Quoddy Bay is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based limited liability company that, last spring, partnered with the Passamaquoddy tribal council to explore the feasibility of siting an LNG plant on 45 acres at Gleason Cove, not far from the tribal settlement of Sipayik. Savvy, Inc. is a Portland-based public relations firm, hired by the council last year when opposition to the facility began to mount. It is owned by Dennis Bailey, who previously worked for former Gov. Angus King and who advised the CasinosNo! Campaign in last year’s successful effort to block the introduction of a casino in Maine. Opposition has been expressed formally by most of the municipalities on both the American and Canadian shores of Passamaquoddy Bay, environmental groups, the local land trust, and an alliance of U.S., Canadian and Passamaquoddy activists who call themselves “Save Passamaquoddy Bay.” The Cobscook Bay Fishermen’s Association, representing fishermen who ply the waters that would be affected — tankers would be protected by a 1,000-foot exclusion zone inside of which shoot-to-kill rules of engagement would prevail — is opposed, as are many doctors, scientists, educators and artisans around the Bay. Quoddy Bay/Savvy-Sponsored Sessions In late January, Quoddy Bay LLC mounted a website to impart information to the public, but the late-February gatherings were the first time industry principals had faced the public personally and formally. The first meeting was held February 24, at the Perry municipal building. Rather than being seated in an audience, listening to a presentation and asking questions, the 50+ people who crowded into the town building’s fire-engine bay found four tables. Company spokesmen behind them were poised to answer random questions. Brian Smith, son of Donald Smith, a managing partner of Quoddy Bay LLC, was the producer of this show. With Smith were Texas Consulting engineer, James Lewis, who would later eat LNG-laced Cheerios, Craig Francis, a lawyer for the Passamoquoddy Tribe and tribal environmental department employees Steve Crawford and Dale Mitchell. Attendees asked if Quoddy Bay LLC had a business plan and what types of jobs would be offered. They were told there was no plan. When asked how residents would get off the island of Eastport in a catastrophe, Smith responded that there were only eight leaks in 40 years, none “of concern.” Asked whether Quoddy Bay LLC would be responsible for anti-terrorism protection, Smith said he believed terrorist acts were much more likely to occur in urban areas, such as Boston and New York. Impact on Fishermen, Painting the Tanks Asked how area fishermen would be affected, Smith said he wasn’t sure about the size of exclusion zones around tankers, but promised that there would be many public meetings and advanced notice of closed areas. He placed fishermen’s concerns on a plane with safety and the environment. He had no information about security lights, but invited anyone to write down unanswered questions with their name and address. LNG would be offloaded at the end of a three-quarter-mile-long pier and piped ashore to two huge storage tanks, from which it would be gasified and piped out to its New England destinations. Smith said the storage tanks would be large enough to hold two 747 airplanes on top of each other. To reduce their visual effect, he said his company plans to hold an art contest on the reservation, the winner of which would get to paint the tanks to blend in with their surroundings — a remark that elicited groans and looks of incredulity, especially from the Passamaquoddy in the room. Lewis’ Cheerios/goldfish demonstration was orchestrated to end the college fair-type presentation of Quoddy Bay/Savvy, Inc. An immediate interview of Smith by WABI-TV Channel 5 ensued, briefly interrupted by County Democratic Chairman Gail Wahl, who objected to Smith’s reference to a State Planning Office study of job implications (it had indeed not been done, Wahl said with reference to communiqués from the SPO), followed by a lengthy interview with Godfrey, who said the project was easy to promote in “phrases,” but one that the combined communities don’t want. Alan Furth, a Trescott resident, called the change of format to a college fair-type presentation a “pathetic” attempt to avoid questions and answers. Annexation In FERC Even before Quoddy Bay/Savvy’s suited proponents left Washington County, February 24, LNG opponents were gearing up for the next watershed: a March 28 vote by the residents of Perry. The plebiscite is occasioned by language in a 1986 town meeting, in which, in exchange for $350,000, Perry voters agreed to cede police and tax jurisdiction over 390 acres on Route 198 and allow the Passamaquoddy Nation to annex the land, which includes the Gleason Cove property on which the LNG plant would be sited. The concession was predicated on the condition that any commercial development would need approval from Perry residents. On March 28, Perry folk will vote yes or no on whether they want to block the project. A “yes” vote is a “no” on the project; a “no” vote simply advocates letting the project proceed through regular channels. The vote was front and center in Quoddy Bay’s private meetings with Perry selectmen and area fishermen in the week preceding the four informational meetings. Even with a decisive rejection by Perry residents March 28, one last legal loophole exists through which Quoddy Bay could shove its LNG terminal: a clause buried in the recently-passed omnibus federal budget gives the Federal Energy Resources Commission authority to override local decisions, belay home rule, and site an energy complex that has been rejected by home rule. Opponents to an LNG terminal at Gleason Cove hope that Donald Smith will honor his word and, with a rejection by the people of Perry, that the proposal will be abandoned before federal jurisdiction ever becomes an issue. Off To The Fisherman’s Forum Harry Shain, 71, of Perry, the head of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen’s Association, says he plans to get together with his Harpswell colleagues at this month’s Fishermen’s Forum. Besides spills, Shain says that tanker traffic can cause his colleagues to lose fishing ground in the last good scalloping territory on the Maine coast, as tanker traffic restricts available fishing areas. “They’re going to take a little town with a state park [Gleason Cove State Park] and light it up 24 hours a day,” he says, in reference to the proposed complex. “I don’t see how they talked the reservation into it. They’ll be in daylight 24 hours a day,” he says of the Passamaquoddy settlement near the proposed terminal. CBFA’s next meeting is March 10, at the boat school in Eastport, and LNG is on the agenda. Quoddy Bay’s website is www.quoddylng.com, and their opponents can be visited at www.savepassamaquoddybay.org. |
