LNG opponents ask for Baldacci's help
Portland Press Herald
Wednesday, December 1, 2004

By DENNIS HOEY, Portland Press Herald Writer

BELFAST  A group that opposes construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Passamaquoddy reservation is urging Gov. John Baldacci to end the project. Save Passamaquoddy Bay outlined its concerns Tuesday at a press conference in Belfast before going to Augusta to meet with Baldacci's senior advisers.

Baldacci, who has said he will support an LNG project only if a community wants it, would not take a position on the Quoddy Bay LLC proposal. A spokesman for Baldacci called the group's concerns "premature."

Opponents say they represent Passamaquoddy tribal members who oppose a gas terminal, and residents of New Brunswick and the Maine towns of Perry and Eastport who would be near the terminal.

Linda Cross Godfrey, a spokeswoman for Save Passamaquoddy Bay, said her group wants the governor and the rest of the state to realize that more than just the Passamaquoddies would be affected by an LNG terminal.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay is the latest in a long line of groups formed in the past year to oppose construction of a gas terminal on Maine's coast.

Harpswell residents rejected an LNG project in a townwide vote in March, and Yarmouth, Cumberland, Searsport and Gouldsboro all made it clear this year that they would not be willing to host an LNG terminal.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay contends that the Pleasant Point project, which would be developed on Passamaquoddy tribal lands at Gleason Cove, would destroy the bay's rich lobster industry and its natural beauty, harm the tourism industry and create terrorism threats.

But Brian Smith, a representative of a company that's involved in the plan, said Tuesday that the project would bring much-needed jobs to Washington County and spur additional economic development.

Smith's father, Don Smith, is chief executive officer for Smith Cogeneration Management Inc. of Oklahoma City, a partner in Quoddy Bay LLC.

"We understand there is opposition, but we are confident we can develop a reasonable and safe facility," Smith said.

Smith said the company and the tribal council have agreed to business terms but still need more time to settle some of the specifics of a long-term agreement.

Smith said he does not know how much longer that process will take, but Quoddy Bay LLC will file a pre-application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission within six months after reaching a final agreement.

Lee Umphrey, spokesman for Baldacci, said it is too soon for the governor to stop the project.

"It's a premature request because there is no proposal or agreement of any kind. He can't call a halt to something that hasn't started," Umphrey said.

The governor's reaction to the group's request did not deter opponents.

Arthur MacKay, a marine biologist who is director of the St. Croix Estuary Project in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, said non-industrial businesses on both sides of Passamaquoddy Bay generate more than $1 billion a year in revenues. The bay is home to whale-watching tours, lobstering, aquaculture operations and tourist destinations like Campobello Island.

"There is no heavy industry here," MacKay said. "Why would we take a billion-dollar industry and shove it down the drain by moving New Jersey north? There is no damn way we are going to see an LNG terminal sited here."

David Moses Bridges, a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe whose mother, Gail Dana, is a newly elected member of the Tribal Council, said that they oppose the LNG project and that it has divided their community, much as it did Harpswell.

"I've witnessed a very un-Democratic process controlled by a corporation," Bridges said. "Their motives are based on profit and quick gains. We are a threatened people living on 250 acres of land. They want to take a part of that and turn it into an industrial zone."

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com