NorthernStar Natural Suspends Bradwood Landing, Files for Bankruptcy

NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. and its subsidiaries have halted development of the Bradwood Landing LNG terminal and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

In a company statement, NorthernStar President Paul Soanes blamed "The extended delays in the processing of state and federal permits for Bradwood Landing and the difficult investment environment …”.

The company launched the project six years ago, hoping to be the first West Coast deep-water LNG port. Although the project won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, it faced problems with state regulators over zoning and salmon protection issues.

Last month the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals agreed the project was too large for its proposed site and would not adequately protect fish, and remanded the project’s permit to Clatsop County, for reconsideration.

The Oregonian reported that Mike Carrier, Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s natural resources policy director, said the company told him its financial backer, a private equity fund that put $100 million into the company’s LNG development efforts in Oregon and California, was “pulling the plug.”

Cameron Horowitz, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, told the Associated Press that increased domestic supplies of natural gas have reduced the demand for LNG imports to the extent that LNG facilities on the Gulf of Mexico have been trying to win permission to ship LNG stockpiles back overseas.

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