LNG suitors float bridge idea at Eastport

EASTPORT – It’s up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to decide if an LNG terminal should be built at Split Rock near Route 190.

But it’s the residents of this seaside community who will have to deal with the fallout from that Washington, D.C.-based government decision if something happens and the road into town is closed.

It was just those kinds of crises, including getting emergency vehicles into and out of the city if the road were closed for hours or days, that were discussed Monday night at a City Council meeting.

Quoddy Bay officials suggested in the event of an emergency that a temporary “floating bridge” at the Toll Bridge Road might solve the problem. At one time the old Toll Bridge Road connected the island with Route 1, but no more. Now the main artery into and out of the city is Route 190.

City Manager George “Bud” Finch said Tuesday the idea of a “floating bridge” bordered on the “absurd.”

The Passamaquoddy Tribe and Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC, now Quoddy Bay LNG, plan to build a $500 million liquefied natural gas facility at Split Rock, near Route 190, west of the city. Plans call for a cryogenic pipeline to be built under Route 190 and across Half Moon Cove to three storage tanks in Perry.

Quoddy Bay LNG project director Brian Smith assured a small group of residents at the City Council meeting that his company’s project was safe and he backed up his assertions with LNG’s 40-year safety record.

But even though Smith said that LNG was safe, he did say the company had come up with some contingency plans in the event of an emergency including a temporary “floating bridge” at the end of the Toll Bridge Road where a bridge once was.

That statement drew chuckles from some people in the audience.

“Have that standing by so we could dive that directly into the water and that’s for any event that may happen on Route 190,” he said. He said it would take about an hour to position it. Left unanswered was how the bridge would function in the event of low or high tide.

Contacted in Augusta Tuesday, Finch rejected Smith’s concept. “Any time projects of the magnitude of the LNG proposal [are] offered, many answers to questions will be thrown out that will range from reasonable ideas to absurdity. The concept of a floating bridge [as] the second means of egress to the island of Eastport borderlines on absurdity,” the city manager said.

Finch said that although it was his job to remain neutral, the floating bridge idea surprised him Monday night. “Tossing out things that borderline on the absurd do nothing to bring together the quality and acceptability of the project if it’s to meet FERC muster,” he said.

At the meeting Monday night, Smith said his company also was considering developing ferry service between Eastport, Lubec and Campobello Island, New Brunswick, and the company would have its helicopter on standby to help in the event of an emergency either at the facility or in the city.

But Merrill Morris of Eastport reminded the council that several years ago high winds snapped utility poles along Route 190 between Eastport and Pleasant Point reservation, closing the road.

“We had quite a conundrum for that day, trying just to get emergency vehicles in and out, and had to reroute traffic around through sloppy areas that only four-wheel drives could really get through,” he said. “It was in a location close to where you’re going to come ashore at Split Rock.”

After that incident, Morris said, the city considered asking the state to build an alternate route into the city and restoring the railroad tracks at the same time.

“My suggestion to the council would be that if this agreement of sorts is to go forward, that that be considered in the agreement – that a bridge be built. A permanent structure be built with the [railroad] tracks,” Morris said.

Smith did not embrace Morris’ suggestion. He estimated it would cost upwards of $50 million to build a new bridge and conceded that the bridge would delay construction of an LNG terminal. “That bridge will take years to get through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, years to get all the approvals. An LNG import facility has very strict guidelines that require FERC to deal with it within one year. It’s relatively quick and very thorough,” he said.

He said his company favored a temporary bridge at least in the short term. “Fifty million is a lot of money, but we are perfectly willing to work with the council and the citizens to come up with a plan to take to the state to say what if we provide this seed capital, what if we provide these matching funds. As long as our facility is not contingent upon the construction of that bridge,” he added.