Saint John, New Brunswick, is currently looking at the possibility of a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal as a proposed Irving Oil harbor facility is in its last 90 days of permitting after undergoing a full Environmental Impact Assessment, according to Irving spokesperson Jennifer Parker.
“The project has been undergoing a full Environmental Impact Assessment – a joint provincial/federal review process – for the last two years,” Parker says. “As part of the EIA process, the company expects to submit its final Environmental Impact Statement to Environment Canada and the New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government by the end of March. Pending approval, construction is expected to begin in May of this year, with the plant operational in 2007.”
Parker says that overall community response to the project has been positive. “We have held a number of public meetings with stakeholders and residents in the area near the proposed LNG facility,” she adds. “These meetings began before the project became public, with door to door visits to neighbors in the immediate area in the days leading up to our public announcement. Early concerns from residents centered on safety, which came from a lack of familiarity with LNG.”
Janice Harvey of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick says that her organization has taken no official position of the facility. “We’re watching as the permitting process continues.”
But CCNB Fundy Bay Keeper David Thompson says he has some concerns about the proposed terminal.
“It looks to me that the site is close to shore in an unsheltered part of the harbor,” Thompson says. “With changing weather conditions, ocean waves and strong currents at the mouth of the St. John River, you can have dangerous docking conditions while dealing with a volatile and explosive substance. Sure, they’re going to have tugs alongside the tankers, but engines have been known to fail and tug lines have been known to snap.”
He adds, “We support natural gas as an energy source. It’s cleaner than fossil fuels and it contributes less to global warming, but any tanker with LNG does present a serious risk.”
Parker says, “We have had a number of world-renowned LNG experts in to talk about the safety of LNG, and residents have been largely satisfied with this information. The site of the proposed facility is already an industrialized site where Irving Oil unloads crude oil for its refinery, five miles away, so this is not a green field location. Other stakeholders, such as our local Board of Trade, government and individual businesses have been very supportive of the project and the economic spin-offs it will have for our province and region.”
Parker says that the proposal calls for two 140,000 cubic meter storage tanks. Construction would include preparation for a third LNG storage tank that could be built in the future depending on demand. Projected cost is $350 million (US). The terminal would have a throughput capacity of half a billion cubic feet per day and will employ natural gas burners to heat water which is used to warm the liquefied natural gas into natural gas.