Maine Indian tribe OKs gas terminal (LNG)

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 8/19/04 | David Sharp - AP

[NormsRevenge]

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine's Passamaquoddy Indians have approved building a liquefied natural gas terminal on their oceanfront reservation to help meet the region's energy needs.

The 192-132 vote on Wednesday sets up fast-paced negotiations with Quoddy Bay LLC, an energy development partnership in Tulsa, Okla., to build a terminal on a 42-acre site on Passamaquoddy Bay.

Quoddy Bay spokesman Jim Mitchell said a definitive agreement with tribal leadership will be ironed out within weeks.

The Passamaquoddy support comes in stark contrast to opposition raised by other communities, including Harpswell, where a proposal was voted down, and Fall River, Mass., where a proposal is being fought.

The Maine project would be competing with two projects in neighboring Canadian provinces, as well as at least four other proposals across New England.

There continues to be growing demand for liquefied natural gas at a time when domestic production is either flat or dropping, said Bryan Lee of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Currently, there are only four liquefied natural gas terminals in the United States. An additional six have been approved, but all of those are located to the south, officials said.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas supercooled to liquid form for transport by sea on tankers. At the terminals, LNG from overseas is converted back to gas before entering distribution pipelines in North America.

Overall, seven to 10 new terminals are needed by 2025, assuming a new pipeline in Alaska opens as scheduled, according to the National Petroleum Council, which studied the issue for the U.S. Energy Department.

[ProudVet77]

It seems an odd place to put an LNG port. They have 20+ ft tides up there. Also, getting it out of there will have to be done by truck.
My suggestion is that they don't deliver LNG to Fall River and places that have turned them down. FWIW - Any American Indians in MA and RI with seafront land would have been refused the ability to bid on this contract. ME is decent with their Indian population.

[Ditto]

Also, getting it out of there will have to be done by truck.

I imagine they will run a pipeline.

[keithtoo]

The terminal will no doubt be out at sea and a pipleline will run substantially inland to a depot. From there it can be refined into other forms, or trucked and/or piped elsewhere. The main purpose of the terminal is to offload tankers, what happens afterwards is optional.

In the meantime, the more petrochemical facilities we have in this country, the better. All the better that Indians do it, since the lib/environmental control-freaks, have less sway with them than they would with other weenie-staffed political organizations.

[ProudVet77]

Just so you know, I think this is a great idea.
But the area is surrounded by national wildlife preserves and forests etc etc and so on. If you can get a pipline to RT9, then you've got it made. Actually you want to bring the tanker inshore, the Bay of Fundy which is the outer body of water can get pretty rough.
The other good thing is if it ever blows up it takes part of Canada with it. Campobello Island is right there.

[pass]

O.K. Listen up. The west passage into Passamaquoddy bay is very narrow and dangerous. lots of fog, rain wind, Tidal currents are unpredictable. Two high tides and two low tides daily. The area is a totally pristine environment. Whales, seals, eagles and the local communities are mostly fishing and tourism. This plant will be nothing but a huge eyesore and an environmental disaster. There is almost no fire, police or emergency services what so ever. If there is ever a major spill, accident or leak it all over for the local area. And for you info the ships have to pass through Canadian waters to get to Gleason cove.

See the big rush to build these terminals is all about money. First built first put into service. The first accident then the government changes the rules and regs and then building LNG plants cost more. Basically no one wants it in Maine and the indians were the last people approached. Actually they approached the LNG company. Basically they sold out the state of Maine and all its residents even its neighbors in Canada.

The LNG company will use them pollute their land and water supply and by making the Passamaquoddy people partners in LLC they won't even have any legal recourse. So again in the long run the Indians will get screwed again. if they can't see that then they need to do a little more research.
There is a reason why LLC ended up at the boarder. Nobody else wanted it. What a world we live in. I hate to see these people get screwed but I think they are going to be.

[mommyto6]

When you live in Maine near the area LNG is going there are the 2 sides but I think overall we are very poor up here. We moved from MA and love it up here because we can make it on min wage because we have no debt but it is tough. Unless a family has someone who works at the mill you are struggling. People live in houses you would think would be demolished. Houses are on the market for years with out getting sold. So although there is the controversy if LNG hires mostly local people it would be great for the economy. There is so many wildlife preservations up here it is all wildlife for mile after mile. The tidal changes shouldn't matter if that take that into account. Think of how much money goes out to repairs in a hurricane in other facilities. I do not know the ins and out of the project but I really hope it can help out the economy up here.