FROM THE CROWE'S NEST

What Part Of No Don't You Understand?

   The LNG companies have been blatantly told ‘No’ on all three attempts they have made in Maine to construct an LNG facility. In all three attempts they have used the offer of ‘free money’ to make their massive industrial complex seem more appealing. They have used doublespeak about the potential affects on the fishing industry. Regarding the proposal for Harpswell, I was told by their public relations person that two prominent lobster scientists in the state of Maine were comfortable with the prospect and that they felt a pipeline would have no adverse affects on lobsters. In point of fact, one of the scientists said that she never spoke with their public relations person, had no idea who he was and that she was quite concerned about the repercussions of an LNG facility and its proposed pipeline on the lobster population.
   In their attempt to site an LNG facility in Gouldsboro the standard eight million dollar offer was on the table again. Calculating the amount of money generated by the five lobstering harbors on the Gouldsboro-Winter Harbor Peninsula for the previous year, I came up with a conservative estimate of $135 million generated into the local economy. Now, gambling a $135 million dollar local business against an $8 million offer doesn’t sound like a good plan to me. Ask any lobsterman if a 1200-foot ship with 25-foot wide propellers, an escort fleet of up to 15 other boats and a thousand foot security perimeter wouldn’t raise havoc with their gear. Obviously, the LNG bureaucrats have no concept of what fishing is about. They also have no understanding of the difference between a job and a way of life. Nor do they have a sense of community if they would put a community’s health and safety at risk.
   So after three resounding defeats on building an LNG terminal under their belts they decided to bribe some of the poorest towns in the state. They offered the $8 million carrot to the Passamaquoddy Indian Nation. Someone likened this move to General Jeffrey Amherst when he approved distribution of small pox infected blankets to the Ottawa Indian Tribe in 1763.
   According to Webster’s Dictionary the word ‘best’ is defined as: most excellent; surpassing all others. To date all three of the sites they have proposed for an LNG facility have been described as the best site available on the coast. According to Webster having more than one ‘best’ site is an oxymoron. Maybe these guys have been inhaling too much gas.
   What part of ‘NO’ does the LNG industry not understand?