The event was hosted by Southern Oregon advocacy nonprofit and is one part of a plan to oppose the pipeline expansion that鈥檚 being considered by federal regulators.
The Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline has been in operation since 1961, transporting Canadian natural gas to Washington, Oregon and California via a system that is over 1,300 miles long and runs from British Columbia south to Malin, OR, near the California border.
Now its owner, Canadian company TC Energy, wants to upgrade the system to increase its capacity by 150 million standard cubic feet per day. These changes would include a software upgrade in Idaho, uprating compressors in Washington and Oregon so they could handle a higher horsepower and installing a new compressor in Washington.
TC Energy said this expansion is necessary to meet growing demand for natural gas.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted written comments on the project, but Maig Tinnin, Rogue Climate鈥檚 Rogue Valley coordinator, said the regulator didn鈥檛 do any 鈥渕eaningful outreach鈥� about it.
鈥淭here hasn鈥檛 been a process in the past where they鈥檝e done hearings, and really that needs to change,鈥� Tinnin said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to kind of set a new precedent with FERC.鈥�
So activists plan to send Monday night鈥檚 recorded testimony to FERC to demonstrate their opposition to the project. There were a handful of attendees in person and over 100 attendees online.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to hear that people in D.C., a commission of individuals, is going to make a decision about our future without our opportunity to even say what we think about that and give direct feedback,鈥� Tinnin said.
According to a spokesperson for FERC, "the project is pending before the Commission, we are prohibited from discussing this matter ... We cannot speculate as to when the Commission will make its decision."
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley also spoke against the expansion during Monday鈥檚 community hearing, saying, 鈥淭he last thing we should do is continue building more fossil fuel infrastructure.鈥�
鈥淭his is an unnecessary and it鈥檚 an unwanted project. It does the opposite of what we鈥檙e trying to achieve in Oregon,鈥� he said.
Merkley and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden have about their opposition, saying the expansion would 鈥渦ndermine efforts by Oregon to lead the fight against climate chaos.鈥�
FERC hosted previous in-person hearings for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG pipeline that would have spanned southwest Oregon and which was eventually abandoned in late 2021.
(EIS) from FERC found that the project鈥檚 impacts on the environment would not be significant. The report stated that 鈥淐limate change impacts [from this project] are not characterized in this EIS as significant or insignificant.鈥�
But the Attorneys General from Oregon, California and Washington have all to it. They estimate the expansion will add 3.47 million metric tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere per year, for at least 30 years.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 approved, it would be a huge barrier to Oregon or Washington or California meeting the climate goals that we have,鈥� Tinnin said.
TC Energy is known for its Keystone XL pipeline, a project that drew massive protests and was eventually abandoned. The southern portion of the Keystone pipeline in Kansas in December.
