These days, all natural gas pipelines lead to Malin

Hearings on two of three pipelines will be this week

Klamath Falls Herald and News Editorial

April 22, 2008

    Sometimes it seems like all roads lead to small towns in Klamath County , such as Malin.

    These Klamath County towns, better known locally for fertile fields and good high school athletes, sit at the confluence of natural gas pipelines and the Northwest power grid. The gas line-power grid proximity attracts serious attention from major industries and occasionally vaults such towns as Bonanza and Malin into high visibility.

    Hearings on two proposed pipelines take place this week in Klamath Falls , Malin and Lakeview.

    They’re different pipelines coming from different directions, both of which would hook up with a natural gas line hub near Malin to feed it with natural gas primarily intended for California .

     A few years ago Bonanza was the center of attention when Peoples Energy, based in Chicago , wanted to build a generating plant near that town to produce electricity from natural gas that would be moved out over the power grid. That plan fell through.

    This week Malin will be the site of a hearing on a proposed 42-inch-diameter pipeline known as the Ruby Pipeline that could move about 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day to Klamath County from Wyoming. The 680-mile pipeline would be built by the El Paso Corp. It would follow the same route as another pipeline, the Bronco Pipeline, which is being proposed by Spectra Energy, headquartered in Houston .

Then there’s the LNG line   

    There’s a third pipeline coming this way, but from the other direction. It has already fueled a lot of conflict because of the way the gas gets to Oregon .

    That is the 230-mile Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline — often called the Jordan Cove Pipeline — that would come west from the Coos Bay area, where the gas would be offloaded from huge containers.

    Liquified natural gas is shipped in minus-263 degree containers to reduce it to a liquid, which takes up about 1/600 of the space it occupies in gaseous form. The fluid would be warmed at the terminal and sent through the pipeline as a gas. Most of it would pass through Klamath County , where it would be fed into the Malin hub.

    At least three sites have been proposed for liquefied natural gas terminals on the coast — the one at Jordan Cove and two others on the Columbia River . They’ve run into strong opposition because of safety and other issues along with some feeling of helplessness because 2005 legislation gave the federal government most of the authority over such facilities and states don’t have much to say about it.   

     Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has proposed along with other senators to return more power over LNG siting issues to the states. We think Wyden’s on the right track.

    Small towns involved in such matters also ought to have a say. They’re far more likely to get it from the state than the federal government.

    As for this week’s meetings, go to them with an open mind, ask questions and find out everything you can about such things as safety and land acquisition. You might also ask if there’s even a need for all three pipelines.

     Here’s the hearing schedule:

    Ruby Pipeline from Wyoming :  7 p.m. today in the Malin Community Hall. 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Lakeview Eagles Lodge.

    Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline from the Coos Bay area: 6 p.m. Thursday, Shilo Inn, Klamath Falls .


    Pat Bushey wrote today’s editorial.

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Source:  http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2008/04/22/viewpoints/

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