Oregon: Despite everyone’s objections Mt. Hood NF thinks they can change the rules for pipeline
“If this was a timber sale, it would be illegal,” said Amy Harwood,
program director for Bark, a conservation group that advocates
preserving the forests surrounding Mount Hood. “Why should we allow an
energy company special treatment? The Forest Service plans to loosen
environmental standards so the proposed Palomar natural gas pipeline
can cut through 47 miles of the Mount Hood National Forest.
Building
the pipeline would require clearing a freewaywide path through the
forest, including sections that, under forest management plans, are
protected from clear-cutting, right-of-way easements and soil
disturbance. The Forest Service estimates, for example, that the
pipeline would require clearing 106 acres of old-growth forest
protected by the Mount Hood National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan. The Forest Service would also have to revise rules
that prohibit utility corridors; limit cutting around federally
designated Wild and Scenic Clackamas River, spotted owl habitats,
hiking trials and recreational areas; prevent use of heavy equipment
for clearing vegetation on unstable slopes; protect riparian areas;
and restrict building new roads. In all, the pipeline would cost $800
million and extend 217 miles, feeding into a natural gas network east
of the Cascades. Work crews would cut through public and private land
using backhoes, rock cutters, tractor-mounted mechanical rippers and
blasting tools, clearing about 710 acres of national forest land.
Although the path through the forest would be about 120 feet wide —
the equivalent of about 10 lanes of traffic — the company would allow
most of the trees to grow back, leaving a 23-foot-wide permanent
easement. Palomar officials say the benefits of the project more than
outweigh the costs.
Natural gas could ease potential petroleum
shortages and provide an alternative to coal, which generates about 40
percent of the electricity used in Oregon, said Palomar spokesman
David Dodson. Opponents of the project say unrecoverable forest would
be lost and that a pipeline — if it must be built — should more
closely follow existing roads. Although several government officials
— including Gov. Ted Kulongoski and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden — have
opposed the project, activists complained that most local politicians,
such as the Clackamas County commissioners, have declined to take a
public position. Critics of the project note that natural gas
lobbyists have donated about $200,000 to Oregon politicians. Except
under extraordinary circumstances, such as an imminent threat to
public safety, the Forest Service generally doesn’t reject pipelines,
said Mike Redmond, Forest Service environmental coordinator for the
Mount Hood National Forest. Instead, the Forest Service balances
competing needs, evaluates the impacts of the project and adjusts its
management plan to offset environmental degradation. The Forest
Service, for example, might require Palomar to buy land for
conservation, Redmond said. Or it might manipulate and thin vegetation
so it grows faster and mimics some of the old growth
lost.http://bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news&id=538