Securing a clean energy future

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Everyone agrees that our energy strategy must begin with an aggressive effort to use less energy, coupled with the development of renewable resources to meet our state’s ambitious renewable portfolio standard and carbon reduction goals. But there is a critical piece of the energy puzzle that is left out of the public discussion. Natural gas has a significant role alongside energy efficiency and renewables in meeting our carbon reduction goals. The result is that we will need more gas infrastructure to meet our region’s increasing demand.

While Oregon is leading the country in development and installation of alternative energy sources, the fact of the matter is that the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Our wind and solar generation requires a complementary fuel source to fill the generation gaps. The fuel of choice is natural gas.

Natural gas is today’s best complementary fuel source for renewable energy because it is the cleanest burning conventional fuel. Natural gas produces about 50 percent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to coal and 30 percent less than fuel oil when burned. It also emits almost no air-polluting particulates, which is 99 percent lower than coal and 90 percent lower than oil.

This fact is playing out in regional and national energy planning. While electric utilities are building wind farms, they are also investing in natural-gas fired generation plants. According to the Northwest Gas Association, 24 percent of the Pacific Northwest’s electric generation is from natural gas. As utilities retire coal generation plants and back up their intermittent renewable generation, the Energy Information Administration expects natural gas consumption to increase about 21 percent in the next 20 years.

The problem is that our region is woefully underserved in its access to gas supplies. While there is ample domestic natural gas available in North America, our 660,000 NW Natural gas customers rely on a single pipeline into the Willamette Valley. As demand grows, having limited delivery and supply options will impair our ability to purchase energy supplies at an affordable cost.

While growth is a compelling reason to invest in more infrastructure, there is also a case for reliability. A single supply channel for a critical commodity is never a good practice. During last month’s cold snap, the single pipeline that feeds our distribution system had a compressor failure that sent gas pressure plummeting. As a result, more than 300 residential customers lost gas service during one of the coldest periods on record. That is unacceptable. If we had an additional pipeline providing our supplies, it’s likely that we could have managed through the failure with minimal impact to our residential customers.

The proposed Palomar Pipeline, a joint effort between NW Natural and TransCanada, is part of the answer. The primary purpose of the east portion of the pipeline, which would connect the TransCanada system near Madras, Ore., would be to provide NW Natural with an additional route for bringing gas from the Rocky Mountains and Alberta, Canada. The pipeline would enhance reliability and provide more flexibility for gas purchases, helping keep prices down for our customers.

NW Natural and TransCanada have long records of building pipelines, with the highest attention to environmental protection. Palomar’s planners have worked hard to design a route that avoids sensitive habitat and keeps the project’s impact to a minimum.

We can bring energy security to our region while safely meeting our carbon reduction goals. Natural gas infrastructure allows us to maintain our reputation as forward-thinking environmental state, while ensuring we have the energy resources to compete economically.

Bill Edmonds is the manager of environmental policy and sustainability for Northwest Natural. He currently serves on the Boards of the Oregon Environmental Council and Earth Advantage and sits on the Governor's Task Force to develop an Energy Performance Score for homes and buildings.