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Jordan Cove on ‘pause,’ pipeline company says By ZACK DEMARS The World

The development of the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal is on pause, those behind the project told a court last week. The companies planning the export terminal and the 229-mile pipeline leading to it have been tight-lipped about the project’s

future in light of recent procedural challenges, but said in a court document Thursday that development is on hold. “Jordan Cove (Energy Project, L.P.,) and Pacific Connector (Gas Pipeline, L.P.,) ... have decided to pause the development of the Jordan Cove Liquefied Natural Gas Project ... while they assess the impact of recent regulatory deci-

sions involving denial of permits or authorizations necessary for the Project to move forward,” the company’s lawyers wrote in the document, first reported by Reuters. The comment came as the project’s lawyers asked for the suspension of a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In that case, a group of impacted landowners asked the court to review a

key green-light decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Thursday’s filing comes after several technical struggles for the project, including federal regulators’ upholding of state decisions on clean water and coastal management permits. Pembina, the project's Canadian parent company, hadn’t responded

to multiple requests for comment from The World over the last several months, but did hint at the delays in an annual financial report, telling shareholders the Coos Bay project and others planned by the company faced challenges. “We believe the time for these projects may come; however, we Please see Pause, Page A3

Rethinking policing in North Bend By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

remain in the extreme level for a maximum of three weeks, according to the governor’s office. Brown forecasted the risk level moves in a press conference April 23, announcing her plan to skip a “warning week” and initiate new risk levels a week ahead of originally scheduled. The move follows what experts have been calling the “fourth

Police coverage in North Bend could soon look a lot different. During a work session with the city council Monday, Police Chief Robert F. Kappelman told council members budget restraints will change the way his department functions beginning July 1. He said the issue is simply a lack of officers, saying recent cutbacks have reduced the staffing to levels seen in 2016. “2016 is when I came to you and said, ‘We’ve got to change something,’” Kappelman said. “We were overwhelmed in many areas of our department, and we are again overwhelmed in many areas of our department. We have actually seen some reprieve as a result of COVID, but I think we’d be foolish to think that’s going to continue.” Kappelman said after voters chose to eliminate a $15 public safety fee on the city’s water bill, his department had no choice but to cut staff. That led to only two officers per shift, which made handling calls an enormous challenge. Kappelman said the call volume actually fell 13 percent between 2019 and 2020, saying COVID restrictions were responsible for much of that. But while the numbers of calls fell, some key areas saw increases. Kappelman said calls for domestic violence, disorderly conduct and disturbances, calls that are often the most dangerous for the community and responding officers, increased 19 percent. “That’s a lot of calls,” the chief said. “Remember the staffing levels have a majority of our officers working two per shift.” Kappelman said criminal trespass calls were up 28 percent, intoxicated people calls were up 89 percent and mental health calls were up 122 percent. That last area is one that really bothers Kappelman. “We don’t want to be involved in mental health calls,” Kappelman said. “We’re not the right people to be there.” The chief said the core responsibility is preservation of life. With that as the goal, he said he had to re-think how the office would work. “I toyed with the idea of coming in here and saying one of your options was to abolish the police,” Kappelman said. “That is one of your options. We only have two officers per shift. So, we have to be careful where we place them. I have to be constantly conscious

Please see COVID, Page A3

Please see POLICE, Page A2

Photo by David Rupkalvis/The World

Jayden Frank lets a disc fly while Corbin White watches while playing a round of disc golf at Ferry Road Park. North Bend will continue to gather information on the park before making a final decision about the future of disc golf at Ferry Road Park.

Disc golf to remain in trial at Ferry Road Park By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

Disc golf will remain in Ferry Road Park, at least for the next few months. During a work session with the city council and the Parks Advisory Committee on Monday, the council decided to wait until it gathered more information before deciding

whether to keep the disc golf course at the park for the long-term. City Administrator David Milliron said North Bend has reached out to the community since it installed the course in January to get as much feedback as possible. Through Monday, the city has received 220 responses, with 85 percent in favor of keeping the course.

Some of the responses against the course were related to it being too close to the picnic tables, concerns about smoking, profanity and trash in the park. Milliron said the city set up game cameras to monitor those playing disc golf and found there were few problems. “Staff has been monitoring this since the beginning of the year, and

there’s no accuracy to it,” Milliron said. “In fact, we have seen people on camera picking up trash and putting in cans. And they’re picking up recyclables and taking that out.” To get a fair review of the course, the city asked Jason Nehmer, a Professional Disc Golf Association member from Oak Ridge to review Please see Disc, Page A3

Coos remains high as much of state locks down As vaccinations rise, governor plans to fully reopen economy ZACK DEMARS The World

Fifteen Oregon counties will see new restrictions this week, Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday. “If we don’t act now, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other health care providers in Oregon will be stretched to their limits treating severe cases of COVID-19,” Brown wrote in a press release. “With new COVID-19 variants widespread in

so many of our communities, it will take all of us working together to bring this back under control.” The announcement means indoor dining and recreation will be prohibited as the affected counties are pushed back into the extreme-risk level of virus regulations starting Friday. The qualifying counties include: Baker, Clackamas, Columbia, Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn,

Marion, Multnomah, Polk and Wasco. The extreme-risk designations were triggered when the state hit a metric health officials laid out earlier this month: A sharp increase in virus hospitalizations, with over 300 hospitalized with the virus statewide. State officials will re-evaluate county health data each Tuesday to assign new levels to take effect the following Friday. The counties will

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