Quoddy Bay LNG review halted

Federal regulators have suspended the review of Quoddy Bay LNG’s application for a liquefied natural gas terminal in Pleasant Point because of insufficient information.

A representative of Quoddy Bay said the suspension was anticipated and the company hopes to fulfill the information request shortly.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking additional information from Quoddy Bay on the safety and reliability of the LNG transfer line at the proposed terminal and storage facility in Washington County. FERC also has requested additional information on the proposed vaporizer, which converts fuel from a liquid to a gas. The agency made those requests in May and October of last year.

In a letter sent Friday to Quoddy Bay, FERC officials said the company also has stated that it may change the project design due, in part, to negotiations with LNG suppliers. The company plans to build the facility on Passamaquoddy tribal land at Pleasant Point.

“Without complete responses to these requests, we cannot proceed with our engineering review or with the preparation of the draft environmental impact statement,” reads the letter from J. Mark Robinson, director of FERC’s Office of Energy Projects.

“If in the future Quoddy Bay is able to finalize its design and provide the previously requested information, we will reinitiate the processing of Quoddy Bay’s application,” the letter continues.

Adam Wilson, deputy project manager at Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay, said the company was not surprised by the suspension because FERC typically moves “fairly quickly” on applications once the review begins.

Wilson said the company is working on what he called “financial aspects” and “commercial transactions” involving the project. But Quoddy Bay hopes to submit the additional information soon and answer any FERC questions, he said.

“This is entirely within our own control in terms of the review of the application, so I think that shouldn’t be interpreted any other way, although it easily can,” Wilson said.

In fact, critics of the project are doing just that.

Linda Godfrey with the group Save Passamaquoddy Bay interpreted the suspension as another sign that Quoddy Bay’s application isn’t feasible.

Godfrey said company officials have not addressed concerns expressed about the safety of running a pipeline beneath Route 190 to tanks in Perry. There is also the bigger issue of Canada’s threats to block LNG tankers from using Canadian waters, Godfrey said.

“We believe that FERC made the right decision,” Godfrey said. “Anyone that has followed this filing knows what FERC has been talking about with all of the missing parts” of the application.

Quoddy Bay’s is one of three proposals for LNG facilities in easternmost Maine. Downeast LNG has filed an application to build a somewhat smaller facility in nearby Robbinston, while a third group has proposed a facility in Calais, although those plans are still in the early stages.

Downeast LNG is further along in the FERC review process than Quoddy Bay.

Both the Quoddy Bay LNG and Downeast LNG projects have encountered opposition from local residents concerned about the safety and environmental impacts of the facilities and accompanying tankers.

Other local residents, however, view the competing projects as having the potential to pump much-needed tax dollars into local communities and create additional jobs in the economically distressed region.

kmiller@bangordailynews.net

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