Natural gas terminal proposed for Coos Bay.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

COOS BAY - A Colorado energy company wants to build a $150 million liquefied natural gas terminal in Coos Bay, a project that could expand the Pacific Northwest's gas market and provide a significant boost to the local economy.

Energy Projects Development of Evergreen, Colo., is proposing a marine terminal on the bay's North Spit at Jordan Cove, near an existing chip dock. The plan calls for ocean-going vessels that could bring liquefied natural gas from sources as far away as Alaska, eastern Russia and Peru.

The brand new company - made up of four investors with extensive experience in various energy fields - also wants to build a storage tank and small gas-fired power plant, mostly to supply the operation's requirements for electricity.

The construction phase would result in 250 jobs for the area, and after completion, 50 permanent positions that could pay $25 to $30 an hour. The project also could attract more industry to the spit, an area ripe for industrial development - especially after a natural gas pipeline, a rail spur and sewer and water lines are extended to the property.

Myriad roadblocks remain. The Colorado company is still negotiating a purchase price with Roseburg Forest Products for the 90-acre parcel on the spit's bay side, and energy company officials estimate a two-year process for obtaining the necessary federal and state permits to begin construction. Then, the company will seek to secure long-term price commitments from suppliers and consumers to ensure that they can operate at the same profit level for up to 20 years.

But area leaders are optimistic that the proposal will play a major role in the county's long-sought economic revival.

"We're a long ways out from a project on the ground, but it's exciting," said Coos Bay Port Commissioner Brady Scott, who is chief executive officer of the Coquille Tribe's economic development arm. "It all depends on the staying power of the folks who are trying to make it happen."

Liquefied natural gas is often touted as the future of industrial energy because of its ability to be stored and shipped long distances. Cooled to minus 258 degrees, natural gas turns into a liquid, reducing its volume by 640 times.

If the Colorado company's terminal is approved first, it would be the first on the West Coast, but that scenario is unlikely. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now has 44 applications for terminals on file.

The terminals are expected to usher in a wave of new energy production in a market that is increasingly tightened by declining supplies in Canada and the Rocky Mountains.

Until recently, a lack of technology and demand has limited investment in liquefied natural gas, project manager Bob Braddock said. But the need is expected to increase with rising domestic gas prices and improvements in storage and shipping capabilities.

"Eventually, you'll find that liquefied natural gas will be the way of supplying gas to this country," said Ron Opitz, executive director of the South Coast Development Council. "Traditional supplies of natural gas out of Canada are still dwindling, about 1 percent per year."

Braddock said Energy Projects Development likes Coos Bay because its deep-draft port won't require additional dredging to accommodate the 700-foot ships that his company will need to bring into the bay.

He also said the county's natural gas pipeline to Roseburg will increase access that the company needs to transport its product.

The county also benefits because it can offer liquefied gas - a cheaper source of gas - to other potential industrial users, Opitz said.

Plus, extra ship traffic of 25 or so calls per year could increase the tonnage that enters the port enough to bolster its standing for federal dredging money - which is often doled out on the basis of tonnage. It means a potential revitalization of the port economy, which has marketing director Martin Callery salivating.

"This is additional maritime commerce," Callery said. "It's a new in-bound commodity. We now have a new role to play, as a part of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest's energy delivery system."

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

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