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Natural gas produced in the West could soon be shipped off to Asian markets. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the controversial Jordan Cove energy project, including the first west coast liquified natural gas export terminal and a 230-mile stretch of pipeline that would connect the facility to pipelines that stretch to oil fields in Wyoming. Jordan Cove Energy Project LP and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline LP, both subsidiaries of the Canadian company Pembina, hired Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's former lobbying firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, to lobby Interior on the project.
Although the project now has approval from federal regulators, the Canadian company still needs to qualify for state permits and start the eminent domain process to force landowners to sell easements to the company for pipeline construction. In a statement, Oregon Governor Kate Brown said, “Until this project has received every single required permit from state and local agencies, I will use every available tool to prevent the company from taking early action on condemning private property or clearing land."
Oil and gas production in the West has boomed under the Trump administration, but the industry faces an uncertain future due to recent price crashes. One-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions produced by the United States comes from fossil fuel production on public lands. If lands leased under the Trump administration were developed, the fossil fuels extracted could match the emissions reported by all 28 European Union countries combined in a year.
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The coal industry is taking advantage of the country’s current circumstances to advocate for policies that are completely unrelated to the current crisis."
