PIPELINE RULING: COURT SIDES WITH COUNTY ON COMMISSIONER BIAS ISSUE

  

The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned a state land-use board ruling that a Clatsop County commissioner showed bias in rejecting an application from Oregon Pipeline Company LLC.

The decision, issued Wednesday, Dec. 17, sends the issue back to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) for further review of the issues surrounding the project, which involves the construction of 41 miles of pipeline to serve a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Warrenton.

In June LUBA, in response to an Oregon Pipeline appeal, ruled that Clatsop County Commissioner Peter Huhtala demonstrated bias both in January 2011 when he voted to withdraw the county’s earlier approval of the project, and in October 2013 when he voted to reject the application. As a result of its bias ruling, LUBA remanded the application back to the county for reconsideration.

In its ruling LUBA rejected other claims from Oregon Pipeline challenging the board’s 2011 withdrawal decision and  2013 denial on procedural grounds. The company appealed LUBA’s ruling to the Court of Appeals, and in August Clatsop County filed its own “cross-appeal” challenging LUBA’s finding of bias for Commissioner Huhtala.

In its ruling overturning LUBA’s bias determination, the Court of Appeals upheld LUBA’s rejection of Oregon Pipeline’s multiple arguments.

There is no information available at this time on LUBA’s timeline to respond to the Court of Appeals ruling. LUBA’s rulings to date have dealt primarily with procedural issues and have not touched on the actual merits of the county commissioners’ denial of the application.