Tribe, developer regroup after LNG upset

PLEASANT POINT – Four days after Perry residents rejected the liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Passamaquoddy tribal land at the Pleasant Point reservation, tribal leaders and the project developer are taking “a deep breath” as they reassess the situation.

That’s according to Fred Moore, the tribe’s legislative representative who initially introduced the idea of bringing LNG to rural Washington County.

“At this point, it appears we are going to take a step back, take a deep breath, and take another look at it,” Moore said Friday afternoon. “There is definitely an interest in pursuing the project in Perry.”

Perry residents on Monday voted 279-214 to reject the locating of an LNG terminal on land that the tribe annexed in 1986, in spite of the promise of $1 million going to the town annually for the next 30 years, possibly longer.

“The chief [tribal Gov. Melvin Francis] has indicated to me that he has absolutely no plans to abandon any of his efforts that he has undertaken to secure the economic future of the tribe, and that includes LNG,” Moore said.

The tribe and the Oklahoma developer it has partnered with, Donald Smith, maintain that the vote in Perry was merely a temporary setback, and can be overcome with additional education of Perry residents.

The vote in Perry was generated by a petition initiative, Moore said, “by no means any official request by the tribe.”

The procedure to bring the issue back before Perry residents would be “simply a request by the tribe,” Moore added.

“The tribe does not have to go around the town to get a petition,” he said. “It is stipulated, in terms of trust lands, that any commercial development by the tribe must be approved by the voters of Perry.

“The tribe would make it known to the town if it wishes to do this.”

One of the problems with the vote on Monday, according to both the tribe and the developer, is that the wording on the ballot was “convoluted.”

Following the wording on the petition, the voters were asked on the ballot at the booth, “Shall a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal be rejected for development on the land annexed from the town of Perry by the Pleasant Point Reservation?” A mark in the “yes” box would reject LNG development, and a “no” vote would favor the LNG project.

“That in itself was a problem,” Moore said.

A bigger problem, Smith suggested, is whether the measure failed because of information made widely available by Save Passamaquoddy Bay, the primary opposition group to any local LNG development by Quoddy Bay LLC, Smith’s Passamaquoddy-specific development company.

“I am in the same place I was on Tuesday,” Smith said Friday when asked of any new directions or developments from his side of the controversy.

“We are assessing the desire by the people who voted for the project about whether to have a revote,” he said.

“We are also assessing whether the people who voted against it, whether a large proportion of them did so because they believed the exaggerations, distortions and untruths about safety, environmental and fishing issues the opposition told them.

“If we find that, it probably makes sense to correct their understanding of the issues.”

The coordinator for Save Passamaquoddy Bay laughed off Smith’s references to “exaggerations, distortions and untruths.”

“Many of us learned as children that when one points a finger, they should be watching that they’re pointing three fingers back at themselves,” Linda Godfrey said. “When it comes to exaggerations, distortions and untruths, it’s the Quoddy Bay people who must look at themselves.”

Two tribal members opposed to any LNG presence traveled to Louisiana on Friday to attend the Sierra Club’s annual environmental law conference at Tulane University.

David Moses Bridges and Vera Francis have been asked to tell their story at the conference of a tribe divided by a developer’s impact among both indigenous people and local voters.

The meeting’s focus is LNG, and the pair will visit Lake Charles, La., the site of an LNG facility since 1981. They also will interact with the Houma Indians of Louisiana and learn about the impact of a pipeline in that tribe’s community.