Dean Girdis, president of Downeast LNG, claims a “bottom-up approach to gather public support for the project.” (“Second LNG applicant files with FERC,” BDN, Dec. 23) What he really means is he sold the idea to the citizens of Robbinston as a concept rather than with its industrial warts showing. As a result, his project is neither “safe” nor “environmentally sound.”

No clever approach is going to change the properties of LNG and the lethal consequences of an accident. No amount of paperwork is going to bring the proposed site closer to the pipeline or to the natural gas markets in southern New England. Nor can wishful thinking change the treacherous tidal currents in Passamaquoddy Bay and Head Harbor Passage.

The chosen site has only one thing going for it; the town is small and the voters were easily swayed. By contrast, eight other communities along the coast of Maine have rejected the hazards and blight associated with an LNG terminal.

Unfortunately, FERC has never denied an application for a new or expanded LNG import terminal. Downeast LNG and its schizophrenic running mate, Quoddy LNG, will both receive their federal approvals in 2007.

Hopefully the state’s permitting process has sufficient discretion to block this assault on the coast of Maine and the disastrous affect it would have on the economy of Passamaquoddy Bay. If not, Canadians have vowed to block the passage of such huge and dangerous cargoes through their territorial waters. And even if these roadblocks were absent, Downeast and Quoddy are too late in the North American LNG gold rush to gather the financing or source the LNG needed to get either project started.

Cliff Goudey

Newburyport, Mass.