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REEDSPORT -- Douglas County commissioners voted Wednesday evening to amend their federal application so as not to hamper efforts by a New Jersey company to harness wave energy off the coast.
Commissioners Marilyn Kittelman and Doug Robertson listened to a half-dozen people who testified in favor of the project proposed by Ocean Power Technologies to locate a series of buoys in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Winchester Bay.
They later voted to remove from the county's application references to a section of ocean territory also covered in OPT's application. Officials from the company were concerned that if the county's application appeared to compete with theirs it might slow down the federal approval process.
Ocean Power Technologies would like to have a test buoy in place by late summer and have up to 200 additional buoys set up by summer 2008. The buoys, which would be tethered about three miles from shore, would create electricity through the pounding motion of waves.
The county submitted an application of its own with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but has no plans to develop a competing wave energy project. The county wanted to ensure it had a voice in raising concerns about Ocean Power Technologies' venture, in case there were negative effects to area fishing and crabbing and access to the Port of Umpqua from the ocean.
Kittelman and Robertson told the audience of about 20 people that they supported the New Jersey company's plans.
They heard from half a dozen people who were also enthusiastic about the project, Robertson said.
One man who testified, Robertson said, was a crabber who, while favoring the idea, asked what would happen if crab pots became tangled in the buoys' tether lines. With crabbers restricted on the number of pots they can put out, the man said he wanted to make sure there was a plan in place to take care of such problems.
Robertson said he is satisfied that FERC's procedures will fully address any concerns before OPT is given permits. He said the county will ask to be given cooperator status to be able to sit at the table during the permit process.
"We accomplished our goal, which was to get over here and allow anyone who had concerns to articulate them," Robertson said by telephone following the meeting.
Commissioner Dan Van Slyke did not attend the meeting. He is on vacation this week, hunting in Eastern Oregon.
* You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Commissioners Marilyn Kittelman and Doug Robertson listened to a half-dozen people who testified in favor of the project proposed by Ocean Power Technologies to locate a series of buoys in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Winchester Bay.
They later voted to remove from the county's application references to a section of ocean territory also covered in OPT's application. Officials from the company were concerned that if the county's application appeared to compete with theirs it might slow down the federal approval process.
Ocean Power Technologies would like to have a test buoy in place by late summer and have up to 200 additional buoys set up by summer 2008. The buoys, which would be tethered about three miles from shore, would create electricity through the pounding motion of waves.
The county submitted an application of its own with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but has no plans to develop a competing wave energy project. The county wanted to ensure it had a voice in raising concerns about Ocean Power Technologies' venture, in case there were negative effects to area fishing and crabbing and access to the Port of Umpqua from the ocean.
Kittelman and Robertson told the audience of about 20 people that they supported the New Jersey company's plans.
They heard from half a dozen people who were also enthusiastic about the project, Robertson said.
One man who testified, Robertson said, was a crabber who, while favoring the idea, asked what would happen if crab pots became tangled in the buoys' tether lines. With crabbers restricted on the number of pots they can put out, the man said he wanted to make sure there was a plan in place to take care of such problems.
Robertson said he is satisfied that FERC's procedures will fully address any concerns before OPT is given permits. He said the county will ask to be given cooperator status to be able to sit at the table during the permit process.
"We accomplished our goal, which was to get over here and allow anyone who had concerns to articulate them," Robertson said by telephone following the meeting.
Commissioner Dan Van Slyke did not attend the meeting. He is on vacation this week, hunting in Eastern Oregon.
* You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
