Regulators to tour proposed site for LNG

Federal regulators have scheduled a site visit for one of the proposed liquefied natural gas terminals in Washington County.

Officials from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are scheduled to be in Perry on Thursday, July 13, in order to tour the sites where Quoddy Bay LLC intends to build facilities and infrastructure related to its LNG terminal proposal.

The Oklahoma City-based company has notified the agency that it hopes to build a two-berth, 1,300-foot pier off Passamaquoddy Tribal land at Split Rock in Pleasant Point. The project would include a three-tank storage facility with a total capacity of 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas half a mile away in Perry and a 35-mile pipeline that will feed natural gas into the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline in Princeton.

The site visit is open to the public, according to company and federal officials. Anyone interested in participating in the site visit should meet outside Quoddy Bay’s offices at 95 County Road in Perry at 9 a.m.

Tamara Young-Allen, spokeswoman for FERC, said Monday that members of the public who want to take part in the site visit will have to provide their own transportation to the various locations.

FERC will use information gathered during the site visit to draft an environmental impact statement on Quoddy Bay’s proposal, Young-Allen said. The statement will be used by FERC in deciding whether to approve the project, she said.

FERC officials participating in the visit will not receive comments from the public during the visit, according to Young-Allen.

She said such comments can be submitted directly to FERC either through the regular mail or through FERC’s Web site, www.ferc.gov. Written comments can be mailed to FERC Secretary Magalie Salas, 888 First St., Washington, D.C. 20426.

The Quoddy Bay LNG project, if approved, would have a maximum permitted processing capacity of 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. With its current price hovering around $6.10 per thousand cubic feet, the market value of 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas is more than $12 million.

The formal federal review process for the Quoddy Bay proposal is expected to take another year before it is complete.