CALAIS, Maine — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has pulled the plug on a six-year effort to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the St. Croix River basin in Passamaquoddy Bay near the Washington County community of Calais.
Jeff Wright, FERC’s director of energy projects, has notified the Calais LNG Project Company and the Calais LNG Pipeline Company that the project is no longer being considered for federal permitting, citing loss of financing, loss of access to a proposed project site and withdrawal of state permitting.
The project was envisioned as an $800 million to $1 billion terminal to be located at a 330-acre site south of Calais at Red Beach. That site included 2,800 feet of shoreline along the deep-water banks of the St. Croix River and Passamaquoddy Bay.
Critics of the project claim the FERC action is the death knell for bringing an LNG terminal to Down East Maine. The project’s development manager doesn’t agree.
“This kills the proposed Calais LNG project,” said Robert Godfrey, an environment activist with the Save Passamaquoddy Bay organization. “Calais LNG is only the second LNG terminal applicant to ever be dismissed by FERC. The first dismissed LNG project was Quoddy Bay LNG, proposed at Pleasant Point.”
Ian Emery, Calais LNG project’s development manager, on Thursday termed FERC’s action “disappointing” but insists that it “in no way means the end of the Calais LNG project.”
“For the past 5 plus years, I’ve seen my share of ups and downs while working on this project,” Emery said in a prepared statement sent Thursday to the Bangor Daily News. “Together with our project team we have overcome many challenges that come from developing such a significant energy project like Calais LNG.
“When you are building a facility that has the potential to provide heat to over 2.5 million homes daily and/or provides cheap, clean affordable natural gas for electricity to nearly 5 million homes daily, you are going to shake up the energy markets and with that attract more challenges beyond just obtaining environmental permits. With FERC’s latest decision, it only hardens our resolve to get this project built for the people of Calais, Washington County and Maine.”
Emery said his efforts to secure partnerships and financing were undermined by the economic downturn that began eroding the U.S. economy in 2006. He said he is now working to rekindle business relationships associated with LNG supply contracts and investment agreements.
“We hope to have both funding and supply secured by the end of the summer based on negotiations underway with investors and LNG suppliers,” he said in the statement released this week. “Currently, Calais LNG is in negotiations with Atlantic Basin LNG suppliers as well as investors to fund the balance of regulatory work and the purchase of land associated with the project. I have always maintained that as long as the City of Calais continues to support this project, I would do all that I can to see that project gets built.”
Emery claims Calais LNG has invested over $25 million on environmental, engineering, and legal groundwork for the project, including $20 million spent in Maine. He notes that Calais LNG has successfully received approvals from the U.S. Coast Guard to allow the largest LNG ships to call on the proposed port in Calais and that the City of Calais has approved zone change and local permits.
Godfrey contends that the emergence of new domestic sources of natural gas renders importation of LNG unnecessary.
“In 2005 there were nearly 40 LNG import terminal projects in the works; Now, there are just two,” he said. “Both are unneeded due to the vast supply of domestic natural gas in nearby Pennsylvania and due to rapidly expanding natural gas interstate pipelines in the Northeast and New England regions. The natural gas industry itself has already recognized and dismissed LNG import terminal projects as a worthless and defunct business model.”
Would of been some good jobs for that area…..
not really
Yeah really…… You havent a clue….
Bob Godfrey is PROUD that he was able to help kill this opportunity and the jobs that would have resulted. He and I see life downeast differently.
What you won’t see is push from the gas companies to resurrect any LNG terminal anywhere in the US, except maybe for exports.
Has anybody checked on the price of nat. gas lately? The prices have fallen faster than boulders on the Knife Edge on Katahdin. With all the gas coming on-line from shale formations in the US, imports have slowed to a crawl.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/09/markets/natural-gas-prices/index.htm
and
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/03/16/US-natural-gas-imports-declining/UPI-19021331898171/
LNG is being EXPORTED from the US — this project is not needed, was never needed, will never be needed
Bob Godfrey is the most powerful Human being on the East Coast. Just the mention of his name brings the international petroleum companies to their knees. Once Goldman Sachs heard that Bob Godfrey didn’t want an LNG terminal on Passamaquoddy Bay they ran back to Wall Street in terror. Joe Bornstein calls Bob Godfrey for advice!
I guarantee you that nobody at FERC has the slightest idea who Robert Godfrey is.
A true legend in his own mind pardon the pun……
What about the Robbinston LNG project?
Give it up LNG….Canada has been steadfast since 2007 that it is strongly opposed to the LNG tankers passing through the environmentally sensitive and navigationally-challenging Head Harbour Passage.
Think about this, on or about, July 2nd, the US Navy will be bringing a ship through Head harbor passage, with enough armament onboard, that would make an LNG tanker look like a childs bath toy, in comparison to damage that could result in an unfortunate accident.
So the Feds regulate employment rates and energy rates… I guess Canada is better suited to do business then this “Free Country”..
The Saint Croix river valley from Calais down to Eastport is an extraordinarily beautiful part of our state. It is where I grew up and, having lived in a number of regions of Maine, I deeply appreciate its unique beauty. I always recommend the drive down 1 through Robbinston and the ferry rides from Eastport to New Brunswick and on to Saint Andrews. On prior trips I’ve seen gray seals (man the are big) and dolphins swimming beside the ferry. Why would anyone trade the pristine beauty of that area for a replica of Bayonne New Jersey? Jobs? how many? You’ll get more jobs over the long haul from tourism. And from the
east/west highway which would include a pipeline right of way,
eliminating the need to for an LNG terminal.
Read Emery’s statement carefully. This in not what is best for the the Calais, the St. Croix River, Passamaquoddy Bay and all who cherish its unique beauty and heritage. It is about greed and the billions of dollars he and his investors will reap from the rape of the St. Croix.
lng is already being used it is already here , its being trucked in , there were many trucks in Calais over night last year. There will be lng plants they will be inland. Especially as gas/diesel rises it is inevitable. The only thing the opposition groups did was exclude themselves and thier communities from the tax revenue and jobs.
You Sir are exctly right.
I haven’t seen any trucks that transport LNG. Perhaps your thinking of LPG trucks, i.e. liquid Propane, not natural gas? I would be curious to see one.
you are not looking – these trucks are going all over – they say liquid methane
YEAH WAHOO way to go NINBY boys. ought to be proud of yourselves for helping keep Washington counties unemployment rate as high as it is, YES, its a good day to be a NIMBY.
If the out of State trust fund NIMBY’s had their way, we wouldnt have any industry at all. We will be ok though, Maine has a great welfare system we can all rely on right?
These NIMBY’s actually think the whales are going to save us! ha what a joke. Dont whine about Maines high taxation NIMBY’s , YOU helped create it!!!
Get serious. Do you really believe that the all powerful treehugger/nimby conspiracy brought down the international petro/banking industry? How naive it is to think that all of those hundreds of super high-paying jobs can be taken away by a bunch of jack-booted trust fund folk-singer types. Gwarsh they are so scary, they must be responsible for everything wrong in your life. If the people with money wanted to put an LNG terminal in your bedroom , they would. They don’t want to. Emory and Dean Girdis know this. They are just milking the last of the exploratory funds and then they will go home. “Calais LNG invested 25 million dollars…” , what a joke. They couldn’t afford 400 dollars a month in rent.
Looks like the LNG thing is dead in the water. Pardon the pun.
Too bad we can’t burn snake oil. Lots of jobs in that industry, though.
If you only knew what was on all those ships that transit through Head Harbor going to Portside in Canada?
GO RUIN ANOTHER SHORELINE — LEAVE OURS ALONE — TAKE IT TO CHINA — GOOD PLACE FOR IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
If there were money to be made importing LNG now, you can bet someone would “find a way” to get it FERCed. But there isn’t, and that’s why these projects have died.
It;s already in the works and there isn;t a darn thing you can do about it…. happy motoring
Yes the economics of the gas industry have changed and has made the import gas terminals less cost effective than before I said less needed not unneeded there is still a market for impoted LNG ini Maine. The price of fuel oil goes up and the price of gas goes down buisnesses are going to switch to gas where they can. The woodland pulp mill switched over to gas , Lincon pulp mill is switching ( currently trucking LNG over the highways ) Millinocket is going to switch. Now with all the new demand on the supply side Where do you think all this gas is going to come from? You can not put 10lbs of stuff in a 5 lbs bag.
As for the anti everything group Save the Bay . There true nature became apparent years ago and it is a dark condensending hatefull one who hold all local people in contempt