High stakes: LNG and the Legislature

[EDITORS NOTE: Oregonian guest column by student organizer Nick Engelfried addresses concerns about the consideration of SB 1020 in the special Oregon legislative session. His column does a great job of highlighting the controversy over the LNG Fast-Track Bill and pointing out the apparent influence that the LNG and natural gas lobby are having in Oregon politics.]

By Guest Columnist Oregonian

February 03, 2010, 7:05AM

By Nick Engelfried

Suppose you had one month to address Oregon's biggest challenges, from raising education standards to maintaining our competitiveness in the increasingly crowded green economy. This month the Oregon Legislature has just such a chance before it, as lawmakers meet in a special session.

Given the stakes, you'd hope legislators would use the limited time of the special session to make concrete deliverables in the realms of education, economic vitality and environmental safeguards. You might not want your elected officials devoting the session to a resurrected version of a bill that failed to pass in 2009, and which redefines the language in relatively obscure land-use codes.

But then, you probably haven't given thousands of dollars' worth of campaign contributions to your legislators. You're not Northwest Natural Gas.

Last year, House Bill 3058 failed in the Oregon Senate, but managed to make a name for several legislators as allies of the controversial liquefied natural gas industry. Dubbed the LNG fast-track bill by environmentalists and landowners, it would have speeded up the process by which LNG companies and other corporations apply for permits to begin environmentally destructive work on private land.

HB 3058 went down in flames, but not before The Oregonian published an investigation of the gas industry's power in politics, reporting that Northwest Natural donated $210,000 to political candidates since the beginning of 2008. With the Legislature poised to take up a new version of the LNG fast-track Bill this month, it's time to ask just how long the gas industry will be allowed to guide Oregon politics.

-Like last year's fast-track bill, this month's Senate Bill 1020 has been presented as unrelated to LNG. Yet the truth is SB 1020 is a windfall to the LNG industry and would directly benefit Northwest Natural. Along with out-of-state energy giant TransCanada, Northwest Natural is backing the controversial Palomar LNG pipeline through Oregon. With environmental and land- rights activists opposed to the project, the future of Palomar is far from certain. SB 1020 could give it a shot of adrenaline. With big money sitting on the outcome, the gas industry has set its sights on passing an LNG fast-track bill.

As a member of the steering committee for the Northwest Natural Accountability Project, I'm concerned about the company's undue influence in politics. Through the project's "Hey! NW Natural" campaign, environmentalists, landowners, students and stakeholders are pushing Northwest Natural to protect the interests of its customers, who are adversely affected when a corporate lobby decides which bills the Legislature takes seriously. In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that corporations can give unlimited funds directly to political candidates, this cause has become all the more important.

So as lawmakers assemble for the special session, take a moment to ask yourself who your elected officials are representing. They should be serving you and the countless other Oregonians who voted them into office. Anyone got $210,000? Nick Engelfried lives in Hillsboro.