News Release

2012 September 11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Robert Godfrey
Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-nation alliance
(US, Passamaquoddy, and Canada)
PO Box 222
Eastport, ME 04631
(207)853-2922 (Old Sow Publishing)
info@SavePassamaquoddyBay.org

FERC Dissatisfied With Downeast LNG Hazards Filing

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requested more information from Downeast LNG on Tuesday regarding the proposed project's LNG vapor dispersion hazards. Downeast LNG apparently omitted the calculation input parameters, the assumptions made by Downeast LNG, and the results. Downeast LNG has until October 1st to submit the missing information to the Commission, so that FERC can test Downeast LNG's veracity regarding hazards to public safety that Downeast LNG failed to supply.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay researcher Robert Godfrey said of the FERC request, "Downeast LNG has fumbled along since the start of their project. First, they selected their site without even considering the LNG industry's own best practices, or their project's actual safety requirements in order to prevent terminal hazards from harming the public. The site is too small to properly contain the hazards. So, as a result of the required vapor dispersion hazards modeling they had to perform, they are now planning to construct over 1.76-miles of 20-foot-tall "vapor fences" along their land-side property line as well as within that outer vapor fence. They are planning an absurd "fences-within-fence-within-fence" configuration in an attempt to keep hazardous -260°F heavier-than-air LNG vapors from leaving the property and harming the public."

"The planned outer fence," Godfrey continued, "runs elbow-to-elbow with scenic turnouts on US-1 at beautiful Mill Cove. Mill Cove consists of unique, picturesque geology that is used as an educational tool by schools and universities. It has a scenic view of upper Passamaquoddy Bay.

"Downeast LNG apparently cannot think of a better place for its project than one that violates its own industry's best practices, requires a pier over one-half-mile longer than allowed in the State of Maine, and where unsightly, enormous vapor fences would be required in an attempt to prevent public harm."

"Besides all of this, there is so much U.S. domestic natural gas sitting virtually on Maine's doorstep that even Canaport LNG in Saint John, New Brunswick Canada, along with the three other LNG terminals serving the region — Everett LNG, Neptune LNG, and Northeast Gateway — are suffering. Two of those terminals are receiving no LNG, at all, and the other has declining imports. Any perceived need for Downeast LNG's project has been overwhelmed by North America's sea of domestic natural gas. It's long past time for Downeast LNG to pack up and go home," Godfrey concluded.

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Save Passamaquoddy Bay (SPB) is an alliance of citizens from the U.S., the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Canada, who oppose siting LNG industrial facilities in Passamaquoddy Bay, and who advocate adherence to world-recognized LNG terminal siting best safe practices as published by the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO). SPB advocates creative-economy, tradition-based, and tourism-based economic development for the international Passamaquoddy Bay area.

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