Federal energy regulators want to take another look at the authorization they issued for the Jordan Cove Energy Project in Southwest Oregon. It could be a pivotal moment for the controversial project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, authorized the Calgary-based Pembina company in March 2020 to begin building the Jordan Cove Energy Project. The project would consist mainly of a liquified natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay, on Oregon’s south coast, supplied by a 229-mile-long pipeline starting in Malin, on the California border in Klamath County. The authorization order was contingent on Jordan Cove getting key permits from the state.
After failing to get those permits – and losing subsequent legal challenges to those denials – Jordan Cove officials said last May they were “pausing” the project to consider their options. Affected landowners, tribes, environmentalists and Oregon state officials asked FERC to reverse – or at least put on hold – Jordan Cove’s authorization. Landowners, in particular, are worried the company could use the eminent domain powers that came with the FERC authorization, even if the project ultimately doesn’t get built.
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2019, file photo, demonstrators against a proposed liquid-natural gas pipeline and export terminal in Oregon flooded into the State Capitol in Salem, Ore., to demand Democratic Gov. Kate Brown stand against the proposal. They staged a sit-in at her office in the Capitol, but she was not present. The Jordan Cove pipeline is undergoing a permitting process, would end at a proposed marine export terminal in Coos Bay, Ore. Opponents say the pipeline would encourage further use of fossil fuels that leads to global warming and the use of fracking, with the risk of spills along the pipeline and at the terminal.
Andrew Selsky / AP
Now, FERC wants all parties to submit updated information while it reconsiders. Given the project’s lack of essential state permits, FERC specifically asks Pembina to “clarify” how it intends to move forward.
The parties have until Dec. 15 to submit briefs.