The surprise, divided vote by the Passamaquoddy Tribal Council in mid-May in favor of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on tribal land near Eastport is a development with deep implications for Maine’s coast and working waterfronts.
Anyone who recalls the Pittston Company’s hard-fought battle to build an oil refinery 20 years ago in the same neighborhood knows that petrochemical developments don’t sit well with all citizens of coastal communities in Maine, be they in Washington County, the midcoast or Casco Bay. Pittston’s refinery never got built; neither has any proposed oil refinery on this coast. The reasons are complex, of course, but they have mostly to do with Maine’s traditions of local control, the strength of the environmental and fishing communities, shifting energy and coastal real estate markets and the ability of any reasonably well-financed group of opponents to stop a project by wearing it down.
The Passamaquoddy LNG project isn’t the first to be proposed by the tribe. An earlier plan foundered when Perry residents voted it down.
The tribal connection will make this particular proposal more interesting than most industrial schemes: with some justification, tribal members can claim that they’re entitled to an economic development vehicle of some sort. A casino they proposed several years ago for the Calais area ran afoul of state opposition; the state also refused to back a racino proposed by the tribe earlier this year. Early in the debate over the Perry project it was suggested that the tribe might enjoy special status under the law and perhaps be treated differently than another applicant – surely a matter for the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, the project’s proximity to Atlantic Canada (where at least two other LNG projects are in the works) is likely to spawn concerns over the passage of LNG ships through another country’s waters, particularly fast-flowing ones often shrouded in fog. All in all, we have the makings of a news story of major proportions.
Of course it could all go away in a month or a year. The tribal council could change its mind. The supply of LNG could diminish enough to make a new terminal an unlikely proposition. The opposition could get so vociferous that the tribe or the Oklahoma-based developer loses interest. Three years from now the oil-friendly Bush administration will be gone, perhaps replaced by people with a completely different agenda. New England’s current thirst for gas could dry up – stranger things have happened.
Meanwhile, we face the prospect of a major debate over what would be a pre-emptive use of a portion of the Maine coast. Decisions made by the federal government, the state, the energy industry and the Passamaquoddy Tribe will affect the lives and livelihoods of people in a wide region.