ROBBINSTON – Downeast LNG’s representatives said Tuesday that new state-of-the-art equipment makes LNG safer today than ever before.

About 25 area residents met with the Washington, D.C.- based developers and their representatives.

At the same time Robbinston residents were meeting, fire chiefs from the area met with officials from the State Fire Marshal’s Office and heard another part of the LNG story.

Downeast LNG hopes to build a $400 million terminal facility in this small community.

Company officials said Tuesday night that they plan to file their pre-application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in about a month. They also plan to file a letter of intent with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring ships into Passamaquoddy Bay.

Jeff Beale of CH-IV International of Millersville, Md., explained that liquefied natural gas is not as dangerous as has been suggested. He said he believed a lot of misinformation has been presented to the public, and urged people to get informed. He said today’s ships and storage tanks were state-of-the art and built for maximum safety.

Beale said LNG is not a bomb, but can burn under certain circumstances. “What I am trying to tell you, the mechanics of LNG do not allow it to get to a situation when you’ve got an ignitable cloud. If you don’t get an ignitable cloud you can’t get a pressure wave; if you don’t get a pressure wave you don’t get an explosion,” he said.

Jerzy Kichner of TRC Security of Houston, Texas, then talked about safety features relating to LNG ships. “You take a look at LNG tankers they’ve always been built with double hulls, they also have ballast tanks between them and the environment. So you have almost like a secondary cushion,” he explained.

Area residents then were treated to a computer simulation of a ship entering Passamaquoddy Bay. Jerry Morrison of Eastport Pilots presented the report.

Downeast LNG spokesman Rob Wyatt said that Eastport Pilots was working independently of his company. “They are not in our employee, they’re working independent [and they] got a jump on looking at LNG ships coming into the area and already have done some simulations,” Wyatt said.

Although Eastport Pilots is not one of Downeast LNG’s representatives, Morrison did say that if the facility were built he would benefit financially. He said it would allow him to give up two other part-time jobs and concentrate on being a pilot. He said that fact had not influenced the information he had presented to the public.

Wyatt said the pilots were aware that their information would be checked and double-checked by others, including the U.S. Coast Guard, and he said he respected their efforts.

Working with a computer, Morrison demonstrated how the ship would travel past Head Harbour Passage near Campobello Island to the terminal in Robbinston.

While Downeast LNG was talking about safety, area fire chiefs were learning about LNG from state officials.

Calais Fire Chief Danny Carlow said LNG was like any other hazardous material. “The big difference that it seems in this material is the quantity that we would be dealing with,” he said.

The chief did differ with Downeast LNG officials and said he believed that under certain circumstances there could be an explosion and resulting radiant fire.

A white paper from the national Association of State Fire Marshals, titled “An Overview of the LNG Industry for Fire Marshals and Emergency Responders,” was presented at the fire chiefs’ meeting.

Although the report pointed to the U.S. industry’s “excellent” 40-year safety record, it also talked about the potential hazards of LNG.

“LNG vaporizes quickly as it absorbs heat from the surface on which it spills. When LNG vapor concentrations in air are between 5 percent and 15 percent, and an ignition source is present, it will burn,” the report said.

The report suggested three potential fire risk scenarios: pool, jet, and vapor cloud fires.

“When LNG is spilled and its vapors come into contact with an ignition source, the spill will develop into a pool fire and present a thermal radiation hazard,” the report said.

Jet fires also present a risk. “If there is a release of … liquefied natural gas from storage tanks or pipelines, the vapor discharging through the hole in the container will form a gas jet that entrains and mixes with air. If the mixture finds an ignition source while in the flammable range a jet fire may occur,” the report said.

A vapor cloud fire, the report suggested, could lead to a different calamity. “When LNG is released to the atmosphere a vapor cloud forms and disperses by mixing with air. If the vapor cloud ignites before the vapor cloud is diluted below the lower flammable limit, a flash fire may occur,” the report added.

If there is no ignition source, the report went on to say, the LNG would vaporize rapidly forming a cold gas cloud.