Where does Spectra’s Westcoast Energy pipeline go at the U.S. border?

Spectra’s pipeline upgrade British Columbia farmers are countersuing: what happens where it ends at Sumas, Washington? Hint: who does Spectra Energy’s Sabal Trail Pipeline connect to? And if that connecting pipeline in Washington State can go down I-5, why can’t Sabal Trail go down I-75?

Williams Company’s Washington Expansion Project (WEP) starts right there in Sumas, WA, planning a 36-inch pipeline 140 miles down the I-5 corridor right past Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, crosses the Columbia River, and looks like it’s headed for Portland or parts much much farther away. It is to include five new or upgraded compressor stations, such as one at Sumner, WA, 12 miles from Tacoma.

Columbia Riverkeeper wrote about 16 July 2012, Breaking News: New LNG pipeline transects Washington to reach Oregon LNG,

Now that Oregon LNG admits it wants to export gas, how will it get massive volumes of gas to Warrenton, OR? Williams Pipeline Company disclosed that it will build 136 miles of new, high-pressure pipeline across the State of Washington in order to feed North American gas to Asia via Oregon LNG’s proposed export terminal. Segments of the new LNG pipeline would run from Washington’s northern border south to Woodland, Washington, threatening hundreds of landowners and communities along the way. See full map here.

Oregon LNG failed to include the huge new proposal in its application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In a July 16, 2012 letter, FERC told Oregon LNG that FERC will evaluate the Williams Pipeline in Washington in the same Environmental Impact Statement as the LNG export terminal. This makes sense. FERC is not allowing Oregon LNG to piecemeal the project. Instead FERC’s review will include the impacts of a huge new pipeline on family farms, forests, and streams in Washington.

Oh, but FERC is helping Sabal pretend they are “not familiar” with the three already-authorized LNG export operations right at the end of the Williams Transco -> Sabal Trail -> FPL’s FSC pipeline in Florida.

See the Oregonian’s coverage of this important issue. Oregon residents successfully fought off the LNG pipeline proposal through the Willamette Valley. Now, Oregon LNG has set its sights on Washington.

Pacific NW Consumers Will Pay More for Energy if LNG Exports Go Forward

The combined Oregon LNG/Williams Expansion projects will force Pacific Northwest gas customers to outbid high-priced Asian markets for North American natural gas. The project will increase prices for every NW resident. Paul Cicio, President of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, stated, “In the end, it’s going to be every homeowner, every farmer buying fertilizer, and every manufacturer trying to create jobs who is going to be hurt by this.”

WEP is FERC docket CP13-507.

And it’s the same Williams-Spectra LNG export boondoggle in the Pacific Northwest we’re fighting here in the Atlantic and Gulf southeast: 36-inch pipelines gouging through the countryside to get to the sea for export.

If Williams’ WEP is supposed to run down an interstate corridor, why is that not required to be an option for Sabal Trail? As EPA pointed out for Williams’ Constitution Pipeline in Penn. and New York State, their pipeline EIA is insufficient without an interstate highway option.

So, where’s the option to run down I-75? At least that could go over our rivers on the highway bridges instead of gouging under them.

Was that the hastily-rejected Hillabee Route? Was it abandoned because of population density? How can that be, if WEP runs down I-5 right by much bigger population centers? And if Sabal Trail is too dangerous for cities, why is it not too dangerous for our fields, forests, wetlands, and rivers?

-jsq

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