Fundy Baykeeper - Defending the Bay of Fundy

August 30, 2006

Public Forum Highlights Safety Risks of LNG.

Over 400 people crowded into the Anglican Church in St. Andrews, New Brunswick on Wednesday, Aug 30, for a public forum on liquified natural gas (LNG) organized by the group Save Passamaquoddy Bay Canada (SPBC).

Guest speaker was Clifford Goudey, research engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In a 45-minute power point presentation, Prof. Goudey deconstructed the safety claims of both LNG project proponents and their regulators, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Referencing a paper by fellow MIT professor James Fay, an LNG safety expert, Goudey explained the risks of fire and thermal radiation that would occur in the event of a significant release of LNG from either a tanker or from on-land storage tanks.

Communities along the proposed tanker route in both Canada (Deer Island, Campobello, St. Andrews) and the US (Eastport, Pleasant Point, Perry, Robbinston) would be affected (James Fay's paper can be downloaded at www.savepassamaquoddybay.org). He explained that the models used by the US regulator, FERC, to estimate that risk use far too conservative parameters resulting in an underestimation of that risk. FERC also uses a far too high threshold for an acceptable thermal radiation exposure, based on the heat value which produces serious burns.

The forum also heard from representatives of the Charlotte County-based group Save Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada on their strategy for opposing the three LNG terminals proposed for Maine. The group is operating on three fronts. First, the priority is to have the federal government actually legislate a ban on LNG tankers through Canadian waters. This could be done under the Canada Shipping Act. Second, the group will intervene in the FERC process to ensure that Canadian citizen's are heard there. Third, the group has successfully convinced both Conservative and Liberal parties in New Brunswick to also intervene in before FERC. The federal government should not intervene, however, since that would undermine Canadian sovereignty over these waters.

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July 18, 2006

Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada formalizes opposition to LNG

    In June, the ad hoc Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada group announced their legal incorporation as a non-governmental organization under the laws of the Province of New Brunswick. The group’s mandate is three fold: a) to ensure Canadians are well-informed about proposals to establish liquefied natural gas terminals in the Passamaquoddy Bay/St. Croix region; b) to provide a voice for Canadians who oppose such development; and c) to ensure this voice is properly represented to government (Canada and US) and the public.

    Dr. Lesley Pinder, MD, and Janice Harvey, Fundy Baykeeper Program Director for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick are co-chairs of the group. Other Board members are: Jan Meiners (Campobello rep), Susan Lambert (Deer Island rep), David Welch (municipal rep), Carl Sapers (FERC intervention chair), Margot Sackett and Mary Kane (fundraising co-chairs), Gerald McEachern (communications chair), Larry Lack and Lee Ann Ward (mobilization co-chairs), Hugh Akagi (Science chair and Passamaquoddy First Nations liaison), and Maria Recchia (Fisheries chair). The Fundy Baykeeper Program is serving as secretariat for the group.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada Inc.’s immediate priority is to ensure the Canadian government regulates quickly to prohibit LNG tankers from transiting Head Harbour Passage, as Prime Minister Harper has promised. The group retained the Sierra Club of Canada to work on their behalf in Ottawa. Simultaneously, SPB/Canada is preparing to intervene in the US decision-making process under the auspices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“Should the FERC review of the two proposals at Split Rock (Quoddy Bay LLC) and Robbinston (Downeast LNG) begin before Canada passes the necessary regulations to prohibit tanker passage through Canadian waters, we will need to be formal intervenors in that US process,” explained Harvery. “We are urging Canada to move quickly through the regulatory process, which may pre-empt the FERC review.

However, we must also be prepared, as a citizen’s group opposing the US projects, to be active intervenors in the USCanada is delayed.” process in case federal action in
SPB/Canada is working closely with their US and Passamaquoddy counterparts to coordinate their FERC intervention. That said, Harvey stressed the need for the Canadian group to intervene separately from their partners in Save Passamaquoddy Bay: A Three Nation Alliance.

“Canada sits in a very unique position in this issue,” said Harvey. “While many of the issues are the same on both sides of the border, the remedies and recourses are very different. Thus it is important that our group be prepared to participate independently in the US process. A priority for us now must be to raise the funds needed to support that intervention.”

While a precise timetable for the FERC review of the formal applications is not known, Save Passamaquoddy Bay / Canada is preparing for a fall deadline. “We will work very hard over the summer to get ready for this review process. We cannot assume the projects will disappear anytime soon. Being fully prepared for whatever comes at us is our group’s priority now,” said Harvey.
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