GTN Pipeline Expansion Project
Why does the expansion of this existing pipeline matter, especially to the Klamath Modoc Yahookskin peoples and residents in the project area?
A new proposal from TC Energy (the same company behind Keystone XL) to expand the capacity of the existing GTN pipeline to pump more natural gas through the region - the GTN Xpress project. This project would lead to more air and climate pollution and increased explosion hazards. It would also require the expansion of three compressor stations in OR, WA, and ID, including one farther north in the territory of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
“The increased gas capacity in GTN XPress is equal to adding 754,000 cars on the road each year, until 2052, according to a letter from Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. In 2022, Ferguson filed a motion opposing the GTN Xpress expansion, an effort that was joined by Oregon and California.”
- https://www.knkx.org/government/2023-10-19/pacific-northwest-gas-pipeline-expansion-approved-by-federal-regulators
Interactive Natural Gas Infrastructure Map: https://gtpdr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=eeb990453c664ba783e0f33f8ce9b41c
GTN Pipeline Overview by TC Energy Company: https://www.tcenergy.com/operations/natural-gas/gas-transmission-northwest/#documents
Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) is a 1,377-mile (2,216-km) pipeline system that transports Canadian natural gas to communities in Washington, Oregon and California. With capacity to deliver as much as 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), GTN offers families and businesses in the Pacific Northwest and California a safe and reliable source of daily fuel for cooking, heating, air conditioning and more.
About Gas Transmission Northwest LLC:
https://www.tcplus.com/GTN
Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) is an interstate natural gas pipeline system that transports Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and Rocky Mountain-sourced natural gas to third-party natural gas pipelines and markets in Washington, Oregon and California. GTN has an average design capacity of 2,900 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). GTN is also connected to the Tuscarora pipeline system, which is wholly-owned by TC PipeLines, LP. Some of the GTN pipeline system's capacity is subject to annual renewals, however greater than 50 percent of the capacity is under long-term contracts, the majority of which mature between 2023 and 2028. GTN is operated by a subsidiary of TC Energy Corporation. TC PipeLines, LP owns 100 percent of GTN.
Quick Asset Facts:
Commenced Operations: 1961
Originates Near: Kingsgate, British Columbia, Canada
Terminates Near: Malin, OR
For more information on TC PipeLines, LP please visit: www.tcpipelineslp.com
For more information on TC Energy please visit: www.tcenergy.com
CALL TO ACTION:
Please reach out if you are a concerned tribal member with personal relations, connections, or landowners within the GTN Pipeline route (specifically between the Chemult, OR, and Bonanza, OR, Compression Stations) and would like to be involved in legal action against the GTN expansion. Stand up for our homelands, and use your voice to protect the places you love.
Our organizations involved in the fight against the GTN XPress Project, need tribal members to participate in the legal battle as ‘Standing Declarant’.
Background: In order to show that our organization has a reason to bring the lawsuit, we have to prove that at least one of our ‘members’, or people connected to rogue climate, will be directly harmed by the pipeline expansion. We do this by submitting a signed "declarations" or statement from members that detail those harms, including loss or degradation of your use of traditional lands, impacts to recreation, the aesthetic or spiritual value of the land, economic damage, and any other increased risk of harm. We find that the best way to explain all of this is through a narrative explaining your connection to the area, opposition to the pipeline expansion, and any direct impacts you are worried about.
Process: What this typically looks like, is that we can create a set of questions to ask about concerns about the pipeline expansion and how this would impact you/their relationship to the land and the area. Then we could do a 30 minute interview or so, and take detailed notes, then draft a statement based on the interview to share and get approval from the individual. Then it get’s signed, and submitted! It's extremely rare for courts to need to follow up with a declarant for any reason. It isn't like becoming an actual plaintiff in the lawsuit, more like a letter of support, and a statement showing that members of Rogue Climate have a stake in the outcome.
If you are a tribal member interested in being engaged in this process to protect our homelands, please reach out! Contact ashia.wilson@riostorivers.org.