Anti-LNG forum slated this week in New Brunswick

ST. ANDREWS, New Brunswick – Efforts by two American developers to build liquefied natural gas terminals Down East have been met with considerable resistance by Maine’s neighbors to the north in New Brunswick.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, a public forum will be held at the Anglican Church at 77 King St. to discuss the LNG “threat” to Passamaquoddy Bay, LNG opponents said in a press release.

The speakers will be Clifford Goudey, professor of marine engineering at MIT and director of the Center for Fisheries Engineering Research, and Janice Harvey, a political commentator and columnist and co-chairman of Save Passamaquoddy Bay in Canada.

Goudey, who was involved with the effort to prevent LNG development in Harpswell, will discuss the community impact of LNG development and the specific risks that neighboring communities will face if LNG traffic and terminals are allowed in Passamaquoddy Bay, the press release said. Canadians share the bay with Maine.

He also will discuss the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s permitting process. The federal government is the lead agency in siting a possible facility in Washington County.

And he will discuss “related subjects of critical importance to Charlotte County residents who are concerned about the future of our bay and way of life,” the group added in its release.

Harvey will discuss what the people of Charlotte County can do to defend their communities against the development of an LNG terminal.

There are two proposed sites now before FERC.

The Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LNG announced two years ago that it hoped to build a site at Split Rock on the Pleasant Point Reservation near Eastport. The project has been colored with controversy since the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Quoddy Bay LNG announced an agreement to pursue the LNG development in June 2004.

The project has been met with opposition both on and off the reservation and from surrounding communities and Canadians who do not want LNG tankers traveling through the Harbor Head Passage within Canadian waters to reach Split Rock.

Months later the Washington, D.C.-based Downeast LNG announced plans to build a facility in Robbinston, near Calais.

Canadians from Grand Manan to St. Andrews and from Deer Island to Campobello Island are opposed to the project. They fear the tankers and terminal will adversely affect the bay’s ecology and the much-needed tourism for the area.

After their presentations, there will be time for questions.

“The beautiful lighthouse quilt, recently created and donated by the staff of Sheriff Andrews House [in St. Andrews] to Save Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada will be on display with raffle tickets available. All funds raised will go toward defending our communities against LNG development,” the group said.

For more information about the forum, call (506) 529-8838 or 529-4982.