Energy firm withdraws permit application for Oregon pipeline

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A Canadian energy company has withdrawn its application for a state permit for a controversial natural gas pipeline and export terminal in Oregon, and a project spokesman said Friday it is instead awaiting possible federal approval.

Two Oregon state lawmakers on Friday accused the Jordan Cove Energy Project of stalling in order to have the Trump administration, which has embraced the mega-project, approve it in an attempt to override all denials from Oregon state agencies.

The Oregon Department of State Lands had been expected to deny a permit for the project on Jan. 31. State Lands Director Vicki Walker this week refused a request by Jordan Cove to extend a Jan. 31 deadline, saying the department had already agreed to numerous deadline extensions .

Jordan Cove, which is a project of Pembina, an energy company based in Calgary, Canada, responded by telling Walker in a letter Thursday that it was immediately withdrawing its application for a removal-fill permit, needed to dredge sediment out of Coos Bay for the marine export terminal, and to construct a pipeline through and under waterways in southern Oregon.

The proposed natural gas terminal and a 230-mile (370-kilometer) feeder pipeline would permit shipment of natural gas from the United States and Canada to Asia and create local jobs. Opponents say it would ruin habitat and that the increased use of a fossil fuel would contribute to global warming.

Two politicians from southern Oregon — a region that the proposed pipeline would cross — criticized Jordan Cove's tactics.

“The applicant’s behavior over the last year ... suggests to us that they are not significantly focused on gaining necessary approval from state agencies. It appears that they are counting instead on approval of their broader application to the Federal Energy...