Sounding the most promising news to date for supporters of Coos County's natural gas pipeline, a Colorado company announced Thursday it is considering developing a $150 million terminal on the North Spit to import liquefied natural gas.

Energy Projects Development LLC, a conglomerate incorporated by four investment partners specifically for the venture, said it is negotiating the purchase of 90 acres near an existing chip dock at Jordan Cove for the development of a small-scale import facility.

Engineer Robert Braddock said the development would quickly bring Coos County's taxpayer- and Oregon Lottery-funded natural gas pipeline to 100 percent capacity and could feed a large portion of Southern Oregon while easing the gas draw from the northern regions.

"This is a project that looks extremely promising," Braddock said. "It would be the equivalent of finding a gas well in Roseburg. There really aren't that many (ports) that are the same quality as Coos Bay along the Oregon Coast unless you go up the Columbia River."

If plans move forward, the terminal proposal could become the seventh from the West Coast and the second from Oregon to reach the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates the construction of import terminals as well as the storage and transport of natural gas. Within the past month a New York company, Port Westward LNG, announced its proposal to build an import facility near Clatskanie using a similar business model.

"In recent years, there's been a realization that domestic supplies of natural gas, coupled with Canadian supplies of natural gas, are no longer sufficient," Braddock said. "Prices reflect availability or scarcity."

Company President Elliott Trepper said the project would create about 50 family-wage jobs but supporters see the benefit of the facility more in its potential to attract other industrial customers to the North Spit.

"We see it almost as an infrastructure development project," Trepper said.

"It would make us more attractive to industries that do bring in more employment," said South Coast Development Council Director Ron Opitz, who has been discussing the venture with the company for about a year.

While a terminal won't impact state or national gas prices, Opitz, who formerly worked as a risk manager for NW Natural, said bringing product directly into the Bay Area gives local companies and those who choose to site here a more convenient way to hook up to a needed utility.

"To say that it would drive the price down - that's not going to happen, but it changes the dynamic for Coos Bay," Braddock added. "It gives Coos Bay an advantage because you're closer to the source."

That advantage could tip the balance in Coos Bay's favor, supporters say. So far, demand for cheaper gas has fueled a mushrooming of proposals for terminals. Only four import facilities exist in the United States - none on the West Coast - but as of July, FERC had 44 applications on file for either the construction or the expansion of liquefied natural gas import terminals. Most are centered in the Gulf Coast and the East Coast.

The Energy Projects Development's partners said they were attracted to the Bay Area because the deep-draft port can accommodate chip-sized vessels while the development of a gas pipeline that will connect to Williams' Natural gas pipeline along Interstate 5 gives them access to regional markets. Meanwhile, because Oregon's gas demands could support much larger supplies, the additional gas would and relieve strain on the northern portions of the system.

"We saw that by bringing gas into the Grants Pass lateral at the lower end we could effectively de-bottleneck the system," Trepper said.

The local project received the enthusiastic support of the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, which has worked with the SCDC behind the scenes to bring the development to its current state and stands to gain two ships per month if the project succeeds.

"I'm encouraged we have something to look forward to," said Commissioner Jerry Hampel. "I want to make sure they meet or exceed environmental and safety concerns but I'm very supportive of the project in general."

Chairman Dave Kronsteiner said the project has the potential to indirectly create new jobs in the maritime industry while at the same time giving more status to the port, which has seen a decline in ship calls for the past decade.

"It's extremely important," Kronsteiner said. "This brings revenue all the way down from the longshoremen. I'm excited about this coming to our port."

Natural gas is converted to a liquid form by freezing it to negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit, increasing its density and reducing the volume it occupies by 600 times. Under the business model proposed by the company, two vessels per month, each carrying about 75,000 cubic meters of fuel, would offload the liquid through a series of pipes into a storage tank at Jordan Cove.

The 120-foot-tall nickel-plated tank, surrounded by three feet of perlite and enveloped in three feet of concrete, would have the capacity to hold 95,000 cubic meters of liquid gas. Heat transferred from a small-scale gas-fired power plant, built on site to ensure a regular source of electricity, would then be used to return the material to its gas form. It then would enter the pipeline distribution system for sale to distributors, like NW Natural, or for transfer to other areas of the state.

As proposed, the Jordan Cove project would be the smallest terminal facility in the United States. It still would be enough to provide for 11 percent of the state's natural gas needs.

Braddock cautions that even if the future moves as smoothly as the past year has, development is far down the road. The permitting stage alone could take two years and development and construction potentially another 24 months, putting the estimated date for bringing the station on line to at least 2008.

"We've got another two years of permitting work before you could even consider turning a shovel of dirt," Braddock said.

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On the Net:

Jordan Cove Energy Project:

http:jordancoveenergy.com