Oregon
Buying Land in Coos County, Oregon
Coos County's coastal land economy is shaped by big, resolved-but-still-echoing stories: a massive LNG export terminal killed by wetland permitting, a state forest being reinvented as a research forest, and a destination-resort model that turned coastal dune land into one of the country's top golf destinations.
Jordan Cove: a dead LNG project with a real wetlands story
For nearly two decades, Coos County was the proposed site of one of the largest energy infrastructure projects ever considered in Oregon: the Jordan Cove LNG terminal, which would have occupied 500 acres of the North Spit across Coos Bay from the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport, fed by the 229-mile Pacific Connector natural gas pipeline running from an interconnection point near Malin, Oregon. The project ultimately failed for a specific, well-documented reason: it couldn't secure the state wetland and water-quality permits it needed, most critically a Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification that Oregon's DEQ denied on May 6, 2019, citing impacts to stream and wetland temperature and sedimentation, plus the risk of drilling-fluid releases where the pipeline would have crossed the Coos Bay estuary itself.
Pembina, the project's Canadian owner, formally asked federal regulators to cancel its permit in December 2021, ending the project after years of state permit denials. As recently as 2025, a new entity has filed a federal appeal attempting to revive the underlying pipeline certificate -- a long-shot effort, but a sign the story isn't entirely closed. For the full regulatory history, including exactly what Oregon's wetland and estuary permitting process required and why it defeated a multi-billion-dollar project, see our dedicated wetlands page below.
The Elliott State Forest: from school-fund timberland to research forest
Part of the historic Elliott State Forest, Oregon's oldest state forest, lies within Coos County (with the remainder in neighboring Douglas County). For decades the forest was managed primarily to generate timber revenue for Oregon's Common School Fund, but escalating legal conflict over logging in habitat for threatened species like the marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl made that model increasingly unworkable. In 2017, the state formally decoupled the Elliott from the Common School Fund, and it has since been developed as the Elliott State Research Forest, a large-scale forest-management partnership between the state and Oregon State University aimed at generating scientific research on forest management alongside more limited timber production.
This is a meaningfully different governance and management model than the private industrial timberland that makes up most of the rest of Coos County's forested land, which remains subject to ordinary Oregon Forest Practices Act rules and the 2022 Private Forest Accord's expanded stream buffers. If a forestland parcel you're evaluating is near or adjacent to Elliott State Research Forest land, confirm current boundaries and any management-plan implications with the Oregon Department of State Lands or Oregon State University's forestry program.
Destination-resort zoning at Bandon Dunes, and dairy farming in the Coquille Valley
On the south county coast near Bandon, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is one of the country's best-known examples of Oregon's destination-resort zoning overlay -- a state land-use tool that allows large-scale resort development, including golf courses, lodging, and resort-supporting residential units, on land that would otherwise carry much more restrictive coastal, forest, or dune-hazard zoning. The resort's decades of growth demonstrate both the opportunity and the specific regulatory pathway (a mapped destination-resort combining zone) that this designation requires -- it isn't something you can simply propose on any coastal parcel.
Inland, the Coquille Valley around Coquille and Myrtle Point remains genuinely active dairy and farm country on EFU-zoned land, a different character from the county's coastal tourism economy and forested interior. As with EFU zoning statewide, a non-farm dwelling on this land requires conditional-use approval and specific findings -- confirm current farm-use status and dwelling eligibility for a specific parcel with Coos County Planning rather than assuming from acreage alone.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Coos County
Coos County's assessor/GIS contact information was not independently confirmed this research pass -- contact the Planning Department for a referral. Phone numbers for these offices were not confirmed this pass; verify current numbers on the linked pages before calling.
Planning & Zoning
Coos County Planning Department
Zoning verification, EFU dwelling questions, and destination-resort combining-zone rules.
Other
Oregon Department of State Lands
Elliott State Research Forest boundaries and management-plan information, and general wetland/removal-fill permitting questions.
Other
Oregon DEQ Onsite Wastewater Program (Coos County agent)
Septic system permitting and site evaluations for parcels not on a public sewer system.
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Sources
- Jordan Cove LNG Terminal — Oil & Gas Watch (accessed 2026-09)
- DEQ denies key water quality certification for Jordan Cove — The News-Review (nrtoday.com) (accessed 2026-09)
- Key State Certification Denied For SW Oregon Natural Gas Export Project — Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) (accessed 2026-09)
- Natural gas company cancels pipeline project championed by Colorado drillers, politicians — Colorado Newsline (accessed 2026-09)
- Controversial US energy project back in LNG game: Will its "rise from the ashes" rekindle court battle? — Offshore Energy (accessed 2026-09)
- Jordan Cove Energy Project — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09