Thomas Joseph (center red shirt) speaks to Gov. Kate Brown via phone to demand she oppose the Jordan Cove LNG pipeline project during a demonstration at the Capitol Thursday. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau)
Protesters upset with a proposed gas pipeline cutting across Oregon filled Gov. Kate Brown’s ceremonial office Thursday, vowing to stay until the governor announces her own opposition to the pipeline.
More than 100 people moved into the office, on the second floor of the Capitol, spilling out into the hallway after a rally outside. In Brown’s office, the protesters, wearing red shirts that read “No LNG,” cheered and gave speeches.
Brown has yet to publicly comment on the pipeline, which if approved, would stretch more than 200 miles from Malin, on the southern border outside Klamath Falls, to an export facility in Coos Bay.
A number of groups represented included indigenous tribes, climate groups like Rogue Climate and Southern Oregon Rising Tide, as well as students from Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay.
Around 10 Oregon State Troopers made sure no one went past the governor’s office lobby area.
The fight over the pipeline has spanned more than a decade and has drawn highly vocal opposition from impacted landowners and environmentalists.
The latest development came last week when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline project, the last major document that will be published before FERC makes its final decision on the project. A final decision is expected early next year.
Opponents to the Jordan Cove pipeline gathered in Kate Brown’s office Thursday. (Jake Thomas/Salem Reporter)
Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury was among the protesters in Kate Brown’s office Thursday. (Jake Thomas/Salem Reporter)
Thomas Joseph (right) a protester against the Jordon Cove Pipeline talks on speaker phone with Gov. Kate Brown. The governor’s chief of staff, Nick Blosser, listens in. (Jake Thomas/Salem Reporter)
