The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners will withdraw last year’s approval of the land-use application from Oregon Pipeline LLC and reexamine the issue.
The board voted Nov. 8, 2010 to accept a hearings officer’s ruling granting approval to the consolidated application. The decision was appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals by project opponents led by Columbia Riverkeeper.
The board, with three new members, voted Wednesday to file a notice of withdrawal with the Land Use Board of Appeals for reconsideration of the November 2010 ruling, which granted conditional approval for the construction of 41 miles of pipeline to serve a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Warrenton.
Jurisdictions have the authority to withdraw, re-examine and potentially reverse land-use decisions prior to completing and filing the record of the process with the Land Use Board of Appeals.
The deadline for the county to withdraw the November ruling was Friday, Jan. 14, which is the day that the record of the prior proceedings were due at the Land Use Board of Appeals.
The schedule for reconsideration will depend on the Board’s direction after a public hearing Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. at the Judge Guy Boyington Building, 857 Commercial St., Astoria to discuss and determine the scope of its review of the Oregon Pipeline application. That review may, pending Board action, take place at a public hearing March 9, 10 a.m. at the Boyington Building. The board can limit its review to the existing record, accept testimony from certain parties or re-open the hearing process.
The board voted 4-1 to approve the Oregon Pipeline application in November. Three commissioners who voted to approve the application were replaced by three new members, Debra Birkby, Peter Huhtala and Scott Lee, who were sworn in Wednesday. The three new members joined Commission Chairperson Dirk Rohne in supporting the withdrawal Wednesday. Commissioner Patricia Roberts voted no.
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