People's Hearing 2/13

Join Us For a People’s Hearing About Fracked Gas Expansion on February 13th at 5 pm!

By Dan Serres, Conservation Director

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) didn’t hold a hearing on a major new gas expansion in our region—but we are doing it ourselves on Monday, February 13th at 5 pm.

FERC will soon decide whether to approve or deny TC Energy’s GTN Xpress project. GTN Xpress would push more fracked gas into our region despite objections from thousands of people, Senators Merkley and Wyden, the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, and the Attorneys General of Oregon, Washington, and California. 

The grassroots coalition working to stop GTN Xpress is ramping up pressure on FERC to reject the project. We are holding a “People’s Hearing” to share information about the proposal’s impacts and gather video testimony on Monday, February 13th at 5 pm.

Take action:
 register for the People’s Hearing

Want to learn more? Check out this new 3-minute video:

Share the video: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with your friends!

Speakers, including U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, will highlight major reasons why FERC should reject the unnecessary, destructive GTN Xpress project. Then, we will invite people to share 3 minutes of their own thoughts, which we will record and share with FERC. The event will be held virtually as well as physically in some locations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

In December, Senators Wyden and Merkely told FERC, ​​“GTN Xpress would risk the safety of frontline communities and the planet for a project that isn’t necessary…. Adding fossil gas infrastructure in a region that is rapidly transitioning to renewable energy risks sticking ratepayers with the costs of an underutilized project and it isn’t in the public interest.” We couldn’t agree more.

Join us on February 13:
Register here

For more detailed information about the pitfalls of GTN Xpress, check out:

• You can read Columbia Riverkeeper’s comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for GTN Xpress here. FERC failed to address the issues we raised and ignored the greenhouse gas impacts of one-third of the project’s proposed capacity, 50 million cubic feet of gas per day. (See also Rogue Climate’s GTN XPress comments and Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility’s GTN XPress comments.)
• The Attorneys General from Washington, Oregon, and California oppose the expansion, filing a Motion to Intervene and Protest in August 2022.
• The Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission sharply criticized FERC’s lack of consultation with Tribal governments, as well as the climate and health impacts of the pipeline. In August, CRITFC wrote a comment letter to FERC outlining deficiencies in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and urging denial of the project.
• Oregon’s largest County just issued a report recommending against using fracked gas in homes because of its harms to public health.