More than 5,000 miles separate Coos Bay, Oregon, and the country of Bolivia. But they are both sites of intense conflict over liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
Derrick Hindery, an assistant professor of geography and international studies, has studied the environmental, social and policy impacts of LNG projects from areas of extraction in South America as well as natural-gas import and export terminals in Baja California, south- ern California and Oregon.
His verdict: LNG projects are hard on both marginalized communities and the environment, and the economic benefits are uncertain.
Why is a geography professor studying natural-gas projects?
“Geography is a very old discipline that integrates the natural and social sciences,” Hindery said. “Projects like the Coos Bay LNG terminal are a perfect example of how you cannot divorce the social dimension from environmental dimensions. You have to look at the whole life cycle of a project and potential conflicts all along the supply chain.”
Opponents earlier this year defeated a proposal to import liquefied natural gas at Coos Bay, claiming unacceptable environmental impacts. The Jordan Cove Energy Project intends to submit a new application in September to build an export terminal instead.
Hindery plans to do field research in Coos Bay in 2014 that would incorporate what he has learned in Bolivia into academic and policy-oriented analyses that benefit local communities.
“Even though I’m critical of LNG, that’s not to say I have ideological blinders,” Hindery said. “I’m looking to see what the benefits are, for whom, how they are distributed, to what ends and with what effects.”
Project sponsors and governments often try to locate natural gas projects in vulnerable or indigenous communities that are expected to present less resistance, Hindery said.
In 1999, Enron and Shell used a $200 million loan from the U.S. government to build a pipeline through Bolivia’s Chiquitano Forest, perhaps the largest remaining tract of undisturbed tall dry forest in the neotropics, if not the entire world. The damage to the environment and Chiquitano indigenous communities was substantial, Hindery said.
Similarly, the proposal to build an LNG terminal in Coos Bay appears to be an attempt to avoid the tough opposition that resulted in other terminal projects being defeated in northern Oregon and California, Hindery said. But he thinks resistance by groups like Citizens Against LNG, the Western Environmental Law Center and KSwild has proved tougher than the companies anticipated.
Liquefied natural gas is promoted as a relatively clean fuel. But the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the life cycle of production, transportation and combustion can be as bad as coal and are much higher than those from greener alternatives such as solar or wind power, Hindery said.
Jordan Cove project officials said the LNG terminal and associated projects would bring a $5 billion investment to the area and provide long-term, stable employment for more than 120 people at wages significantly above the area average.
But Hindery believes other projects might better serve the area.
“It’s possible that Coos Bay could get a bigger economic boost out of an alternative such as ecotourism, which would be easier on the environment,” he said.
—MC
While reviled as a people, the Roma of Eastern Europe are revered for their music.
