Mayor asks for end to Portland C3 export plan

OREANDA-NEWS. Portland, Oregon, mayor Charlie Hales asked Pembina Pipeline to withdraw a zoning request tied to a propane export project, saying he didn't believe it met the community's environmental principles.

Hales' request specifically refers to Pembina's proposal to build a 160-foot pipeline through an environmental zone to transport propane from rail facilities to a vessel loading dock. The pipeline, albeit small, is an integral part to Pembina's proposed Portland propane export terminal.

"I do not believe Pembina has made the case as far as Portland's environmental standards are concerned," Hales said in a statement. "That doesn't mean just ordinances and regulations, but the broader environmental and climate values firmly held by Portlanders."

Although the request didn't target the terminal itself, a withdrawal of Pembina's proposal to change a zoning code to allow the pipeline is tantamount to a withdrawal of the project as a whole.

Pembina's zoning code change proposal still requires approval from the Portland City Council and has already received approval from the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission.

The City Council will vote on the zoning code amendment proposal on 10 June, if Pembina does not make a prior withdrawal of its request.

"We are relatively optimistic that we will get a positive from the city," said Pembina chief executive Michael Dilger during the company's first quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

Neither Pembina nor Hales' office were immediately available for comment.

Pembina's \$500mn project will have the initial capacity of 37,000 b/d of propane, which will be sourced from Canada. Pembina expects to complete the project by late 2018.

In early March, the Port of Longview, Washington, rejected a similar LPG export project proposed by Haven Energy. Haven's terminal would have competed with the Pembina project and would have alleviated some of the LPG market's supply overhang.