetheless, he added, Coos Bay’s sewer rates are lower than those in other communities.

In fact, according to Craddock, city officials had trouble getting grants for the project because sewer rates are so low.

Electricity alone is a major expense, Craddock said.

“It all has to run whether or not there’s electricity,” he said.

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Until the 1970s, Coos Bay was the lumber shipping capital of the world.

Then mills were industrialized, federal regulations changed, harvestable trees became scarce and the coastal city turned into a sort of ghost town.

“We lost the jobs and the income that the industry represented and were left with the debris and neglect and the abandoned site that the industry used to use,” said Annie Donnelly, director of the . “Trying to rebuild and redefine our community has been difficult.”

The Coos County Historical Society and its supporters are hoping to jump-start that process by building an 11,000-square-foot museum facility on a three-acre waterfront site. The group is hoping to spur development in the blighted area, now that it has overcome a number of roadblocks since the plan was conceived eight years ago.

Donnelly said the idea developed organically as the museum outgrew its concrete-block building, which was built in 1958. Over time, the museum became isolated from the community, both because of its location at the northern end of town and its glass-encased, “Do Not Touch” exhibits.

In 2003, the city purchased the site, which sits in the heart of the historic waterfront and was valued at $1.8 million, from the county with the intent to donate it to the historical society. But suddenly the Oregon Department of State Lands claimed rights to the site, citing an old law that gives the state ownership of all below-tide lands as of statehood.

Fundraising came to a halt, and the city spent the next few years negotiating a deal with DSL. The state eventually agreed to settle the dispute and hand over ownership for $25,000. That was in 2008 – just as the recession started.

It’s been a slog from that point, but Donnelly said the group has raised a total of $6.5 million, which will help fund the entire project – down to the creation of the exhibits – and not just construction. She said that more than half of the money came from the local community, the Port of Coos Bay, Coos County and the Coquille Indian Tribe.

“Which is astonishing because this is a severely economically depressed area and has been for a very long time,” Donnelly said.

With an unemployment rate hovering around 11.5 percent, Coos County is in dire straits. A report released at the end of May by the Secretary of State’s office identified the county as one of eight in Oregon at high risk of financial distress. The report showed that approximately 15 percent of Coos’ revenue comes from federal timber payments, which help subsidize the loss of that industry because of regulatory changes. It’s the fourth highest dependency in the state.

“That’s the one reason why this project is so important,” Donnelly said. “It’s kind of reclaiming the waterfront from the leftovers of a severely diminished industry. We need to rethink how to use our waterfront, and this is the beginning of that.”

The new facility will be something of an ode to the area’s rich industrial heritage.

Mark Johnson, an architect with Seattle-based , which is designing the project, said the two-story building will feature corrugated metal siding and steep horizontal gables reminiscent of the canneries that once dotted the streetscape. In 1922, a massive fire destroyed much of that architecture.

Johnson said the Miller Hull team is aiming to design a building that will pique the curiosity of travelers along U.S. Route 101. To that end, the plan is to run a daylight monitor along the spine of the rooftop, which will let light filter in during the day and shine out at night. Plans also call for a new research library, a community hall, an outdoor plaza and climate-controlled spaces for artifacts.

Vicki Wiese, the museum’s collections manager, said the new facility’s digital picture frames and touch screens will cycle through the museum’s collection of approximately 250,000 historic images not all accessible at the present location. Each photo tells a story.

One such tale is the fate of a lumber ship called the Czarina, which wrecked near Coos Bay in 1910. Huge waves engulfed the hull and exhausted the vessel’s steam engines. Unable to steer, the ship floundered and ended up sideways. Its cargo rolled into the ocean.

“As soon as the waves came over the top of the boat, it set free all of the lumber and so there was no way to jump in the ocean because there were all of these logs floating around,” Wiese said. “As the pictures go on there are fewer and fewer men clinging to the rigging; only one man survived.”

Johnson said the plan is to eventually develop the surrounding dock area and encourage tall ships to visit the city and tie up next to the museum. Other development plans are in the works as well.

Rodger Craddock, Coos Bay’s city manager, said efforts are under way to renovate the historic Egyptian Theater, which is south of the future museum site, as well as a boardwalk connecting Coos Bay to North Bend.

Construction of the museum facility is slated to begin later this summer.

“(It will) re-energize the area and we hope will encourage redevelopment to occur there,” Donnelly said. “There’s been no magnet activity to encourage restaurants and stores to take advantage of this really beautiful waterfront because it was historically all industrial and in many ways it’s a big transformation.”

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A new building designed by in Coos Bay will let the Oregon Coast Community Action organization consolidate many of its services.

“One of the big programs they offer is a Head Start program, and right now they’re spread out across the area,” S|EA project manager Robert Smith said. “They are in smaller buildings that are not the best for lighting and HVAC systems. One of the driving design items was to take those satellite locations, pull them together and house them under one roof.”

The ground floor of the new, 28,700-square-foot Child and Family Resource Center will house seven Head Start classrooms as well as a kitchen, a library, staff offices and meeting rooms. Each classroom will include a studio, and open directly onto an outdoor playground.

“There’s an emphasis on getting as much natural daylight and natural ventilation into classroom spaces as we can,” Smith said. “There’s also higher-performance, forced-air systems so that there is better air quality in the spaces for kids and teachers.”

Daylight and ventilation also will be emphasized on the building’s second floor, where families can participate in classes and services related to housing, energy, weatherization, finances and more. The second floor will hold Head Start administrative offices too.

“There are also a bunch of multiuse areas, where they can have events or the public can rent out,” Smith said.

Use of different materials on exterior sides of the building will minimize the scale, Smith said.

The project team at S|EA includes Smith, principal Sid Scott, designer Rick Berry and intern Brian Morris.

Project consultants are: , structural engineering; , civil engineering; , landscape architecture; , mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; and JBK Consulting and Design, commercial kitchen design. 

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please email ontheboards@djcoregon.com or call 503-802-7240.

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An expansion of the Bay Area Hospital building in Coos Bay will create a new wing on the 40-year-old building, allowing for modern upgrades and a better patient and staff experience.

Though the expansion, designed by , will add 110,000 square feet to the building, the hospital is not planning to expand patient capacity, said ZGF project manager Malcolm Brown. Instead, the new facility is part of a transition to offer more private rooms at the hospital.

“The rooms (in the expansion) are much larger than in the existing facility,” Brown said. “There is additional room in the patient rooms for family.”

The presence of family has been showing to improve patient outcome, Brown said.

The expansion project adds on to the existing three-story building, and will improve the layout of the facility, which has been hampered by a sloped site with entrances on both the first and third floors.

“We tried to address the way-finding issue by creating a multilevel atrium space that will allow people to arrive in a single location and get oriented,” Brown said.

The exterior of the building was designed to conform to the existing building, but will add large bay windows in patient rooms.

“Being on the coast, it’s important to bring in as much natural light as possible,” Brown said. “And there are real pretty trees on and around the setting.”

To take optimum advantage of the new natural light, the building will have sensor-controlled low-energy lighting.

The new facility will also be integrated with the existing building through a pneumatic tube system that will carry supplies, medications and lab samples through the building. The buildings will have independent systems, however, because the new facility is designed to modern seismic standards for essential facilities, meaning that it will still be usable after an earthquake. The old part of the building was constructed before such codes were in place.

Hoffman Construction Company is the general contractor on the project.  Other members of the design team include HGE Inc., KPFF Consulting Engineers Inc., Interface Engineering Inc. and Anderson Krygier Inc.

The ZGF project team included Karl Sonnenberg, partner in charge; John Thompson, principal designer; Barbara Anderson, program and operations analysis; Solvei Neiger, medical planner; Sharron van der Meulen, principal interior designer and program verification; Scott Tarrant, project architect; and Lee Kilbourn, David Grigsby, Paul Evans, Julia Bannon, Michael Perso, Rena Simon, Maria McMorran, Amy Piasek-Kluge and Justin Brooks.

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please email ontheboards@djcOregon.com or call 503-802-7240.

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Typically, Chris Walker, an architect with Portland-based CIDA Inc., joins a project in the initial planning phase.  However, in the case of Englund Marine & Industrial Supply retail store project recently completed near Coos Bay, Walker believes the decision to have the general contractor initiate the planning led to success.

The project team – Perlo Construction, CIDA Inc., AAI Engineering and landscape architect Beighley & Associates – used a phased process to replace a 50-year-old retail store with an 18,200-square-foot building.

“We were brought onto this project later because Perlo had to get the phasing aspect and layout somewhat figured out so they could keep the store open during construction,” Walker said. “We’ve been brought onto other projects when napkin designs were already being drawn up, but in this instance it seemed like the right move.”

The concrete, tilt-up retail and warehouse building has 8,800 square feet of sales floor and replaces an 11,800-square-foot metal building that Englund Marine had operated out of since coming to Coos Bay.

“It was nearly a 12,000-square-foot building, but it didn’t feel like it at all; it was crammed in there,” he said. “Now, with the high ceilings, it just feels a lot more open and a lot bigger.”

During the project’s initial phase, a 2,400-square-foot pole building was constructed at the rear of the site, so that most of the warehouse operations could relocate. Two-thirds of the existing building was then demolished, but retail operations continued there.

After the new building was completed, remaining warehouse and retail operations were moved in, and the remainder of the existing structure was removed. Parking, front entry and canopies also were completed.

A grand opening took place last week. Englund Marine, which was founded in Astoria, has been in business for more than 60 years. Its eight locations are along the Oregon, Washington and California coasts.

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Oregon Coast Community Action provides services to assist families in need in Coos and Curry counties, but its centers are scattered throughout the area. A multibuilding project, designed by Scott | Edwards Architecture, at Laclair Street and Thomas Avenue in Coos Bay will integrate a classroom building, a food bank and a resource center into one central campus.

“This will allow Oregon Coast Community Action to more proficiently provide services to the people they’re helping, and make it easier for those people to take advantage of the help,” said Sid Scott, principal at Scott | Edwards Architecture and lead architect on the project.

The design includes a 17,500-square-foot Head Start classroom building for the care and education of infants, toddlers and preschool-age children, as well as a 12,000-square-foot food bank with dry storage, cooler and freezer space. In addition, a 16,000-square-foot child and family resource center will provide energy and weatherization assistance, housing programs, court-appointed special advocates and administration.

Wetlands on the site will be maintained and integrated into a nature-friendly design, which also includes a community garden space.

“We’re trying to reuse as much of the existing landscaping as possible,” Scott said. “The wetlands will be featured as an educational component with walkways and locations where people can read about it.”

Final construction is scheduled for mid 2012. No general contractors have been chosen, and each building will bid separately.

Other project partners for all buildings include: Shapiro Didway Landscape Architecture, civil engineering firm Stuntzner Engineering and PBS Geotechnical Engineering.

Project partners for the food bank include: structural engineer Mark Butler and MEP engineering firm MFIA.

Project partners for the Head Start building and the child and family resource center include: structural engineering firm WDY and MEP engineering firm Interface Engineering. Also, JBK Designs contributed the kitchen design for the Head Start space.

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2009 U.S. natural gas market

Percentage of total U.S. consumption, imported natural gas: 12 percent

Percentage of total U.S. consumption, liquefied natural gas: less than 2 percent

Percentage decline in import and export prices between 2008 and 2009: 50 percent

Statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

A liquefied natural gas import project proposed in Coos County is moving forward, despite opposition from environmental groups and the community.

The Oregon Department of State Lands is now accepting public comment on an application by the Port of Coos Bay for a slip dock to accommodate the proposed Jordan Cove LNG terminal. While Jordan Cove’s developers say the time has never been better for the Oregon Coast to make economic gains from the natural gas market, opponents say the market for natural gas is shrinking, not growing.

The Jordan Cove project would include construction of an LNG import and storage facility with 320,000 cubic meters of capacity at the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay. Also, the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, 36-inch-diameter piping that would extend 234 miles from Coos Bay to Malin, would be tied to the terminal project.

So far, the project has been fraught with conflicts between anti-LNG groups, developers and government officials. The state of Oregon and a coalition of opponents in December 2009 requested a rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision to issue permits for Jordan Cove and its associated pipeline; FERC has yet to respond to that request, however, according to Monica Vaughan, an organizer with both Pacific Environment and Friends of Living Oregon Waters.

In addition, a Delaware company, Pacific Connector, announced a lawsuit against the state of Oregon in September 2010. The pipeline developer claims the state is willfully blocking pipeline construction by requiring written consent from 220 landowners along the pipeline’s route before considering whether to issue wetland permits for the project.

“The terminal is pretty much done, but the pipeline still has some permits that need approvals,” said Bob Braddock, vice president and project manager for Jordan Cove. “We’re out of the period where there is uncertainty in the outcome of whether we’ll get permits. The uncertainty now is when as opposed to whether.”

Community opposition to the Coos Bay terminal has been widespread, Vaughan said, because of environmental, energy and economic reasons. There have been drastic declines in prices, consumption and importation of natural gas in recent years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2009, net U.S. imports of natural gas were the fewest since 1994 and U.S. consumption declined. Plus, the U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of natural gas.

“I think it is pretty clear there is no way this project could be profitable as an importation facility,” Vaughan said. “All LNG projects in the U.S. that were sitting idle are now asking for certification to export. I can only speculate (Jordan Cove developers) have different intentions for the facility once they receive all of their certifications.”

Jordan Cove developers agree that the growing U.S. production changes the economics of the project, and that it’s highly unlikely any terminal in North America will receive new imports of liquefied natural gas daily. But Braddock said that doesn’t eliminate the potential need to provide opportunistic deliveries of gas.

“If a cargo ship carrying LNG is turned away because a tank in Japan is filled, the only place in the world with the infrastructure to take any gas you throw at it is North America,” Braddock said. “From a buyer standpoint, you can always sell it, and that will do a lot to push the price of gas down.”

Comments on the Port of Coos Bay’s Jordan Cove slip dock are being accepted through Feb. 12, and Vaughan is encouraging the community to speak out against the facility.

Meanwhile, Oregon LNG’s proposal to build a liquefied natural gas import facility near Warrenton faced a major setback earlier this month when Clatsop County commissioners opted to withdraw a prior decision approving land-use permits.

Environmental groups hope that Clatsop County will take a harder look at Oregon LNG this time around, according to Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper. A public hearing on the facility is scheduled for March.

“There is a lot of opposition for both Oregon LNG and Jordan Cove,” VandenHeuvel said. “It is prudent to consider whether these projects comply with the law, and whether they are appropriate.”

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