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July 9th: The 'No LNG' Fight Comes to Washington

author: Monica et al.
Jul 04, 2009 08:36

A Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on the Columbia river has been proposed. Dan Serres, Conservation Director of Columbia Riverkeeper, will screen the film "Crossroads on the Columbia" and discuss the details of how LNG pipelines can negatively impact the region. The tour is aimed at gaining citizen support to pressure Governor Gregoire and the Department of Ecology to critically evaluate LNG terminals and pipelines proposed in the northwest using the Clean Water Act and SEPA.

Film Screening & Talk
Thurs. July 9th, 7-9 pm
The Mountaineers
7700 Sand Point Way NE

Energy speculators from New York, Texas and California have descended on the northwest with plans for three massive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) port and storage terminals. The primary goal of the projects is to send gas to California, which has itself denied every LNG terminal that has been proposed to date because of LNG’s public safety and environmental impacts.

Two LNG terminal ports are proposed for the lower Columbia River and one is planned for Coos Bay. Each of these terminals would include over 220 miles of high-pressure gas pipelines that would rip across sensitive wildlife habitats in Coos Bay and the Columbia Estuary, across thousands of family farms and forestlands, and through important forest habitats. Numerous state and federal agencies, from Oregon DEQ and ODFW to the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. EPA, have raised serious concerns about the impacts of planned LNG projects, as have a diverse coalition of business leaders, conservationists, farmers, commercial and sport fisherman, and private property rights advocates. Native Americans are opposing one or more of these projects.

If built, LNG terminals would import millions of tons of new fossil fuels to the northwest, and come with hundreds of miles of new pipelines. These projects would drastically increase our regional greenhouse gas emissions. A project this large would require clear cutting forests and threaten endangered species.

A natural gas pipelines put the people who live nearby at risk. On June 10, 1999, there was a deadly accident in Bellingham when an Olympic Pipe Line's supervisory control computer system crashed. A 16-inch line leaked up to 277,000 gallons of gasoline into Bellingham creeks. Gasoline vapor later exploded in flames, and two 10-year-old boys and a teenager were killed. The next year, a family was killed by a pipeline while camping in New Mexico. In 2004, five workers were killed in California while working near a pipeline. In 2007, an elderly woman and her granddaughter were killed in their front yard when a Mississippi propane pipeline failed. In May of this year, a ruptured natural gas pipeline in Rockville, Indiana, resulted in flames reaching as high as 700 feet into the air that could be seen over 15 miles away.

For the past few years a movement has been growing in California and Oregon to halt the proliferation of these huge new LNG terminals in favor of a more sustainable energy strategy. This movement is now coming to Washington.

Organizers seek to bring LNG to light as a climate issue and urge Gregoire to stand up for a homegrown, green energy future and use her full authority to conduct a life-cycle emissions analysis of the LNG terminal proposed on the Columbia River.

--> LNG projects would drastically increase Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions
--> LNG competes with a clean, renewable energy future
--> Cowlitz Co. WA is threatened with pipeline development that could use eminent domain and threaten the safety of Washington homes

The NO LNG movement is a broad, diverse coalition that has successfully pushed community rights and the climate and energy agenda in the northwest for years

About the film: "Crossroads on the Columbia" chronicles a community’s response to private energy investment companies’ proposals to build controversial Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receiving terminals on the lower Columbia River near the historic town of Astoria, Oregon. The passion and power of grass roots activism set against the backdrop of the beauty, heritage and history of the Columbia Pacific Region make this a compelling story of America at the crossroads of fossil fuel dependence, renewable energy and decisions over who controls our air, water and economy.

Other presentations in Washington:

Bellingham
Tues. July 7th, 7-9 pm
The Sustainable Living Center
2309 Meridian St.
(above The RE Store)

Spokane
Wed. July 8th, 7-9 pm
REI 2nd Floor
2421 Mission St.

Sponsored by Sierra Club, Columbia Riverkeeper, 1Sky, Focus the Nation, North Sound Baykeeper and Pipeline Safety Trust.

For additional information:  http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/

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