Oregon's Land Use Board of Appeals Wednesday upheld the rejection of a permit for a liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Warrenton.
Clatsop County commissioners turned down a pipeline permit for the facility in 2013.
Now LUBA says they were within their rights to do so.
Opponents of the $6 billion project call the ruling significant. They say a local land use permit is necessary before the state can approve it.
But Peter Hansen with Oregon LNG says the facility is ultimately governed by federal rather than local regulations.
"Now the county has decided that natural gas pipelines are illegal in Clatsop County," he said."In other words, if a significant pipeline in Clatsop County wears out, it has to be replaced, then what? Are we going to rely on windmills? I don't know. This decision is you can't have pipelines in Clatsop County, I don't think that's the way it should be, but whatever."
Hansen says the company has yet to decide whether to challenge LUBA's ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
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