The Oregon (US) based community campaign against the LNG Palomar gas pipeline has been building solidarity connections and investigating impacts of LNG projects elsewhere in the world. In their own words,
“In the Pacific Northwest, NW Natural Gas claims that the Palomar pipeline and Bradwood Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal will bring “clean” fuel to the United States. But the truth is the real impacts of LNG importation are enormous, and extend far beyond the Pacific Northwest. LNG threatens to harm Oregon’s economy and environment, but the impacts of LNG are huge even before the fuel reaches Oregon’s shores. Far from being “clean”, the environmental and social impacts of the full LNG supply chain show LNG is a dirty, costly fuel. This series highlights the global impacts of LNG, which strongly resemble the global impacts of oil production.”
The first two articles highlighted local impacts of gas extraction and liquefaction operations along the Pacific Rim, on Sakhalin Island in Russia and the Peruvian Amazon.
The Sakhalin article highlighted the impacts of Shell’s pipeline construction on local salmon runs, also a major concern in Oregon. Sakhalin’s fisheries are absolutely critical for the local economy of Sakhalin Island. THe picture shows the destruction of salmon runs.
The following article on Camisea in Peru demonstrated the impacts LNG will have on human rights abuses and Amazon destruction.
When a violent police crackdown on non-violent indigenous rights activists in Peru left around 100 people dead, the human rights abuses of government-backed corporate ventures in the Amazon exploded into the concsiousness of the international community. Many factors – most notably implementation of the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement – contributed to the impasse which prompted 30,000 indigenous Peruvians to take non-violent direct action against seizure of their traditional lands for private profit. Yet when Peruvian police fired on protesters outside the city of Bagua, it was in some ways the predictable result of an economic model which has long shunted human rights and environmental concerns to the side while paving the way for industrial projects like LNG.