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DOE OKs Jordan Cove export permit LNG facility receives approval to export to non-Free Trade Agreement countries ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — The Jordan Cove Energy Project has cleared another hurdle with the U.S. Department of Energy’s support. On Monday morning, the U.S. DOE conditionally authorized Jordan Cove to export liquefied
natural gas to non-Free Trade Agreement countries. The approval allows Jordan Cove to export LNG at a rate of 0.8 billion standard cubic feet per day for 20 years. The LNG facility had already been granted approval to export LNG to Free Trade Agreement countries in December 2011. The U.S. has FTAs with 20 countries. The Natural Gas Act directs the DOE to grant export authorizations unless it says the proposed exports “will not be consistent with the public interest.” Officials have been watching the DOE’s list closely, where Jordan Cove’s application sat in the No. 1
spot awaiting approval or denial. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., applauded the DOE’s decision. Wyden, former chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, had urged DOE to strongly consider Jordan Cove’s application. “This announcement is exactly what Coos Bay, North Bend and America need: new jobs and new investment, while factoring in a changed geopolitical landscape through a case-by-case process,” Wyden said in a statement. “Priority one for me has always been ensuring American jobs and employers see the full benefits of
the natural gas renaissance. The Department of Energy must monitor markets closely and be prepared to adjust course should any threat to American jobs or energy security emerge.” Mark Wall, co-chair of Boost Southwest Oregon, said his email account began bursting as the news became known among supporters. “It’s a great day for Coos County, and a long time coming,” he said. “It’s not the end of it, of course. But this is the one step that makes it all financially feasible.” Veresen Inc., Jordan Cove’s parent company, announced in October 2013 that it had finalized
25-year non-binding Heads of Agreement with three prospective customers in Indonesia, India and an eastern Asian country. Indonesia and India are not FTA countries. “It basically is catering to people who do not have the decency to sign a trade agreement with us,” said Jody McCaffree, executive director of Citizens Against LNG. “If they want our gas, sign a trade agreement with us. We’re giving them our cheap gas at our expense. It’s just totally unconscionable that they would do that.” SEE PERMIT | A8
Appeal filed against new Port Orford golf course
Veterans pony up to help readers
BY JOHN GUNTHER
BY TIM NOVOTNY
The World
The World
NORTH BEND — One of the most symbolic images of the American fighting presence in Europe during the first World War is the French boxcar that was used to transport troops to the front by rail. They were called Forty & Eights due to the stenciled 40/8 on the outside of the boxcar that indicated they could haul up to 40 men or eight horses. They are still remembered in the Bay Area thanks to the actual boxcar given to the state of Oregon by the French people after the war, a gift called a Merci car, and by the more than 40 men and women who make up a local veterans organization. Those local men and women typically work under the radar, doing what they can to help their community. Such was the case earlier this year when they presented a check to a local elementary school to help build young readers. Kevin Owens says Coos County Voiture 316 of the Forty & Eight handed over a check of $535.50 to the SMART Reading Program at Hillcrest Elementary School in North Bend. SEE READING | A8
By Lou Sennick, The World
A group of local veterans, members of Voiture 316 Forty & Eight, have been volunteering to make a difference in the community.The group is named after the French boxcars, such as this one in North Bend, to each state at the end of World War I.
The proposed Pacific Gales golf course near Port Orford faces an expected obstacle: an appeal from an environmental group. Oregon Coast Alliance has appealed the Curry County Planning Commission’s approval of a conditional use application that allows the golf course on a portion of Knapp Ranch, located between Port Orford and Cape Blanco. The group appealed the project on several grounds, and now the conditional use application will be heard by the Curry County Commissioners in a hearing April 17. The course developer, Elk River Property Development LLC, remains committed to the project, project manager Troy Russell said. “We’re certainly not surprised by the Oregon Coast Alliance’s appeal, because that’s what they do — fight perceived issues based on principle rather than fact, even when it may be in the best interest of Oregonians,” Russell said in a prepared statement, pointing out that ORCA’s website lists several other projects it opposes on the South Coast. “Here you have an organization nowhere near Curry County trying to shoot down a project that will have both short-term and long-term economic benefits for Port Orford and the Southern Oregon coast, where tourism is the key economic driver after the devastation suffered by losses in the fishing and timber industries.” Because the golf course would be built on land zoned exclusive farm use, a conditional use permit is required. The planning commission approved the permit with a long list of conditions. SEE APPEAL | A8
Flood insurance worries hit Oregon high desert
INSIDE
PORTLAND — A Ford dealership in the high desert of southeast Oregon is an unlikely place to find dismay with FEMA flood insurance policies. But that’s where owner Ted Marshall hosted U.S. Rep. Greg Walden last summer, showing him an imaginary line that runs through his service garage. A Federal Emergency Management Agency flood map considers one side of the
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floor to be in a flood plain. The other side is not. It baffles him that any part of his business is considered at risk. “This facility was built in 1910,” Marshall said from downtown Burns. “And since 1910 it has never flooded. Ever.” The question of what’s in a flood plain and what’s out has become especially important as the government looks to rid the National Flood Insurance Program of $24 billion in debt by ditching artificially cheap policies that have been
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available for decades. Congress passed a law two years ago requiring policyholders to start paying rates that reflect the true flood risk at their homes and businesses. The new prices were so steep, however, that President Barack Obama signed a law Friday that phases in the increases for more than 1 million policyholders, including the owners of more than 9,300 plans in Oregon. Delaying the sharpest pain has not erased concerns. Even with the
congressional action, about 6,800 Oregon homeowners still face annual premium increases as high as 18 percent, compounding year after year, until the government is collecting what it needs to pay out claims. Nearly 2,600 subsidized policies on businesses and second homes with now will be hit with increases of 25 percent each year until they switch to a risk-based rate. In Burns, more than 100 policyholders are confronting an increase, according to FEMA statistics collected by The Associated
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BY STEVEN DUBOIS
Press. That’s not an insignificant number in a city with fewer than 3,000 people. “If those kinds of increases really happen, all those homes you’re talking about? Probably not sellable,” said Steven Grasty, a top official in Harney County. “You’re probably talking about premiums that are higher than a house payment would be. So who’s going to do that?” FEMA and the county are workSEE INSURANCE | A8
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