At a town hall meeting at Astoria High School yesterday U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, responding to a student question, said that Oregon does not need three LNG import terminals. He seriously questions the strategy of importing natural gas comparing that to the import of foreign oil. The Senator says it makes better sense to find ways to use domestic energy resources than to continue the pattern of dependency on foreign suppliers. Wyden says that the democrats running the country will be taking a very hard look at future appointees to FERC and points to past legislation that he plans to reintroduce that would take siting authority away from the feds and put it back in the hands of the state.
Senator Wyden knows how to play a crowd.
I wonder if he now supports oil exploration in the Alaska wilderness reserves? Will he support efforts to build more pipelines for natural gas out of Alaska and support plans to turn that gas into LNG for shipment to domestic markets in the lower 48?
I find it interesting that he would push for state's rights in facility siting but then he explained that the previous legislation, that went nowhere, was co-sponsored by President Obama when he was in the senate. Then I understood perfectly. It's one of those things that plays well at home but everyone knows it is likely to get stuck in committee so that those members can make those all important speeches about states rights and then just let it fade.
Unless we change everything about America all at once we will continue to consume the majority of available energy in the world. It has to come from somewhere.
