Tidal power, LNG floated for Cutler

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CUTLER – If a rising tide raises all ships, it one day could generate electricity in a local bay and float liquefied natural gas tankers as they come and go from a terminal adjacent to a local Navy-owned property.

An entity called Tidewalker Associates, headed by a Trescott man who works at the Navy site, has applied to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a permit to conduct a study of Little Machias Bay for a possible tidal power development.

Because tidal power projects are incapable of generating continuous power, Normand Laberge of Trescott wrote in an April 29 letter to FERC, “the project also will include provisions for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Navy property to complement generation from the tidal power plant.”

Laberge’s LNG proposal would be the fourth one considered for coastal Washington County but the only one that would not be situated on Passamaquoddy Bay, which large ships can reach only through Canadian waters. The border separating the United States from Canada runs through Passamaquoddy Bay, with most of the bay lying on the Canadian side.

“The prime objective is to build a tidal power project,” Laberge, an environmental compliance officer at the Navy facility, said Monday evening. The tidal power project would be in Little Machias Bay, just east of the Navy’s antenna array, and the LNG terminal would be on the western side of the military-owned peninsula, facing larger Machias Bay, he said.

In 2000, the Navy removed its military personnel from the base and transferred control of the military communications facility to a Navy base in Norfolk, Va., which now operates the equipment remotely. About 80 federal civilian employees continue to maintain the 45 antenna towers on the property while other portions of the former military facility are being redeveloped as condominiums and commercial space.

Tamara Young-Allen, FERC’s spokeswoman for LNG projects, said Tuesday that the agency has yet to receive the Tidewalker application. She said she is unaware of any precedent for an LNG terminal being developed on military property.

“I’ve never heard of a proposal using an actual Navy facility for that purpose,” she said.

Laberge said the Navy used to barge in fuel to generate electricity, but it now trucks in about 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel each year to power the antenna towers. Importation of LNG would guarantee a continuous power supply for whoever buys electricity from the proposed power plant, be it the Navy or another customer. Natural gas not used to supplement power generated by the proposed tidal project would be fed into the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline by a connector pipe that would be built between Cutler and Wesley, he said. The two locations are about 25 miles apart.

The LNG terminal likely would have a daily capacity of 500 million cubic feet, according to Laberge. He estimated that the proposed tidal power pool in Little Machias Bay would cover 3,000 acres. The entire power generating project, between the tidal pool and natural gas, would generate approximately 13.5 megawatts, or enough to supply Washington County with half of its power needs, he said.

According to The Associated Press, the price of natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled Tuesday at $6.746 per 1,000 cubic feet. At that price, a 500 million-cubic-foot facility could handle as much as $3.37 million worth of natural gas each day or $1.2 billion worth of natural gas each year.

There are two other partners in Tidewalker Associates, according to Laberge, but he declined to identify them. In his letter to FERC, however, he indicates that the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point has claimed ownership of Sprague Neck, a small peninsula that juts westward into Machias Bay from the Navy property.

“Preliminary discussions have been held with tribal leaders to join Tidewalker Associates in this cooperative endeavor,” Laberge wrote.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point already is partnering with Quoddy Bay LNG, an Oklahoma-based firm headed by father-and-son team Don and Brian Smith, to develop tribal property at Split Rock into an LNG terminal. Last year, Laberge was named to a citizen advisory panel organized by Quoddy Bay LNG.

Brian Smith said Tuesday, however, that he and his father are not Laberge’s partners.

“In no way are we affiliated with any development at the Navy base,” Smith said.

Smith said Quoddy Bay considered other sites in coastal Washington County, including Cutler, but settled on the Split Rock site as the best location. He said he hopes Laberge will continue to sit on Quoddy Bay’s advisory panel.

“He’s been very valuable with his input,” Smith said.

State Rep. Ian Emery, who lives in Cutler and is connected with an LNG project proposed for the Calais village of Red Beach, said Tuesday that he is not associated with Laberge’s proposal.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Emery said.

Laberge estimated that the tidal pool project would cost $50 million to $100 million to build and that construction of an LNG terminal would cost $500 million to $1 billion.

Laberge said Tidewalker has not yet gone about raising outside capital to fund its efforts.

“We’re committed to do the studies,” he said. “We’re waiting to see what happens with the FERC application.”

The Cutler facility is better suited for LNG importation, Laberge said, because tankers would not have to navigate the Canadian waters that separate Passamaquoddy Bay from the Bay of Fundy – a scenario many Passamaquoddy Bay-area residents and some Canadian government officials have said they oppose. The Cutler site is adequately sheltered from the open ocean, he said, and already is part of an industrial setting because of the 45 antenna towers, the tallest of which sticks 980 feet into the air.

“We feel the Cutler site has a number of advantages,” Laberge said.

If the Navy indicates it is not interested in having an LNG terminal on its Cutler property, he said, there are other nearby locations Tidewalker could pursue.

“The most logical [site] is the Navy base,” Laberge said.

Navy officials at the Pentagon did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on Laberge’s proposal.

Quoddy Bay’s proposal for Split Rock and Perry, where storage tanks would be located, and a terminal proposed in Robbinston by Downeast LNG both have been submitted formally for public comment and for review by federal regulators. The Calais LNG project, proposed by the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, has yet to submit a formal application to the federal agency, which has ultimate jurisdiction over the permitting of LNG terminals.