Natural Gas Pipeline Route Change Studied

No matter which route this proposed natural gas pipeline takes across Oregon it still remains a roundabout way to get natural gas to California since California refused to let pipelines be built on its shores and across its lands.  [For more details and a map of this proposed pipeline read the blog post dated March 24, 2008 titled "Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Would Cut Across Half of Oregon"]

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Alternate gas routes studied in Eastern Oregon
Associated Press – June 11, 2009
 
A gas pipeline company says it is considering two alternates to a route that would cross the Deschutes River at a stretch designated as wild and scenic.

Officials of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation asked Palomar Gas Transmission to consider alternatives to a crossing north of Maupin.

The company has proposed one alternative that would cut through Maupin and another, farther south, that would cross the reservation. It plans public hearings later in the month.

The alternates are at the eastern end of a 220-mile line that would run from an import terminal proposed near Astoria to an existing trunk line.

Palomar is a project of the gas utility NW Natural and TransCanada, a pipeline company based in Alberta.

What About Natural Gas as a Fuel Source?

Natural Gas: A Cleaner Option, But Still A Fossil Fuel
BY April Baer – OPB News – April 20, 2009

A Few Natural Gas Facts:>
> Contribution to current Oregon energy mix — 14%

> Cost per kwh currently — As with coal, there’s a lot of variation depending on the location of the plant, and what kind of plant we’re talking about. Most analyst calculate using  $0.06 to $0.11 per KWh, depending on whether the plant in question is baseload or only used during peak periods. As noted in the story, the numbers fluxuate widely. Best estimates come from the quarterly statements utilities furnish to their customers.

> Is this power source renewable? — No

> Is it intermittent or baseload power? — Baseload, although some plants are only used during peak periods.

One of the most pressing questions in today’s power market is how Oregon can be weaned off polluting fossil fuels, and onto the developing renewable sources.

As part of our on-going series on energy, The Switch, April Baer reports that dilemma is part of what’s driving the hottest commodity on Oregon’s energy market, natural gas.

Proposed Natural Gas Pipelines Might Go Through Oregon Vineyards

Pipelines race out of the mountains; into yards

By Sandy Shore – AP Energy Writer – November 30, 2008
 
In the push toward more energy independence, massive infrastructure projects that will help to deliver it have clashed with cherished rights of land ownership.

Proven natural gas reserves have jumped 10 of the past 11 years, according to the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration, and thousands of miles of new pipelines have snaked in every direction.

In just the past 10 years alone, more than 20,000 miles of new natural gas pipelines have been built and brought on line. Those pipelines can carry more than 97 billion cubic feet of natural gas every day.

The owners of property over which new pipelines are planned are concerned about leaks into water and soil, land damaged by construction, land lost to a right of way and, in some cases, even loss of livelihood.

Those concerns range from a Midwestern horse farm which stands to lose grazing land, to Betty Wahle’s family vineyard in Yamhill, Ore.

Her land is actually ground zero for not one, but two pipelines. The developers would dig up chunks of rich dirt and some vines that have been nurtured for more than three decades, she said.

Those vines, said Wahle, 68, would not be restored to their current state in her lifetime.

“It’s just going to be devastating,” she said.

Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Would Cut Across Half of Oregon

Is the enviromental damage worth the short-term profits to get natural gas to California markets?

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Proposed Oregon natural gas pipeline would slice through public forest, rivers and streams
by Peter Zuckerman, The Oregonian – March 24, 2008

The latest maps of a natural gas line proposed for Oregon show a freeway-wide clear-cut slicing through 73 miles of public forest and the pressurized pipeline crossing about 50 rivers and named streams.

At peak construction, Palomar Gas Transmission plans to employ up to 1,000 workers to clear brush and trees along a 120-foot-wide path, level terrain and bury the pipe in a trench 7 feet deep, according to the latest draft of a report filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Until now, environmental opposition to the Palomar project and a similar, competing proposal centered on concerns about possible pollution or spills from tankers crossing the Columbia River bar and transferring huge quantities of fuel at an estuary upstream from Astoria. New details about Palomar’s proposed route expand the debate to include communities throughout northwest Oregon.

In all, the pipeline would extend 210 miles, feeding into a natural gas network east of the Cascades. Work crews would cut through public and private land using backhoes, rock cutters, tractor-mounted mechanical rippers and blasting tools. Palomar officials say they would minimize environmental damage while providing Oregonians with jobs and a reliable source of energy.

Critics say the project would degrade wildlife and fish habitat, destabilize soil, kill endangered species, spread invasive weeds, destroy patches of old-growth trees and open public forest to all-terrain vehicles.

Proposed Gas Pipeline Would Go Through Central Oregon

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.