Oregon DEQ Says Bradwood Landing Water Quality Permit is Unlikely

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has echoed federal fisheries regulators in saying that the available data concerning the environmental impacts of the proposed Bradwood Landing LNG terminal is inadequate, warning that a water quality permit would likely be denied in the absence of additional information.

The FERC recently told the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service that it would have to evaluate the terminal’s impact without the additional data it had requested. Oregon’s DEQ, however, is standing its ground in requesting the data, which includes sampling and three-dimensional computer modeling.

Texas-based NorthernStar Natural Gas, Bradwood’s backer, has requested that the agency drop its requests or else approve a conditional certificate pending additional study.

But according to The Oregonian, a DEQ administrator, Nina DeConcini, said the additional data was needed prior to making a decision about the project because “[Oregon has] never done one of these projects,” adding “We have some information, but we know we need more.”

The DEQ has also said it will weigh NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion on the project’s potential impact on salmon in making its decision.

The DEQ is supposed to make a decision by May 7 and has told NorthernStar that it can withdraw its application and re-submit it with more complete data. That would mean precious lost time for the project, which is competing with two other proposed LNG terminals in the region.

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