Town sets vote on LNG

ROBBINSTON – A vote next month should turn up the heat on whether a liquefied natural gas terminal will be built Down East.

Faced with dueling petitions – one asking for a delay in an up or down vote on the project, the other asking that it be held immediately – the Board of Selectmen announced last week that a vote would be held at the special town meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

An information meeting is scheduled three days after Christmas on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Robbinston Grade School.

The question before voters – “Shall the town approve the proposed Down East liquefied natural gas terminal at Mill Cove.”

In July, the Washington, D.C.-based Downeast LNG appeared in Robbinston

with plan in hand to construct a $400 million LNG

facility at Mill Cove near Route 1. The company bought a four-year option on an 80-acre site. It plans to use 30 of the 80 acres for the proposed facility. The plan consists of an LNG storage tank, processing equipment, a new pier and several small support buildings.

The Mill Cove plan is one of three that has been proposed for this area. The Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC has proposed a similar venture at Pleasant Point and Calais LNG is working on a proposal to build a terminal and storage tank facility in Red Beach, south of the Calais downtown area.

But not everyone has been thrilled with the idea of having a major industry in their backyard.

In November, LNG opponents presented the town with a petition asking for a delay of the vote until a study of the bay could be conducted. More than 70 people signed the petition. They said they planned to raise $50,000 to hire Yellow Wood Associates of Vermont to do the study.

That same month, selectmen were presented with another petition signed by nearly 190 residents asking that the vote be expedited.

First Selectman Tom Moholland said Monday town officials decided to schedule the vote.

“After careful review and the Maine Municipal Association’s guidance on this matter, we the selectmen render the following opinion on the matter of the conflicting petitions. We felt obligated by the democratic process to honor the wishes of the majority. The majority by a margin of roughly 190-70 are requesting an immediate vote,” he said. “We would also like to make note that during the permitting process of an LNG facility, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and numerous other agencies [will] study every impact involved before granting any type of approval for a facility. These impact studies are nonbiased and if any discrepancies are found, then FERC will deny the permit.”

Moholland explained that representatives of Downeast LNG would be at the public hearing along with several residents who recently visited an LNG facility in Maryland. They are expected to answer questions. “Other than that, it will just be regular public hearing stuff,” Moholland said.

One of the issues expected to be discussed at the public hearing is the amount of profit the facility will make. When company officials announced its plan in July; they said they expected to pay about 95 percent of the tax burden in Robbinston and around $5 million in local, county and state taxes.

The company also sweetened the pot when it offered to give $500,000 annually for business development within Washington County.

Industry experts said that the company would be capable of handling about $5 million worth of natural gas every day, or $1.8 billion worth of natural gas each year, if they were operating at today’s prices.