Public Comment Guide: Tell Coos County Commissioners no extension for expired pipeline permits
Hearing Info: Friday, December 18 at 1:30pm online here.
How do I submit a comment?
You can submit a written comment by email, mailed, or dropped off to the Coos County Planning Department.
Emailed comments can be sent directly to planning@co.coos.or.us. Please make sure that you have received an email confirmation that your comment has been received.
Written testimony can be mailed directly to the Planning Department, Coos County Courthouse, 250 N. Baxter, Coquille, Oregon 97423.
You can also directly drop off comments to the Planning Department at 225 N. Adams, Coquille, Oregon through the drop off box. The office is currently closed to the public.
Written Comments are due Friday, December 18 at 5:00pm but may be extended further.
Hearing Staff Report: http://www.co.coos.or.us/Portals/0/Planning/2020/Appeal/AP-20-001/AP-20-001Staffreport.pdf?ver=2020-11-24-180400-110
How do I sign up to participate or attend the hearing?
If you would like to speak and/or attend the meeting, you must fill out the Request to Participate in Appeal Hearing Form here (page 4) and submit to the Planning Department (planning@co.coos.or.us) by Thursday, December 17 by 5:00pm.
If the form does not allow for you to edit on Adobe Reader, please send your contact information and request to speak and/or attend the hearing to the Planning Department at planning@co.coos.or.us. Please make sure that your request has been received if you do not see a confirmation email.
How do I attend the meeting?
The Coos County Commissioners do have their meetings open to the public to attend in person. The hearing will be at the Owen Building, 201 Adam St. Coquille, OR 97420 at 1:30PM on Friday, December 18. There will be restrictions on how many people can be in the room and other social distance guidelines including appropriate face coverings. Covid-19 cases are rising in Coos County so we encourage people to stay safe by participating virtually.
Login into the meeting through the GoTo Meeting platform on your computer, tablet, or smartphone with the link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/596259389
You can also dial in using your phone- +1 (872) 240-3412 Access Code: 596-259-389.
Please give yourself 20 minutes before the meeting to make sure that these links work. If you are having trouble logging into the meeting, please contact Ashley at 541-816-0758.
Why should the Coos County Commissioners deny this request for permit extension (include these talking points plus the Relevant Criteria section):
Granting this extension would harm private property owners who are on this pipeline alignment which is not the alignment that FERC has approved.
If Coos County approves this extension, landowners subject to this permit who are not no longer on the pipeline route approved by FERC continue to suffer from, among other limitations on the use of their lands, the moral and legal duty to disclose the existence of the permit, continuing over ten years of this regulatory invasion and nuisance. Coos County should support our neighbors by, at minimum, excluding such landowners from the extension of this permit to avoid the unnecessary harm to private property owners.
Coos County is responsible for a fair and honest process.
Whether it’s a permit for a community member building a home or a Canadian fossil fuel corporation building a giant gas export terminal, the County must stick to its rules and process. Pembina says that one of the reasons it has not started construction and needs the extension for this permit is because the delay in the FERC permit caused “other agencies” to delay and that Pembina has “worked diligently and in good faith to obtain all necessary Permit approvals.” This is untrue. Pembina has no requests for necessary permits that it has been denied by the State of Oregon pending. It has even withdrawn its formal request to use the lands of the state for its project. It is futile to extend the permit unless the County obtains a legal agreement from Pembina agreeing to obtain the Clean Water Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Department of State Lands Fill and Removal authorizations from the State of Oregon, among the other permits it represented it would obtain during the proceedings.
Pembina’s predecessors did not meet the qualifications to receive this permit in the first place.
To receive this permit applicants are required to have received permits from Oregon state agencies. Oregon has denied the required permits because Jordan Cove LNG and Pacific Connector Pipeline does not meet State standards to work in our waterways, State lands, or the coastal zone. Again, Pembina has still not reapplied for these State permits that Coos County requires. The County should require Pembina to reapply for expired land use permits after they have received permit approvals from the State of Oregon.
16 years of false promises show that Jordan Cove LNG should not get special treatment from Coos County.
Pembina has laid off members of our community and packed up their offices in Coos Bay and throughout Oregon. Coos County should be focused on protecting the existing jobs now threatened by the pandemic and economic recession, not giving a free pass to an out of state corporation that has already shown our community that it does not keep its promises.
RELEVANT CRITERIA (make reference in comment):
SECTION 5.2.600 EXPIRATION AND EXTENSION of Conditional Uses *** (subsection 1 is not applicable to this request as it only applies Permits approved under ORS 215.416 for a proposed residential development on agricultural or forest land outside of an urban growth boundary under ORS 215.010 to 215.293 or 215.317 to 215.438)
(2) Permits approved under ORS 215.416, except for a land division and permits described in Subsection (1)(a) of this section, for agricultural or forest land outside an urban growth boundary under ORS 215.010 to 215.293 and 215.317 to 215.438, or under county legislation or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, are void two years from the date of the final decision if the development action is not initiated in that period.
a. Extensions for Non-Residential Development as described in Subsection (2) above may be granted if:
i. The applicant submits an application requesting an extension to the County Planning Department prior to expiration of the final decision. See Section 5.0.250 for time lines for final decisions.
ii. The Planning Department receives the applicable application and fee, and staff verifies that it has been submitted within the deadline;
iii. The applicant states reasons that prevented the applicant from beginning or continuing development within the approval period; and
iv. The county determines that the applicant was unable to begin or continue development during the approval period for reasons for which the applicant was not responsible.
b. An extension of a permit as described in this section is not a land use decision as defined in ORS 197.015.
c. Additional one-year extensions may be authorized where applicable criteria for the original decision have not changed, unless otherwise permitted by the local government.
(3) On lands not zoned Exclusive Farm, Forest and Forest Mixed Use:
a. All conditional uses for residential development including overlays shall not expire once they have received approval.
b. All conditional uses for nonresidential development including overlays shall be valid for period of five (5) years from the date of final approval.
c. Extension Requests:
i. All conditional uses subject to an expiration date of five (5) years are eligible for extensions so long as the subject property has not been:
1. Reconfigured through a property line adjustment that reduces the size of the property or land division; or
2. Rezoned to another zoning district in which the use is no longer allowed.
d. Extensions shall be applied for on an official Coos County Planning Department Extension Request Form with the fee.
e. There shall be no limit on the number of extensions that may be applied for and approved pursuant to this section.
f. An extension application shall be received prior the expiration date of the conditional use or the prior extension. See section 5.0.250 for calculation of time.
