As Oregon Sends Jordan Cove LNG Back to Drawing Board, Gulf Coast Projects Press Forward

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On Monday, Oregon state regulators dealt a blow to the proposed Jordan Cove Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, refusing to issue a state water quality certificate required by the Army Corps of Engineers, citing unresolved concerns about water pollution and the companyโ€™s failure to answer information requests from the state in a timelyย manner.

โ€œThis is a huge victory for clean water and healthy ecosystems in Oregon, and it will help protect our climate from dangerous fossil fuel projects,โ€ Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. โ€œThe state water quality standards are intended to protect people and species from harm, and itโ€™s clearย Jordanย Coveย would cause incredible damage to Oregonโ€™sย waterways.โ€

The state decision was made without prejudice, meaning that the company canย reapply.

The projectโ€™s owner, Pembina Pipeline Corp., had told investors four days before the water certification rejection that it planned to reduce its Jordan Cove spending forecast for the year to $50 million, a 50 percent reduction, and that it would hunt for partners to buy out 40 to 60 percent of its stake in Jordan Cove and the associated Pacific Connectorย pipeline.

โ€œPembina’s Management team is working to better understand this decision and its impacts and will communicate updates when appropriate,โ€ Pembina spokesperson Tasha Cadotte told the Associated Press after the state rejected theย certification.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider whether state approval should be required for energy infrastructure projects under the Clean Water Act (drawing immediate objections from over a dozen environmental groups who argued that the move would beย unlawful).

Largest Source of Greenhouse Gases inย Oregon

Jordan Cove has sought federal permits to daily ship more than 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas, a fossil fuel which can be worse for the climate than coal, according to multiple studies, when burned for electricalย power.

If built, Jordan Cove would become the largest source of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissionsย in Oregon, numbers from a recently completed federal environmental review show, releasing 2.14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents a year โ€” a huge chunk of Oregonโ€™s total greenhouse gas goal, set at 51 million tons next year and tightening afterย that.

Outside estimates have pegged the projectโ€™s total greenhouse gas footprint far higher, based on an assessment that includes the full life cycle of the gas shipped through Jordan Cove, rather than on-site emission alone.ย ย 

Jordan Cove would create 36.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions based on a full life-cycle analysis, a 2018 Oil Change International report concluded.

It would take the stateโ€™s only remaining coal-fired power plant 15 years to create as much greenhouse gas pollution as Jordan Cove would emit in one year, that analysis found. That coal-fired power plant, the Boardman plant, is slated to close next year, and Portland General Electric announced in February that it planned to build a 380 megawatt wind, solar, and battery energy facility to power 105,000 homes to partially replace Boardmanโ€™s 575 megawatts ofย power.

The West Coast LNG terminal would allow gas from Colorado โ€” much of it from fracked gas wells โ€” and Canada to be shipped to Asia. Pembina has said it reached non-binding deals with potential buyers abroad for LNG shipped through Jordan Cove and is working to reach bindingย agreements.

Proposed Projectโ€™s Troubledย History

In 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected Jordan Cove because its owner had failed to show demand for its gas in Asia by signing contracts with buyers and citing the harm to Oregon landowners and the environment. Later that year, it rejected a request toย reconsider.

Pembina acquired the project in 2017 and re-applied for FERCย approval.

Top Trump administration officials signaled strong support for Jordan Cove. โ€œThe first thing weโ€™re going to do is weโ€™re going to permit an LNG export facility in the Northwest,โ€ Gary Cohn, then-director of the National Economic Council said in 2017 remarks reported by The Washington Post. โ€œThe one place weโ€™re going to permit in the Northwest, itโ€™s been turned down twiceย already.โ€

On March 29, FERC released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Jordan Cove, which opened up a public comment period for the project through July 5.

Environmentalists called on the commission to reject Jordan Cove onceย again.

โ€œFERC was right to reject this dangerous fracked gas export terminal last time, when FERC explained that there was no evidence showing that anybody actually wanted to buy gas from this boondoggle,โ€ said Rhett Lawrence, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club’s Oregon Chapter. โ€œNothing has changed sinceย then.โ€

Gulf Coast LNG Export Wave Is Bigger, Moreย Polluting

Natural gas and LNG are both notorious for their price swings โ€” making construction of major LNG import and export terminals, which can cost billions of dollars and take years to move from drawing board to operation, a risky prospect forย investors.

Nonetheless, driven by a massive glut of gas from the North American shale drilling rush, a massive wave of LNG export projects isย underway.

Proposed North American LNG export terminals
Proposed LNG export terminals in the U.S. are concentrated along the Gulf Coast. Credit: FERC

Five of the 11 projects FERC currently lists as โ€œproposedโ€ are larger than Jordan Cove, including the 3.6 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day Brownsville project in Brownsville, Texas, and the 3.4 bcf/day Venture Global LNG project in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, which would each have more than triple the capacity of the proposed Oregonย terminal.

In April, FERC announced approval for Tellurianโ€™s Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana โ€” recipient of the largest local tax break in U.S. history, with a capacity of 4ย bcf/day โ€” and the Port Arthur Liquefaction Project in Port Arthur, Texas, with a 1.86 bcf/day capacity. Construction has not yet started on those two plants and three others recently approved by FERC, all the same size or larger than Jordanย Cove.

Tellurian plans a final investment decision on Driftwood this year. Earlier this month, the Trump administrationโ€™s Department of Energy granted Driftwood and Sempra Energyโ€™s Port Arthur project export approvals that would permit their LNG to be sold in Asian countries. And FERC issued a final environmental impact study for a proposed 3.4 bcf/day plant in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, moving that project closer toย approval.

The gas industry is expected to pour $200 billion into LNG import and export facilities and associated projects between 2019 and 2025, according to energy researchers at Woodย Mackenzie.

By 2030, the United Nations has warned, the world must have taken dramatic action to slash carbon and methane emissions. Last October, the UN released a report warning that within 12 years, the world must reduce its greenhouses gas pollution by 40 to 50 percent or risk breaching the 1.5 degree Celsius goal (which would carry, at minimum, impacts like significantly worse droughts, flooding, and risks to human health and theย economy.)

โ€œWe are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet,โ€ General Assembly President Marรญa Fernanda Espinosa Garcรฉs said in a March 28 address. โ€œEleven years is all we have ahead of us to change our direction. 2019 must be the year of climate action at allย levels.โ€

Main image:ย An LNG terminal in Sweden on the Baltic Sea. Credit:ย Jan Arrhรฉnborg/AGA,ย CC BYSAย 3.0
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Sharon Kelly is an attorney and investigative reporter based in Pennsylvania. She was previously a senior correspondent at The Capitol Forum and, prior to that, she reported for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Earth Island Journal, and a variety of other print and online publications.

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