06/11/2009

Associated Press

A gas pipeline company says it is considering two alternates to a route that would cross the Deschutes River at a stretch designated as wild and scenic.

Officials of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation asked Palomar Gas Transmission to consider alternatives to a crossing north of Maupin.

The company has proposed one alternative that would cut through Maupin and another, farther south, that would cross the reservation. It plans public hearings later in the month.

The alternates are at the eastern end of a 220-mile line that would run from an import terminal proposed near Astoria to an existing trunk line.

Palomar is a project of the gas utility NW Natural and TransCanada, a pipeline company based in Alberta.