Media Release
November
15, 2006
Charlotte County residents being
asked to support "No LNG" Campaign
St.
Andrews,
NB: Over 12,000 flyers entitled
“LNG – No way in our bay!” are going into Charlotte
County
mailboxes this week,
compliments of Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada. The
citizens group formed to oppose three LNG terminals
proposed for the Maine
shore
of Passamaquoddy
Bay
wants to inform all residents of Charlotte
County
of the issues
associated with such development and urge them to support the campaign.
“It’s
important that everyone know the basics of the
LNG issue and where things stand today,” explained Janice
Harvey,
co-chair of the group. “With the right
whales providing people with
a first hand view over the past few weeks of what’s at stake, support
for our
campaign needs to come from all corners of county.”
Rather
than leave the Bay
of Fundy
at the end of the summer, as many
as three dozen endangered North
Atlantic
right whales came inshore. Generally seen
further out in the bay, they
have been visible from land at Head Harbour, Campobello, Pea Point near
the
Wallace Cove ferry landing, Crow Harbour near Seeley’s Cove, Route 1
along
Maces Bay, Deadman’s Harbour where one was caught in a weir,
Swallowtail and
Long Eddy Point on Grand Manan, and along the route of the Grand Manan
ferry. These whales are listed as
endangered, with only 350 individuals left and fewer than 100 breeding
females. Ship strikes are the leading
cause of death for whales.
“These
whales have been moving back and forth along
the route LNG tankers would take to Passamaquoddy Bay, either veering
off the
shipping lane between The Wolves and Grand Manan, or travelling through
the
Grand Manan Channel,” said Harvey. “If
both of the terminals are built, there would be more than 500
additional ship
transits into and out of Head Harbour Passage every year. The developers have said right whales don’t
use this area. Well, the whales proved
them wrong this year.”
Save
Passamaquoddy
Bay
/ Canada
is using a two-pronged approach to
prevent the LNG terminals from being built. First,
they are pressing the federal government to ban LNG
tankers from
entering Head Harbour Passage, internal Canadian waters over which Ottawa
has jurisdiction. Citizens are being urged
to write to Prime
Minister Harper supporting such a ban and asking him to act quickly.
Second,
the group is preparing to be an intervenor in
the regulatory approval process in the United
States. This is carried out by the Federal Energy
Regulatory
Commission
(FERC). They have engaged a lawyer in
the US
to represent them before FERC, a
long, involved process that requires written comments to be filed after
reviewing thousands of pages of reports submitted by the LNG companies. Should FERC approve either project, Save
Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada
is preparing to challenge that
decision in a US
federal appeal court.
“Clearly,
this is an expensive and time-consuming
route to go, “ Harvey
said of the FERC process. “It could all be
avoided if Prime Minister
Harper signaled through legislation his intent to refuse tanker passage. Until that happens, however, we have to be
prepared for all eventualities, including a court challenge.”
Downeast
LNG and Quoddy Bay LNG
are expected to file formal project applications with FERC within weeks. When that happens, the FERC review process
begins. Save Passamaquoddy
Bay
wants the federal
government to step in and shut this whole business down before those
applications are filed.
Contact
the Fundy
Baykeeper
office if
you want a pdf version of the LNG flyer.
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Media
Release
September
11, 2006
ANTI-LNG
CAMPAIGN RANKS BOLSTERED
The
group formed in Charlotte
County
to oppose the LNG terminals in Maine
have added three
new members to its steering committee, co-chair Janice Harvey announced
today. “The
Save Passamaquoddy
Bay / Canada Steering Committee comprises individuals
who possess
specific skills and have taken responsibility for certain tasks that
are
essential to our success,” she explained. “In
making these new appointments, we are filling some gaps with highly
experienced
and committed individuals.”
Jessie
Davies, St. Andrews, retired
director of UNB’s Environment and
Sustainable
Development Research Centre, will serve as the group’s Environmental
Impact
Assessment (EIA) Chair. As such, she will coordinate SPB/C’s
critique of
the environmental impact statements being prepared for both the Quoddy Bay LNG and Down East LNG
terminals. These
comprehensive reports are required under the US National Environmental
Protection Act and are integral to the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission) review of the two LNG proposals. Ms. Davies has
extensive
experience with EIA reviews in Canada,
including serving on the federal panel which reviewed the environmental
impacts
of the Sable Gas projects. Preparing critiques of the two
environmental
assessment reports will be a massive task and will require the
participation of
several experts, all to be coordinated and compiled by Ms. Davies.
John
Clark, St. Andrews, and John
Williamson Jr., Ottawa,
will join the steering committee as Government Relations
co-chairs. Mr.
Clark, who retired to St. Andrews,
was president of J. Clark
& Son Limited in Fredericton for 40
years. He
was heavily involved in Fredericton community
projects
including serving for 12 years as chairman of the Chalmers Regional
Hospital
Foundation. He remains on its executive committee. In St. Andrews, he serves
on the
finance committee of the Fundy Community
Foundation. Mr. Clark’s extensive business and community
experience will
be brought to bear in working with both provincial and federal
governments on
behalf of Save Passamaquoddy Bay, as well
as in
fundraising to meet the campaign goal of $60,000.
John
Williamson will
serve as Government Relations Co-chair in Ottawa, where he
now resides
and serves as federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Prior to
joining the CTF, Mr. Williamson worked at the National Post as an
editorial
writer and a member of the paper's editorial board. Born and
raised in New Brunswick, he studied
economics
and government at McGill University. His
work for Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada will
involve making and
maintaining critical contacts in the federal government to advance the
group’s
position that Ottawa needs to
legislate a ban
on LNG tankers passing through Head Harbour
Passage.
“These new
appointments
to our steering committee fill very specific needs and we are pleased
that
these imminently qualified people have agreed to join our campaign,”
said Harvey.
“We also
invite the
general public to help by donating to the campaign,” added Harvey. “We have
raised $40,000
towards our $60,000 goal. Most of that money will be dedicated to our
intervention in US regulatory
approval
processes. We need another $20,000 to make sure we have the
resources
necessary for our Canadian voice to be heard loud and clear in the United States.”
Information on
how to make a donation is available from the Fundy
Baykeeper office in St. Andrews – 529-8838.
Other
members of the steering committee are:
Hugh
Akagi, St.
Andrews - Passamaquoddy rep; Science chair
Susan
Lambert, Deer Island – Deer Island rep
Jan
Meiners, Campobello - Campobello rep, FERC committee
Carl
Sapers, St. Andrews and Cambridge – FERC chair
Janice
Harvey, Waweig – Co-chair, Communications chair
Larry
Lack, St. Andrews –
Mobilization co-chair
Maria
Recchia, Kerr’s Ridge – Fisheries chair
David
Welch, St. Andrews – Municipal
rep
Lee
Ann Ward, St. Andrews –
Mobilization co-chair
Dr.
Lesley Pinder, St. Andrews –
Co-chair; International liaison
Margot
Magee Sackett, St. Andrews –
Fundraising co-chair
Mary
Kane, Bayside – Fundraising co-chair
Mary
Myers, St. Andrews – Muncipal
rep
For
more information:
Jessie
Davies – 529-8378
John
Clark – 529-3223
John
Williamson – 529-3498
Janice
Harvey – 466-4033 / 529-8838 / 466-8653 (cell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media
Release
AUGUST 28, 2006
LNG dangers
underplayed,
public forum will hear
According to engineering
professor
Clifford Goudey of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT),
the potential dangers of LNG tankers and installations have been
downplayed by
proponents. This is the message he will
deliver at a public forum on liquefied natural gas (LNG) sponsored to
be held
in St. Andrews on Wednesday, August 30, 7:00 pm, at the Anglican
Church on King St.
Prof. Goudey was instrumental
in the rejection in 2003 of an LNG terminal in Harpswell, Maine. “There
was so much misinformation being
presented [by the proponents of the Harpswell project] that myself and
quite a
few other people who were not satisfied gave ourselves some
self-education and formed … an opposition
group. My role was to look at the
engineering
aspects of it…”
Three proposals for LNG
terminals are in various stages of development for the Maine side of Passamaquoddy Bay. Two,
at Split Rock near Eastport and Mill Cove
in Robbinston, are in the pre-filing stage of the application process
before
FERC. To reach any of these proposed
terminals, LNG supertankers must transit Canadian waters at Head
Harbour
Passage. Two-thirds of the affected
population and two-thirds of the affected waters are within Canadian
territory.
Professor Goudey has been
invited to be the guest speaker at a public forum in St. Andrews by the LNG
opposition group in Charlotte County, Save
Passamaquoddy Bay Canada. He
will offer facts on LNG in a way most
people have not heard because of the spin that proponents and
supporters put on
the projects. “What is clear to me,”
said Goudey, “is that it is just foolish to store or transport that
amount of
concentrated energy where the public can be impacted by it. It just makes no sense.”
Wednesday evening’s forum is
sponsored by Save Passamaquoddy Bay Canada. This
group has been formed by Charlotte County residents to
oppose the Maine LNG proposals. It is
part of Save Passamaquoddy Bay: A Three-Nation Alliance, which also
includes US
and Passamaquoddy native groups also fighting the proposals.
Group co-chair Janice Harvey
said of the forum, “We are bringing Prof. Goudey to speak to us so this
issue remains
in full public view. While our group is
working hard to make sure these projects are not built, most of that
work is
not in the public eye. This forum will
give us an opportunity to remind people of what is potentially facing
our
communities, to let people know what our strategies are for stopping
the
proposals, and invite them to help out.”
For further information
contact:
Janice Harvey,
Co-chair, Save
Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada
506-466-4033 (home office);
529-8838 (Fundy Baykeeper office); 466-8653 (cell)
Belinda Breese, Communications
committee – 506-529-3888
Pre- and
post-forum interviews
with Prof. Goudey may be arranged by contacting:
Larry Lack - 506-529-4982.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEDIA ADVISORY
July 12, 2006
The
United States Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) is holding a site visit for the proposed Quoddy Bay
LLC
liquefied natural gas terminal, planned for Split Rock, Pleasant Point
Indian
Reservation, in Maine, just north of Eastport. This
will be held on Thursday, July 13, 2006, beginning at 9:00
am EST
(10:00 am AST).
The proposed
facilities include a liquefied natural gas terminal and storage
facility, and
an associated 35-mile long natural gas send-out pipeline.
The public is invited to attend the site
visit. Interested people should meet in
the Quoddy Bay LLC office parking lot on Route 190, at 95 County Road, Perry, Maine 04667. Participants
must provide their own transportation
although transportation
may be provided to the location of the LNG storage facility.
Representatives
of Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada will attend and will be
available to
speak with media present. Below is the
letter submitted to FERC as part of the earlier scoping process for the
Downeast LNG proposal for Robbinston, Maine. The
same letter was sent with respect to the Quoddy Bay
LLC proposal for
Split Rock. It points out that SPB/C
does not accept FERC’s authority with respect to making a decision that
will
affect Canadian communities. Two-thirds
of the population around Passamaquoddy Bay, and two thirds of the bay
itself are in sovereign Canadian territory.
For more
information:
Janice Harvey
Co-chair, Save
Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada
506-466-4033
(home office) / 506-529-8838 (office) /
506-466-8653 (cell)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For extensive information on
LNG, the project proposals, media
coverage, the approval process and the US - based campaign to stop LNG
in Passamaquoddy Bay, visit
