Post 1193: Other shoe drops: NorthernStar pulls plug on LNG terminal in Oregon - Portland Oregonian
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Hans Laetz, Newsgroup Editor
May 5, 2010, 12:37:59 PM5/5/10
to California LNG News
LNG developer pulls the plug on Bradwood Landing project
(Editor;'s note: NorthernStar killed its Ventura idea LNG terminal
last month. This leaves the Houston-based company with no active
projects (that we know of). It also is the end of the most-public LNG
battles out there.
Two other LNG proposals remain alive, in Coos Bay and near the mouth
of the Columbia River. They both have their own set of problems.
More to come: yesterday, NorthernStar Natural Gas said it was
suspending efforts to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal
at Bradwood Landing on the Columbia River, 25 miles east of Astoria.
- Hans)
By Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian
May 04, 2010, 5:19PM
Bradwood Landing was an industrial site from 1856 until 1965. It
housed a lumber mill, company town and deep water port.Ending a six-
year effort that consumed as much as $100 million, countless hours of
regulatory work, and engendered a firestorm of public opposition,
NorthernStar Natural Gas said this afternoon that it was suspending
efforts to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal at Bradwood
Landing on the Columbia River, 25 miles east of Astoria.
The Houston based energy development company sent out a one-page news
release this afternoon quoting NorthernStar president Paul Soanes
saying "the extended delays in the processing of state and federal
permits for Bradwood Landing and the difficult investment environment
have forced us to suspend development."
The company characterized its move as a “suspension” of the project,
not a termination.
Mike Carrier, Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s natural resources policy director,
said the company told him today that another developer could
conceivably resurrect the effort. But Carrier said that NorthernStar
told him that its investment backer, a private equity fund that has
put $100 million into the company’s LNG development efforts in Oregon
and California, is pulling the plug.
Project opponents celebrated Bradwood’s announcement.
“It’s a huge victory for Oregonians, for family farms, for clean
water, for salmon habitat, for fisherman,” said Brett Vandenheuvel,
executive director of the conservation group Columbia Riverkeeper.
“LNG has no place in Oregon, not only Bradwood Landing but the other
two LNG terminals are not viable projects in Oregon either."
Two other companies are in federal and state permitting processes for
LNG terminals in Oregon. One just west of Astoria on the Columbia
River and the other in Coos Bay. Those projects are also competing
with a new pipeline that would import more gas from Wyoming to Oregon
and California.
NorthernStar began development work nearly six years ago on the
project, at a time when gas prices were high and the importation of
natural gas to the United States from abroad seemed like a lucrative
opportunity.
In addition to regulatory delays, NorthernStar’s investors were
doubtless focusing on the fact that domestic reserves of natural gas
have soared with the use of new drilling techniques to access
unconventional shale reserves, and the price of gas has plummeted with
the recession
Bradwood suspension also has implications for a controversial 200-mile
pipeline that NorthWest Natural Gas Co. and TransCanada were planning
to build to connect the LNG terminal with an interstate pipeline in
Central Oregon, near Madras.
Neither company returned calls this afternoon.
--
This message was sent to persons who have indicated interest about LNG terminals in Califonia. Archives are available at the main page. To post to this group, or comment on it, send me an email: hans...@gmail.com .
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(Editor;'s note: NorthernStar killed its Ventura idea LNG terminal
last month. This leaves the Houston-based company with no active
projects (that we know of). It also is the end of the most-public LNG
battles out there.
Two other LNG proposals remain alive, in Coos Bay and near the mouth
of the Columbia River. They both have their own set of problems.
More to come: yesterday, NorthernStar Natural Gas said it was
suspending efforts to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal
at Bradwood Landing on the Columbia River, 25 miles east of Astoria.
- Hans)
By Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian
May 04, 2010, 5:19PM
Bradwood Landing was an industrial site from 1856 until 1965. It
housed a lumber mill, company town and deep water port.Ending a six-
year effort that consumed as much as $100 million, countless hours of
regulatory work, and engendered a firestorm of public opposition,
NorthernStar Natural Gas said this afternoon that it was suspending
efforts to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal at Bradwood
Landing on the Columbia River, 25 miles east of Astoria.
The Houston based energy development company sent out a one-page news
release this afternoon quoting NorthernStar president Paul Soanes
saying "the extended delays in the processing of state and federal
permits for Bradwood Landing and the difficult investment environment
have forced us to suspend development."
The company characterized its move as a “suspension” of the project,
not a termination.
Mike Carrier, Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s natural resources policy director,
said the company told him today that another developer could
conceivably resurrect the effort. But Carrier said that NorthernStar
told him that its investment backer, a private equity fund that has
put $100 million into the company’s LNG development efforts in Oregon
and California, is pulling the plug.
Project opponents celebrated Bradwood’s announcement.
“It’s a huge victory for Oregonians, for family farms, for clean
water, for salmon habitat, for fisherman,” said Brett Vandenheuvel,
executive director of the conservation group Columbia Riverkeeper.
“LNG has no place in Oregon, not only Bradwood Landing but the other
two LNG terminals are not viable projects in Oregon either."
Two other companies are in federal and state permitting processes for
LNG terminals in Oregon. One just west of Astoria on the Columbia
River and the other in Coos Bay. Those projects are also competing
with a new pipeline that would import more gas from Wyoming to Oregon
and California.
NorthernStar began development work nearly six years ago on the
project, at a time when gas prices were high and the importation of
natural gas to the United States from abroad seemed like a lucrative
opportunity.
In addition to regulatory delays, NorthernStar’s investors were
doubtless focusing on the fact that domestic reserves of natural gas
have soared with the use of new drilling techniques to access
unconventional shale reserves, and the price of gas has plummeted with
the recession
Bradwood suspension also has implications for a controversial 200-mile
pipeline that NorthWest Natural Gas Co. and TransCanada were planning
to build to connect the LNG terminal with an interstate pipeline in
Central Oregon, near Madras.
Neither company returned calls this afternoon.
--
This message was sent to persons who have indicated interest about LNG terminals in Califonia. Archives are available at the main page. To post to this group, or comment on it, send me an email: hans...@gmail.com .
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to me, or to:
CaliforniaLNGn...@googlegroups.com
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