Tugs pull the liquefied natural gas tanker Celestine River through Sabine Pass Friday as U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Niya J. Williams takes photos from the deck of the Sabine Pilot II.
Posted on 04/12/2008 8:05:06 AM PDT by thackney
New Yorkers gave a thumbs-down to a planned liquefied natural gas terminal off their shores this week, but residents in the Southeast Texas town of Sabine Pass greeted today's arrival of the first LNG tanker to a new terminal with a shrug.
"This is the first I heard of it," said Maria Chancellor, a waitress at the Olde Time Diner in Sabine Pass, when asked by phone about the arrival of the tanker at Cheniere Energy's LNG terminal just across the waterway in Louisiana.
The tanker Celestine River, arriving from Nigeria with 5.1 million cubic feet of super-chilled natural gas, made the first delivery to the first new onshore LNG facility built in the U.S. in more than 20 years.
Tug boats guided the 77,000-ton, 950-foot-long ship up the narrow Sabine River Navigation Channel this afternoon and into one of two berths at the plant, built by Houston-based Cheniere Energy.
The tanker will spend the next few days unloading its cargo into the terminal's miles of pipelines and massive storage tanks.
Malcolm Nash, superintendent of the Sabine Pass Independent School District, said he and others in the community were aware the first shipment was expected soon.
"But I wouldn't have known it arrived until I looked across the river and saw it there," he said.
The subdued reaction in Sabine Pass was a contrast to the glee officials in New York and Connecticut showed this week when another roadblock was placed before plans by Shell and TransCanada to build an LNG terminal about 10 miles offshore in Long Island Sound.
New York Gov. David Paterson rejected the project Thursday, saying it would disrupt commercial and recreational fishing, wouldn't guarantee low-cost natural gas supplies and "would scar Long Island Sound."
In a statement supporting Paterson's decision, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell was less reserved.
"We did it! We did it! We did it!" she said.
Natural gas accounts for about 22 percent of total energy consumed in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy. About 3 percent of the country's natural gas comes from overseas aboard LNG tankers, and another 17 percent comes from Canada in pipelines. The rest is domestic.
But U.S. and Canadian natural gas output has dropped steadily, even as new pipelines provide access to Rocky Mountains gas fields and projects start in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
To meet the expected need for more imported LNG, dozens of new terminals have been proposed, though only a few are likely to be built. A terminal in Freeport is scheduled to receive its commissioning shipment later this month, while a project Exxon Mobil Corp. is building just north of Sabine Pass could open in 2009.
Natural gas turns into liquid at minus-260 degrees Fahrenheit. In that condensed form it can be transported in specially designed ocean-going tankers. When the tankers reach a gasification terminal, such as the Cheniere facility, the liquid is heated into a gas for transport by pipeline.
In the short-term, U.S. LNG imports are expected to be small. The Department of Energy predicts a 16 percent drop this year because of a mild winter and higher natural gas prices in Europe and Asia. Cambridge Energy Research Associates predicts a 19 percent drop.
But by 2030 LNG imports may account for 22 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. natural gas picture, according to a recent report by researchers at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, depending on how much more federal land is opened to exploration.
Opponents of LNG often focus on the dangers of the fuel, saying the tankers are "floating bombs" with huge explosive power. Studies of LNG, including one done by Maryland engineering firm CHIV International, however, said such claims are misleading.
LNG itself doesn't burn. When it is reheated to a gas it can be ignited, but only when the gas vapor mix in the air reaches at least 5 percent and no more than 15 percent. And an explosion of that mixture is unlikely unless the vapor is in an enclosed area.
Jana Boggs, a waitress at Skeeter's Bar and Grill in Sabine Pass, said some residents there have been concerned about the safety of LNG but most welcome the influx of jobs. Like much of Southeast Texas, the local economy relies heavily on the oil and gas exploration business and the many refineries in Port Arthur and Beaumont, where business ebbs and flows with oil prices.
Construction workers from Exxon Mobil's LNG project, called Golden Pass, account for 80 percent of the lunch business at Skeeter's, Boggs said.
"I know some people that live across the river from the storage tanks think they're not so nice for the scenery, but lately I've not heard anyone say anything bad about them," Boggs said. "It will bring a lot of jobs, which will help a lot."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tugs pull the liquefied natural gas tanker Celestine River through Sabine Pass Friday as U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Niya J. Williams takes photos from the deck of the Sabine Pilot II.
ping
That’s because New Yorkers are stupid Libtard brainwashed Luddite concrete cave rats.
Fortunately, there is Texas, and there are Texans.
jas3
Same old stupid Liberal Thinking dont allow those hear in NY or Conn. Hay Uncle Sam I want free gas why dont you give it to me for free and pay me a bonus for using it.
Yep, we’ve got another new LNG plant at Freeport expecting the first ship on Monday.
The $30 billion Denali pipeline looks somewhat iffy. Besides that is a lot of steel. A serious lot of steel.
Cannot offload LNG (screw the $$ increase in gas)
Cannot have Nuke plants (even though more people get killed mining coal)
Speaking of coal, well you cannot bring on line new coal technology.
We cannot dam up any more rivers for hydro-power because some lower life form cannot mate.
Cannot have a wood stove.
We cannot put up windmills near that women killer Senator from Mass-of-two-s@#ts.
We cannot drill for oil in Alaska or the ocean (its ok if the chinks do it though)
We cannot use anything that adds CO2 to the atmosphere because of global warming, which could be global cooling, which can reflect heat back to the planet yet somehow does not reflect an equal amount of heat from the sun, and to dispute that you must be an idiot. I am waiting for them to explain the climate changes we have documented on the other planets. They must have invisible black SUVs placed there by big oil.
We cannot burn waste or tires because the scrubbers may fail.
What does it take to make the producers in this society understand we have completely lost the war of ideas to the communists of the world and they now have a perfect storm to shut off our energy and bring our economic engine to a silent halt without firing a shot? Every single form of energy is under attack from the UN, Democrats, certain RINOs, Universities, 95% of the Media. What a brilliant plan the left has launched as without firing a shot, through their enablers, they will shut off our energy.
Our universities are completely infested with communists as are most of our sources of information.
Our government has been filled to the brink with socialists and communists that make sure any Conservative program will fail. They will leak information that will damage this country in a heart beat if it will destroy a Conservative.
The last bastion of hope is the 2nd Amendment yet it cannot survive the relentless onslaught from the left. The right will not fight the political battle the way it needs to be fought because we want to play nice.
Well when you are all freezing your rear ends off and taking public transportation with your nose in the arm pit of some piece of human debris to your government assigned job, maybe you will remember that old document we used to think limited our government and protected our God given rights.
This is typical of politicians in the Northeast: they are against ANY practical source of energy.
However, the same people will whine and cry that they need subsidies to help “the poor” to pay their heating bills.
Tankers come into New York Harbor every day. They do not disturb fishing or boating or swimming.
By the way, I heat my small NJ house with natural gas. We keep the thermostat set lower than what most people like, wear sweaters indoors, drink hot tea or coffee, and have good insulation (2x6 studs in the wall, full fiberglass with continuous vapor barrier, and excellent Pella windows all around). March’s heating bill: $460.
This is typical of politicians in the Northeast: they are against ANY practical source of energy.
However, the same people will whine and cry that they need subsidies to help “the poor” to pay their heating bills.
Tankers come into New York Harbor every day. They do not disturb fishing or boating or swimming.
By the way, I heat my small NJ house with natural gas. We keep the thermostat set lower than what most people like, wear sweaters indoors, drink hot tea or coffee, and have good insulation (2x6 studs in the wall, full fiberglass with continuous vapor barrier, and excellent Pella windows all around). March’s heating bill: $460.
And the project wouldn't pay for a hotel room for him and his latest squeeze...
“March’s heating bill: $460.”
That’s still too high! Mine is less than half of that. Then I live in Texas. I would go bananas with a bill that high. Come on down. The weather is fine.
Holy Moly! I’m going to quit my complaining....
I live in Alaska and only pay 150 to 200 USD for my heat - also natural gas.
R20 walls, R40+ roof and good windows.
We keep the house at 65 degrees and wear sweats. NO colds or flu this winter, so must be doing something right.
***That’s because New Yorkers are stupid Libtard brainwashed Luddite concrete cave rats.***
There is an old saying down in Texas..
“Drive like hell and freeze a yankee!”
*** because some lower life form cannot mate.***
Hasn’t stopped them yet. Look at the welfare roles.
***March’s heating bill: $460.***
I have an old 2800 sq ft house. single pane windows which I put plastic over, blown in insulation and I use only natural gas with electric only in bathrooms. My heating bill for the dead of winter is only about half of that.
You are getting s*****ed!
Do you get sunshine there and do you have southern exposure windows?
Ultimately the way to to fight for your rights is to start shooting. You are naive if you believe that any political process at this point in our history is going to save us from the liberal globalists that want to consolidate power. A power that can only be obtained by taking the means to resist away from the people.
Chinks? Racist scumbag.
In other news, the LNG terminal workers inspected the cargo of the first Liquefied Natural Gas tanker arriving from Nigeria. They were extremely surprised to find out that somehow, the gas had been replaced by sea water.
“It’s a huge loss,” commented the LNG supervisor. “But there is hope we’ll recover this money. We got an email from a Nigerian telling us he will donate us the assets of a dead relative if we just send him our bank account number.”
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