Proposed New Central Oregon Gas Pipeline
Gas pipeline might lower rates – project could go through Jefferson County
By Chuck Chiang - The Bulletin – Published: August 10. 2007
[Also see map image of pipeline from Central Oregon to the Columbia River.]
A major natural gas pipeline that is proposed to branch from the northern reaches of Central Oregon has the potential to lower rates locally in the future, industry officials said Thursday.
The project, expected to cost roughly between $600 million to $700 million, is a joint venture between Portland-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. and the pipe’s builder TransCanada Corp. The preliminary 220-mile route goes through Wasco County north of Madras and through Maupin, although officials said the plan is in its “very early” stages and did not rule out going through Jefferson County.
Project manager Henry Morse said the pipeline will connect to a Northwest natural gas distribution center near Molalla in the Willamette Valley, then potentially connect to the mouth of the Columbia River where it would link with a proposed liquified natural gas terminal.
That LNG terminal could then convert the fuel to liquid form and distribute it throughout the Western United States, Morse said. The fuel’s liquid form is more compact than other forms, providing better value for utilities to redistribute the fuel throughout the state.
“If the pipeline connects to the liquid natural gas terminal, ultimately, what isn’t used up in the Oregon and Washington state markets could then be redistributed into the overall network,” he said. “It’ll provide a new source of gas for the entire state, because (the supply from the terminal) is available to everyone in the state.”
Morse added that the pipe would be at an undisclosed depth underground and would be safe.
“It’ll be buried like (most other) natural gas lines,” he said. “Most people don’t even know they’re there.”
Morse added that there may be some local jobs created for the project. He expects about 1,000 workers to build the pipeline during peak construction, and up to 40 percent of those workers may be from local regions like Jefferson and Wasco counties.
“The pipe is 36 inches in diameter and has a wall roughly half-an-inch thick,” he said. “Only a few places in North America make these pipes, and part of the construction process is very specialized. But there’ll be some general construction, and we’ll encourage subcontractors to hire (locally) for those workers.”
The project, which officials estimate will go though two years of approval processes from federal authorities and an additional year for land acquisition, is expected to generate $8 million in annual property taxes to be spread among the counties through which the pipeline passes.
Although Northwest Natural Gas Co. does not serve Central Oregon, the region’s chief natural gas provider — Seattle-based Cascade Natural Gas Corp. — said it could potentially use the pipeline to serve nearby communities in the future.
“We’re not one of the initial (participants in) the project,” said Larry Rosok, Cascade’s vice president of human resources. “However, whether we use it or not depends on the economy of the new pipeline versus other pipelines.”
Currently, Central Oregon is served by a single TransCanada pipeline stretching from the Canadian border through Oregon east of Bend before connecting with another line at Klamath Falls.
“Having more options for customers is always a good thing,” Rosok said. “So another pipeline doesn’t hurt us because it gives us more options as a supplier.”
Jon Stoltz, Cascade’s senior vice president of gas supply and regulatory affairs, keeps a keen eye on the Northwest’s natural gas network.
Stoltz said the real potential for the pipeline is its link to the LNG terminal at the mouth of the Columbia, where the fuel can be converted into liquid forms and then re-introduced in Oregon, providing competition for gas carried by the pipelines themselves.
“The terminal would distribute gas to not only Oregon, but the Northwest and down to Northern California,” he said. “With that route available, we’ll certainly look at bringing liquid natural gas to Central Oregon, and there is the potential for price relief.”
Northwest and TransCanada will hold a number of open houses in the next few months to inform residents and landowners and to garner input. One event is scheduled Aug. 20, between 5 and 8 p.m., at the Imperial River Co. in Maupin.
Chuck Chiang can be reached at 541-617-7859 or at cchiang@bendbulletin.com.
