Robbinston hearing on LNG plan tonight Impact on municipal operations focus

ROBBINSTON – Residents will gather for a public hearing tonight in advance of a townwide referendum to support or reject a liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Mill Cove on Passamaquoddy Bay.

The two principals of Downeast LNG, the company behind the project, will outline how several municipal areas would be handled if the plant were built. Dean Girdis and Rob Wyatt will be present at the meeting, which will begin at 7 tonight at the Robbinston School.

“We will walk the residents through a list of issues that the town’s advisory committee has raised,” Girdis said Tuesday.

“We will tell them what we are proposing for things like education, transportation, the environment and homeowner compensation.”

Residents will see a five-page proposal that the company has been discussing with the advisory committee.

Eight of the committee members traveled last month to Cove Point, Md., on a trip paid for by Downeast LNG, to see an operating LNG plant. Some of those who traveled will share their impressions at the hearing.

Girdis expects that many in the audience may be hearing about the LNG project for the first time, now that a Jan. 10 referendum is scheduled. He and Wyatt will review even the most basic information for those tuning in to the issue for the first time.

Downeast LNG’s project is one of three in the works for the Passamaquoddy Bay area, if federal approval is granted.

Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC already has filed its intentions with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for LNG facilities at both Pleasant Point and Perry. North of Downeast’s Robbinston project would be the locally owned Calais LNG plant at Red Beach in Calais.

Girdis said Tuesday that his company would file its intentions “next week” with FERC.