Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development said Wednesday that a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay would have significant adverse effects on the state’s coastal scenic and aesthetic resources, endangered species, critical habitat, fisheries and commercial shipping.

And it appears to be a decision only a federal cabinet member could reverse.

In a letter to backers of the Jordan Cove Energy Project, agency director Jim Rue said that neither the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nor the Army Corps of Engineers “can grant a license or permit for this project unless the U.S. Secretary of Commerce overrides this objection on appeal.”

The decision on one of the key state permits for the project is a stinging rebuke that comes the day before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is scheduled to issue a final environmental analysis on the project, approving or denying its primary federal license. The Trump Administration is an avowed supporter of energy export projects in general, and Jordan Cove in particular.

The $10 billion project, touted as the largest construction project ever in Oregon, has now been denied all three of the primary permits it is seeking from the state, including a water quality permit by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and a dredging permit by the Department of State Lands.

Jordan Cove representatives could not be reached for comment when called late Wednesday evening.

It’s unclear how the state agency’s decision will affect tomorrow’s vote by federal energy commissioners. FERC denied the project a permit in 2016 after deciding that the public need for the project was insufficient to compensate for the negative effects on landowners along the 230-mile route of the project’s feeder pipeline. Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline decided to reapply for the permit in 2017 in hopes that a reconstituted commission under the Trump Administration would approve the project.

FERC staff issued a draft analysis of the project last March concluding that the project “would result in temporary, long-term, and permanent impacts on the environment.” But it said many of the impacts would not be significant or would be reduced to less than significant levels with the implementation of proposed mitigation measures.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross could decide to preempt state authorities’ decision that the project is inconsistent with Oregon’s Coastal Zone Management Plan. But the project apparently still faces an uphill battle at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of State Lands.

Debate over the controversial project has been intense in Oregon since it was first proposed as a gas import facility in 2005. Boosters have touted the project’s potential employment and property tax impacts in an area of the state that has lagged economically since the early 1980s. Opponents call it a potential environmental, public safety and property rights disaster.

Opponents were ebullient Wednesday.

“Three strikes and you’re out!” Ashley Audycki, a Coos Bay organizer for the environmental group Rogue Climate, said in a news release. “Jordan Cove LNG has failed to obtain three critical permits from the state of Oregon. Jordan Cove LNG has no viable path forward. It’s time for Pembina to throw in the towel and leave southern Oregon for good so our communities can focus on building local jobs in renewable energy instead.”

- Ted Sickinger; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger

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