In a rare show of unanimity Wednesday, Yamhill County's board of commissioners became the third in Oregon to pass a resolution opposing the piping of liquefied natural gas through their land.

The resolution underwent several wording changes before it was brought to a vote. However, its central message remained unchanged:

Yamhill County doesn't want natural gas pipelines running through its farmland without good cause, and that good cause - an explicit public need for imported gas supplies - has yet to be demonstrated to the commissioners' satisfaction.

The resolution expresses concern about the possibility of large-diameter, high-pressure underground pipelines hindering farming activity, disturbing streams and damaging wetlands. It questions the demand for imported natural gas in the United States, which has abundant supplies of its own.

Two companies, Palomar and Oregon LNG, have proposed running lines up to three feet in diameter down from ports on the Columbia River. They would traverse 23 miles of Yamhill County on their way east to hook up with major transcontinental transmission lines.

However, their land-use applications have been tied up in lawsuits and appeals at the local, state and federal levels so far.

Steve Wick, chair of the Yamhill County LNG Citizens Advisory Committee, said opponents have succeeded in bringing progress on the pipelines and proposed Bradwood terminal to a virtual halt for now. Meanwhile, he said, the market for foreign natural gas has virtually disappeared with the economic collapse.

He said oil extracted from Rocky Mountain shale is beginning to come on line, and that promises to further depress the market for liquefication of gas in Indonesia, New Zealand or the Middle East for shipment to the U.S. in supertankers.

Commissioner Leslie Lewis picked up on that at Wednesday's meeting and hit it hard. If there's no need for LNG, she said, why should the county allow companies to tear up good farmland to bring it in?

The commissioners didn't agree on everything.

The original draft listed the threat of eminent domain, on condemnation, as an additional reason for opposition. However, Lewis and Commissioner Kathy George argued for its removal.

They said government occasionally needs to condemn property owned by one private party for the benefit of another private party, such as a railroad. They said they didn't want to set a precedent that the county might have a hard time living with under different circumstances.

Stern originally opposed the change, but eventually conceded the point. She said Lewis and George had offered some good arguments.