Voters at Sipayik, the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Pleasant Point near Eastport, approved on Aug. 17 a proposed LNG facility there by a vote of 193-132.
Opponents, however, say that the fight is not over.
Fred Moore, tribal representative to the state legislature, who has been the main driving force behind the facility, called the voting proponents “courageous” and added, “this was the second step in the whole process. The first was an exclusivity agreement with Quoddy Bay LLC [the Oklahoma-based developer]. The third step will be hammering out a definitive agreement with Quoddy Bay.”
Moore said that he could not give a specific date for the next step but that it would be “soon.” He also said that he doesn’t believe the recent government approval for an LNG facility in Saint John, New Brunswick, would have any impact on the future of Sipayik.
Tribal member and opponent David Moses Bridges said strategy meetings to defeat the plant had been held and would continue. “We plan to make this a regional fight as well as a tribal fight,” Bridges said a few days after the vote. “We’re talking to people on Deer Island [NB], Campobello [NB], Lubec, Eastport, Perry and Pembroke.”
He added that opponents are also looking into whether the vote itself was legal.
Bridges also believes that one obstacle to the facility is a plan to run the pipeline through the Moose-horn National Wildlife Refuge.
The exclusivity agreement between the tribal council and Quoddy LLC, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was signed in early June. The proposed LNG site would be on the reserve itself and would be linked by pipeline to the natural gas pipeline in Baileyville.
The value of the project is estimated at between $300 and $400 million.
The proposed terminal will be designed for an initial volume of 0.5 billion cubic feet and could be boosted to 1 billion cubic feet. The site would be located on approximately 40 acres adjacent to Gleason’s Cove.