In-depth Studies on Project Related Topics

During the course of Jordan Cove’s four year federal and state permitting and review process a number of questions were generated by the public and agencies. Jordan Cove engaged the services of independent experts to produce reports to directly answer these important topics. While all of the studies can be accessed in the Jordan Cove docket on the FERC website, the major studies are also included here for easy reference.

Economic Studies

Study of Natural Gas Needs and Alternatives as they may be met by the Jordan Cove Energy Facility at Coos Bay
ICF International, May 21, 2008 – This study, one of six studies prepared by ICF International, Fairfax, Virginia, identifies the underlying natural gas growth patterns and constraints to supplying that growth from natural gas production regions that have traditionally supplied customers in the Pacific Northwest and northern California.

Dynamic Pricing Model: Alternative for the Pacific Northwest as they may be met by the Jordan Cove Energy Facility
ICF International, June 9, 2008 – Using ICF’s Gas Market Model (GMM), this study evaluates a series of “what if” scenarios to assess the impact of various means of supplying the natural gas requirements of the Pacific Northwest. The GMM is a tool that models the entire North American natural gas grid and predicts the impact on natural gas prices throughout North America when the quantity and location of new natural gas supplies are changed from the status quo.

Gas Supply Potential and Development Costs of Rocky Mountain Gas and LNG Delivered to the Pacific NW
ICF International, June 13, 2008 – This report provides an analysis of the projected costs associated with delivering LNG to markets in the Pacific Northwest as compared to sourcing new natural gas supplies from the Green River Basin in western Wyoming, Utah and Northwestern Colorado. The Green River Basin is considered the most like domestic source of natural gas supplies for the Pacific Northwest as traditional Canadian natural gas supplies decline.

Life Cycle Carbon and Emissions Analysis
ICF International, July 8, 2008 – This report provides a comparison of the life cycle carbon emissions from point of origin of the carbon based fuel to the end use. Three fuels are compared; LNG delivered through Jordan Cove, natural gas from the Green River Basin in Wyoming and Powder River Basin (Wyoming sub-bituminous) Coal. The end use for all three fuel alternatives is the production of electricity in power plants located in Oregon.

Regional and Local Benefits of an LNG Import Terminal located in Oregon
ICF International, October 28, 2008 – This reports provides an analysis of the economic impact of constructing and operating an LNG terminal within Oregon. The impact to regional energy pricing, particularly the impact on natural gas price volatility is investigated.

Pacific Basin LNG Market Analysis for the Jordan Cove LNG Project
ICF International, November 10, 2008 – This Study focuses on answering the question; “Will it be possible for an LNG terminal located in the Pacific Northwest to attract supply given recent prices in Japan and other Pacific Basin markets?” When Japan was forced to enter the spot LNG market in 2007 to secure natural gas for power generation to fill an electricity production shortfall created by the unexpected shutdown of the world’s largest nuclear generating facility, they were forced to pay prices more than three times the price paid by utilities in the United States. The ICF study identified the causes and long term implications of this short-term pricing run-up.

Forecast of the Net Economic Benefits of a Proposed LNG Terminal in Coos County, Oregon
ECONorthwest, October 16, 2006 – This report, commissioned by the South Coast Development Council, analyzes the impact that constructing and operating an LNG terminal at Coos Bay will have on jobs, output and personal incomes in Coos County, Southwest Oregon and the entire state.

The Impact of the Jordan Cove Energy Project Construction Personnel on Coos County Housing and Schools
ECONorthwest, November 15, 2006 – The construction of the Jordan Cove terminal is anticipated to take 42 months. The workforce will average 435 and peak at slightly less than 1,000 workers. The impact of this significant workforce growth on both local housing and schools is analyzed.

Potential Economic Effects of the Jordan Cove Energy Project on Tourism and Recreational Activities
ECONorthwest, November 2006 – The Jordan Cove LNG is anticipated to bring an additional 80 deep draft vessel calls to Coos Bay each year once it becomes operational. The impact of this additional deep draft vessel traffic on tourism and recreation in the area is analyzed.

Other Studies

Report on the Zooplankton Sampling Adjacent to the Proposed Jordan Cove LNG Terminal
The introduction of LNG vessels into Coos Bay will result in ballast water being withdrawn from the bay as each LNG vessel discharges its cargo at the Jordan Cove terminal. Because there was only scant data available about the types and quantity of marine organisms occupying Coos Bay in the vicinity of the Jordan Cove terminal, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) of the University of Oregon was contracted to conduct a multi-year study to gather samples and provide analysis of the marine organisms adjacent to the Jordan Cove LNG terminal. This study would characterize the marine organism populations as well as quantify the impact that ballast water withdrawal would have on the mortality to the marine organism populations. This report provides the results of the investigations undertaken during the first year of the study, July 2009 - June 2010.

Site-Specific Tsunami Modeling at the Jordan Cove LNG Facility, Coos County, Oregon
Yinglong Joseph Zhang, Ph.D., Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP), Oregon Health and Science University, September 25, 2008 – The entire Pacific shoreline in the states of Oregon and Washington is susceptible to inundation as a result of tsunami waves generated throughout the Pacific Basin. Jordan Cove commissioned the Oregon Health and Science University to utilize the most current seismic, wave propagation and surface mapping tools to model tsunami impacts on the LNG terminal site and to provide this data to the Oregon Department of Geology and Minerals Industries to allow updating of Coos Bay area tsunami inundation maps.

Moore Information Survey of Southwest Oregon Voter Opinions on the Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline
Survey Conducted October 21-22, 2008 – This survey conducted 400 interviews of representative voters in the four counties of southwestern Oregon that will be directly impacted by either the Jordan Cove LNG terminal or the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline.