LNG application temporarily withdrawn

A company seeking to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Maine — a proposal that would see supertankers entering a sensitive New Brunswick, Canada, waterway — has temporarily withdrawn its permit applications.

And while opposition groups are greeting the news, Downeast LNG says it expects to refile new applications by the end of the year for its proposed terminal near Robbinston, Maine.

The planned LNG terminal is directly across Passamaquoddy Bay from the seaside resort town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, where a local citizen group has mounted a campaign opposing the development.

The company says the delay will ensure the Maine Board of Environmental Protection has access to critical information when it considers the applications, and maintains the withdrawal won’t affect the timetable for the project.

The Downeast proposal, along with Quoddy Bay LNG’s plan for a terminal near Eastport, Maine, has drawn criticism from Ottawa, with politicians openly considering legislation that would ban supertankers from the Bay of Fundy.

Janice Harvey of the Save Passamaquoddy Bay citizens’ group says the company appears to be stalling while it tries to deal with growing opposition.

“Clearly, the company did not do well (in recent public hearings), the interveners poked a lot of holes in their case and showed it to be deficient, and so they’re essentially asking for a second chance,” she told CTV News.

Passamaquoddy Bay lies between Maine and New Brunswick and any supertanker traffic would have to cross through Head Harbour Passage, a narrow waterway that Canada considers internal waters.

The U.S. State Department has said it agrees the passage is Canadian, but it considers it a territorial sea where ships should enjoy the right of innocent passage under international law.

—The Associated Press