Clatsop planning staff recommends LNG denial

October 18 , 2007

Clatsop County Planning Department on Monday released a supplemental staff report recommending that the Clatsop County board of commissioners deny Bradwood Landing LLC’s application for zone changes and other land-use permits for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

The terminal would be on an abandoned mill site across the Columbia River from Puget Island at Bradwood, Ore. Bradwood Landing hopes to construct a receiving and gasification terminal capable of handling two or three LNG tanker loads per week.

The Clatsop board of commissioners will hold a public hearing on the Bradwood Landing land-use application from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday in the Liberty Theater, 1203 Commercial St., Astoria.

Last summer, Clatsop planning staff recommended the planning commission deny the permits and applications. The commission voted 4-3 in September to recommend approval by county commissioners.

The supplemental staff report concluded that some key elements of the application fail to comply with county ordinance provisions and comprehensive land-use policies to grant a zone change to build a liquefied natural gas marine terminal and related facilities at the former mill site.

Much of the proposed site is planned and zoned for marine industrial uses. Bradwood Landing is seeking several amendments to the county’s comprehensive land use plan to enlarge the area zoned for marine industrial uses and to dredge areas of the river so large LNG carriers can dock and unload at the proposed storage and distribution facility.

The county commissioners will need to decide whether Bradwood Landing meets the applicable criteria for each of its 27 applications. Bradwood Landing has the burden of proof to provide substantial evidence that each application meets the criteria.

The county’s review is specific to the site of the proposed LNG marine terminal, pipeline and related facilities and compliance with the county’s land-use plan and zoning regulations. The county’s review does not address issues such as LNG carrier traffic on the river that state and federal agencies will handle.

The supplemental and previous staff reports are available on the county web site at http://www.co.clatsop.or.us.

To give as many people as possible a chance to speak, the public hearing on Monday will run from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, 1:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The hearing could be continued to another date if necessary to accommodate testimony.

The staff report and a presentation by the applicant will likely take up the morning session, with public testimony beginning after lunch.

People who want to speak will need to sign in. People presenting written documents should give a copy to the recording secretary to be included in the official record and distributed to each commissioner.

Written comments can be submitted before the hearing to the board of commissioners by e-mail to comdev@co.clatsop.or.us, by fax to (503) 338-3666 or by mail to Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, c/o Community Development Department, 800 Exchange St., Ste. 100, Astoria, OR 97103. Written materials must be received by 5 p.m. this Friday to be distributed to the board of commissioners before Monday’s hearing.