Searsport mixed on LNG plan Town weighs pros, cons

SEARSPORT – A proposed $500 million liquid natural gas terminal on Sears Island has not spurred the shock and awe in Searsport it would in most towns. Revealed by the state last year, the plan takes its place on a long list of projects associated with the 941-acre, state-owned island: nuclear power plant, coal-fired power plant, aluminum smelter, oil refinery, cargo port. However, whether the LNG terminal will be chalked up as another might-have-been or will be realized remains to be seen.

At a table outside the annual town meeting on Saturday, members of the Friends of Sears Island group were making the case against the LNG. Distributing information about the dangers of the fuel and gathering signatures to petition Gov. John Baldacci to drop the plan, the Friends include residents of several Penobscot Bay towns.

State officials have said two unidentified companies have expressed interest in siting an LNG terminal on the island, an interest that has increased since Harpswell voters shot down an LNG terminal project last week.

Town government is not as unified on the LNG project as it was on the cargo port. Officials enthusiastically supported the Department of Transportation’s cargo port project in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jack Merrithew, elected selectman last week, told those who attended town meeting he would make a motion at Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting to enact a six-month moratorium on new construction in the town’s marine district, which includes the portion of Sears Island along Searsport’s deep-water harbor.

“I’m definitely against [the LNG],” Merrithew said Sunday. “I’d be against anything that would dramatically alter our way of life here.”

If an LNG terminal were built in the harbor, Merrithew said, armed vessels would escort the ships carrying the fuel because LNG has been identified as a potential terrorist target. At the same time, he confessed to mixed feelings. A Searsport native, he remembers the aluminum smelter proposal in 1971. He said a compromise that would preserve the acreage east of the paved road leading to the jetty on the island might be acceptable.

Former Selectman Granville Gross said he hadn’t made up his mind yet, but noted, “We need industry.” To those who say the island should become a park, he suggested the state should buy more land near Moose Point State Park on the west side of town.

Phyllis Sommer, who operates an antiques store in town and is chairwoman of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, makes no bones about her opposition to the LNG terminal.

“It’s an ill-conceived project with the potential to do damage to the entire Penobscot Bay region and our way of life,” she said.

Sandy and Rich Dolan believe LNG shipping would change the area.

“I don’t want to see it happen,” said Rich Dolan.

“The impact would be huge – in a negative way,” Sandy Dolan said.

Both said the town has moved away from an industrial focus and now sees itself as a tourist attraction.

Ron Cook, a former selectman and life-long resident, said the LNG terminal would be environmentally friendly and would pose risks no worse than the gasoline storage tanks and chemical plant on the waterfront.

The town “desperately needs the taxes,” Cook said. “But there’s part of me that wants to see Sears Island preserved.” He would support part of it being set aside as a park. “It’s a gorgeous island,” he said.

John Moran is awaiting more information about LNG, but believes the time has come to develop the island.

“I think it’s about time somebody did something with the island,” he said.

Charlene Farris, an elementary school teacher and resident, thinks the LNG proposal makes the cargo port plan look good. “It just doesn’t fit,” she said, but she does not think the island should remain undeveloped.

On Friday, in the wake of the Harpswell vote that sharply divided that town, Gov. Baldacci announced the state would seek towns that want to host an LNG terminal. The governor suggested the project might provide economic development for a Washington County town.

Astrig Tanguay, who runs a campground in Searsport with her husband and who is active with the Friends, believes the state’s focus is still on Sears Island.

“We’re not believing it,” she said of the governor’s statement. “We want to see proof.”

The Friends will host a meeting at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 21, at Searsport District High School, Tanguay said. Representatives from Fair Play for Harpswell, the group that opposed the LNG terminal in that town, will attend, she said.