Federal legislation giving the federal government exclusive jurisdiction in approving proposed Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) ports and refineries and could affect the status of three contested LNG site proposals on the Maine coast.
Until recently, state and federal governments shared the decision-making process for proposed LNG sites, but states have often opposed LNG sites. With increased pressure to lessen reliance on foreign oil sources, the federal government called upon an old law to grant the final decision to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“The Natural Gas Act of 1938 clearly pre-empts states on matters of approving and siting natural gas infrastructure,” the energy legislation states.
In an online White House press release, the Bush administration said the recent energy bill “clarifies FERC jurisdiction…to accelerate development of a global market in natural gas and help reduce prices for U.S. consumers.”
States-rights advocates, environmental groups and coastal civic leaders panned the new regulation. Jerry Taylor, natural resources council for the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, wrote of a “stampede to shove liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals down the collective throats of communities that simply don’t want them given the risk of potentially-dangerous industrial accidents.”
Locally, Vivian Newman, co-chair of the conservation committee of the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club, expressed concern.
“It makes it much more difficult for states or local communities to challenge the site,” she said in a phone interview.
Most natural gas is shipped from abroad on 1,000 to 1,500-foot supertankers. In order to ship natural gas efficiently, it is cooled and condensed to 1/600 of its original volume. At such a pressure, it can be highly explosive. Some fear that LNG supertankers wouldn’t be able to safely navigate Maine’s shallow, rocky bays. Others worry that the tankers would be an inviting target for terrorist attacks.
Currently, the only LNG site in New England is located in Everett, Massachusetts.
Proposals for Maine sites have been defeated by local opposition in Harpswell, Searsport and Gouldsboro. Three other site proposals are still under consideration, all in the economically-depressed coastal region of Washington County.