PG&E Oregon pipeline would connect with planned LNG terminal

[hunter]

PG&E Oregon pipeline would connect with planned LNG terminal

2/8/2006, 8:46 p.m. PT

By WILLIAM McCALL
The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric announced Wednesday it has joined forces with two other companies to build a pipeline across Oregon to link with a liquefied natural gas terminal now in the planning stages for the Oregon coast.

The pipeline could boost tight Western natural gas supplies by 20 percent, PG&E said. But it is contingent on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of the proposed terminal at Coos Bay that would unload LNG tankers.

The pipeline announcement marked what was believed to be the first time such a project has moved toward FERC certification among a number of West Coast ports vying to build an LNG terminal, which critics say poses security and safety risks.

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/business-1/1139460847294920.xml&storylist=orlocal

I think we've pretty much worked ourselves into a corner where liquid natural gas imports are inevitable. Too much of our domestic energy infrastructure depends on natural gas that we can no longer produce ourselves at a reasonable economic or environmental cost. (Synthetic methane produced from coal would be an environmental catastrophe.)

If we don't build LNG terminals in the United States, they will probably be built in Mexico.

Overall, I think liquid natural gas imports will be bad for our economy, and bad for our international relationships.