Jan 23rd, 2008
Cascadia Rising Tide joined forces with Stumptown Earth First! to hold an action and rally at the downtown Portland office of NW Natural (local gas utility), for their involvement in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) related pipelines, which threaten to clear-cut strips of forest throughout Oregon for new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Piling dozens of trees on NW Natural’s downtown office entryway, activists with Stumptown Earth First! and Cascadia Rising Tide, sent a message to the LNG-invested gas company: “There’s nothing Green about Clear-cuts, No new pipelines”.
“NW Natural claims to be fighting climate change, but all we see is new fossil fuel development projects knocking down trees and destroying rivers,” says Paige Crown, a participant in the rally, “its common sense that an important step in fighting climate change is to protect carbon-absorbing trees and forests, not clear-cut them.”
The Palomar pipeline, Oregon LNG pipeline and the Pacific Connector, which total over 600 miles of pipe, threaten to cross over 1000s streams, rivers and wetlands and require wide clear-cut construction corridors through public lands, including roadless areas and old growth forests.
After completion of the projects permanent right-of-way will be maintained, which — in the case of heavily forested areas—may create more fuel for wildfires (which represents even greater danger in the event of a pipeline leak). The clearing of trees and brush in these areas may also contribute to erosion, impacting soil viability and water quality.
The Palomar pipeline project, proposed to connect NorthernStar’s Bradwood Landing terminal to the Transcanada pipeline, is positioned to snake over Mt. Hood. Mapping available from the Mt. Hood National Forest shows the pipeline would go through Late Successional Reserves for spotted owls and border proposed Wilderness areas.
The Pacific Connector, attached to the Jordan Cove proposal in Coos County demands a 95 ft. clear-cut construction corridor through Rogue River National Forest, Klamath National Forest and Umpqua National Forest.
*This action was inspired by the NW Natural rally on December 12, 2007, in which Cascadia Rising Tide organized with impacted community members to bring hundreds of people to downtown Portland bringing farm equipment and fishing boats, creating a loud and colorful “No LNG” coaliton.