Lying about 230 miles south of Astoria is the town of Coos Bay, and its neighboring community of North Bend. These two communities make up the larger Coos Bay area, and a sandy spit coming off of the bay forms an area called Jordan Cove. The project operator for this proposed terminal is Energy Projects Development, LLC, based in Evergreen, Colorado. The company is doing business in Oregon as “Jordan Cove Energy Project.”  

The terminal would be constructed on land that is currently owned by Weyerhauser Forest Products, and current plans are to site it directly across the Bay from the public Coos Bay airport. Within an unobstructed three mile radius of the storage tanks are most of the town of North Bend, including hundreds of houses and businesses, as well as two schools.

The area around the LNG terminal, as well as most of Southern Oregon, is very rural, and is remotely located from significant natural gas markets. For that reason, a component of the Jordan Cove LNG terminal is the “Pacific Connector,” a 223 pipeline, 36 inches in diameter, that will run from the Coos Bay terminal southeast to a hub at Malin, Oregon, just north of Oregon’s border with California. Investors in the pipeline include Williams, Port Chicago Energy, and the San Francisco-based utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).   The route of the pipeline leaves very little doubt that most of the gas from the project will go to California.

The pipeline will cross the Coastal and Cascade mountain ranges, and tunnel under 5 major rivers, including the Rogue and the Klamath.  The pipeline will require a 100 foot wide safety corridor maintained with a permanently cleared land opening 75 feet wide on private land and 50 feet wide on public land. This clearcut corridor will completely sever southern Oregon forests and some wildlife, as no tree bridges will be allowed to cross the corridor.

Jordan Cove Energy Project & Pacific Connector Pipeline – At a Glance

Location: North Spit of Coos Bay
Owner: Jordan Cove Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric, Williams Pipeline
Peak Natural Gas production Capacity: 300 million cubic feet per day
Tentative LNG sources: Alaska, Russia, South America, Australia
Storage Capacity: 120,000 cubic meters (one tank)
Delivery of gas to market: 223 mile “Pacific Connector” pipeline will take gas in a Southeast direction to Malin, a town on the California border.
Located within the 3 mile “burn zone”: An airport, most of the town of North Bend, including hundreds of houses and businesses, as well as two schools.

Learn More:

Citizens Against LNG

Southern Oregon Pipeline Information Project