Mayor: Canada will block LNG projects in Maine St. Andrews official warns developers

ST. ANDREWS, New Brunswick – A defiant mayor of this scenic town told developers of liquefied natural gas projects in Maine Wednesday night that their backers better have “deep pockets,” because Canadians plan to fight the proposed LNG terminals in Passamaquoddy Bay in the Canadian courts.

“You must understand that due to its location your project cannot happen without Canada’s consent,” Mayor John Craig told Dean Girdis, the president of Washington D.C.-based Downeast LNG, during a public meeting at the Algonquin Hotel. “That consent will definitely not be given, and if you choose to pursue your project in the face of our country’s opposition, you will be forced to pursue the matter in our Canadian courts. Such an effort would be extremely challenging, costly, time-consuming and ultimately will prove to be an insurmountable obstacle to your project.”

Craig urged Girdis to take St. Andrews’ message back to his financial supporters.

“You must take this message back to them and accept the fact that Canada does have the authority to block your plans and all other LNG facilities on the Passamaquoddy Bay and that Canada will do so,” he said.

Girdis could not immediately be reached for response after the meeting.

The mayor’s message also was directed at Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC – which has partnered with the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point to propose a facility at Split Rock – and the Indian Township-based Calais LNG, which hopes to build a facility in Red Beach just south of that city’s downtown area. Downeast LNG is moving forward with its plans to build a facility in Robbinston.

As proposed, LNG ships would have to navigate Head Harbour Passage near Campobello Island, New Brunswick, before reaching port in Maine.

Opponents of the project claim that Canada can keep the ships out. But proponents argue that U.S. ships have the right to enter Canadian waters because of agreements with the country that allow their ships to enter U.S. waters.

Federal lawyers in the United States and Canada are busy interpreting the terms “innocent passage” and “friendly traffic” and other relevant legislation on maritime laws, officials said.

After months of delay, including an information meeting last year that turned out to be more of an anti-LNG rally when two of the developers did not show up, Girdis and his partner Rob Wyatt were ready to talk shop.

Working with a PowerPoint presentation, they said they were committed to developing an LNG project that would deliver clean and safe energy to Maine.

They said they would build an appropriate facility that would blend in with the community of Robbinston and would not be an eyesore to St. Andrews. They said they would make certain that all stakeholders, including those in Canada, would be part of the development process.

But when Girdis suggested that an LNG terminal would economically benefit businesses in Canada, many in the audience of more than 400 people laughed.

For months, Canadians have said that putting LNG facilities in their backyard was not in their interest. Canadians fear that the long piers that stretch deep into the bay and storage tanks will affect tourism and hurt the environment.

But it was Craig who led the charge Wednesday night. He began by reading a statement from Member of Parliament Greg Thompson.

Thompson, whose conservative party recently took the country’s top job, said that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had made his opposition to LNG terminals in Passamaquoddy Bay known.

“During the election campaign, the prime minister stated that we will use every diplomatic and legal means as a government to defend our position, our communities, our citizens, our environment and our economy. We are committed to this position,” Craig read.

Building on that theme, Craig told Girdis and Wyatt that Harper’s election was a mandate “to protect our Passamaquoddy Bay by disallowing and banning any and all LNG supertankers from entering through Head Harbour Passage. This area is not only risky and dangerous for navigation, but most importantly these are vital – internal – Canadian waters that are the foundation of our society.”

The mayor then left the meeting and went to a room next door to hold a press conference.

There the head of the New Brunswick band of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Hugh Akagi, broke ranks with his fellow tribal members in Maine.

He said that the developers had ignored Canadian Native American rights in their quest to site a facility in Passamaquoddy Bay.

“It may be deemed arrogance with your arrival in our territory without invitation and with the belief that you can see no need to address the concerns of my people,” Akagi said. “Your efforts to ignore First Nations while seeking access and rights within our territory are considered an infringement upon our constitutional rights within the country of Canada and our traditional rights as Native peoples within our territory.”

Akagi also suggested that the developers had nothing to offer them.

“The problem, Mr. Girdis, is that … with all your millions/billions of dollars, you have nothing I want. To consider any offer you might make as a fair trade, to consider any exchange of paper for my consent as a good deal – I need only revisit the past to reply – ‘No, Mr. Girdis, this time there will be no beads for Manhattan.'”