The controversial natural gas pipeline that would start at Coos Bay and cross southwestern Oregon, cut through the Upper Rogue and continue on into Northern California, is the subject of an informational public meeting that will be held 6 p.m. Thursday at the Red Lion Inn, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford.

At that meeting, representatives of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as well as staff from the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management will discuss the environmental review process for the project and answer questions from the public.

"We're in the pre-filing phase of the environmental impact statement (EIS) process," said Troy Ruskin, Project Manager of the pipeline. "It gives affected agencies, landowners and the general public a chance to get involved early in the process.

"They can ask questions and get them addressed before the final EIS is filed," he said, "but we're not even at that point yet."

Ruskin works for Williams Pacific Connector Gas Operator, a Salt Lake City company that would jointly own the pipeline with two other companies — Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and Fort Chicago Energy Partners.

He expects the companies to file initial certification documents with FERC in April.

"Once that's submitted," he said, "the EIS will probably come out later this year. It depends on a lot of factors, but I would expect it to be out in the late third or early fourth quarter of this year."

The 223-mile Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline created a lot of concern and opposition from the public after FERC held its first meetings last summer.

Marcie Laudani, who lives about a mile south of the Cole Rivers Fish Hatchery, brought her opposition to Thursday's Shady Cove City Council meeting.

"When we moved into our home in July," she said, "we found stakes across our modest 2.9-acre property, marking a possible route for this project."

"There are about 40 homes nearby, and with 1,400 psi (pounds per square inch) of pressure behind this gas, we're all in a direct line for impending disaster."

Laudani also offered handouts expressing her anxiety and she urged citizens to oppose the project.

Representatives of Williams Pacific have said the pipeline will not pose a threat to the environment or landowners.

The pipeline would run from Coos Bay, where ships carrying liquefied natural gas would unload at a proposed terminal on Jordan Cove. The liquid would be turned back into a gas and then pushed through the pipeline until it reached a major existing pipeline, near Malin, not far from the California state line.

Shady Cove City Administrator Elise Smurzynski said that there is still a lot of confusion over the two different pipelines that have recently been in the news.

"The Pacific Connector Pipeline has nothing to do with the 111/2 mile gas pipeline that Avista is building between Eagle Point and Shady Cove," she said.

"I've been told that the big pipeline will not come through our city limits."

Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline information is available at www.umpqua-watersheds.org , www.williams.com, citizensagainstlng.googlepages.com, and www.pacificconnectorgp.com online. FERC is at www.ferc.gov on the Web.

Bill Miller is a freelance writer living in Shady Cove. Reach him at newsmiller@yahoo.com.