“It’s almost divine intervention. Right at the time oil prices are skyrocketing, we’re struggling with the economy, we’re concerned about global warming, and national security threats remain intense, we wake up and we’ve got this abundance of natural gas around us.”

— "Drilling boom revives hopes for natural gas" — The New York Times, 2008 Aug 24

"Relying more on LNG forces the U.S. to compete with Europe, Australia and Asia for this valuable commodity. If this isn't troubling enough, consider that Russia, Iran and Qatar have over half the world's gas reserves."

"Consumers are already hooked on gasoline. They shouldn't face addiction to another fuel [LNG] because of policies that don't balance our energy, economic and environmental needs."

— "U.S. must avoid addiction to imported natural gas" — The Charlotte Observer, 2008 Jul 11

Webmaster's Comments: Duke Energy is majority owner (over 77%) of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline that delivers natural gas to US customers in New England, and that would carry the resulting natural gas from proposed Downeast LNG, Calais LNG Project Co., and Quoddy Bay LNG, if those projects could actually succeed.

"We're hopeful the Canadians will be good neighbors. … We hope that as neighbors in the spirit of cooperation, that we can find common ground between what we're doing and what they're doing. We have interests, they have interests. There are things that they want to do that involve us as there are things we want to do that involve them."

— "Calais Officials Hear From Calais LNG Officials" WQDY FM, 2008 Apr 8.

"…FERC is considering the revised tariff of Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline on gas quality specifications and otherwise considering the impact of LNG on pipeline gas quality, including issues such as maximum nitrogen content."

"The Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline has proposed a new tariff with a broader spectrum of the Wobbe Index than previously supplied further expanding possible supply options. Many power plant owners in Maine with combustion turbines are considering the use of a “Wide Wobbe” control system which can accommodate this broader spectrum."

— Brian Smith letter to Maine Board of Environmental Protection Chairman Ernest Hilton (PDF 177.1 KB), 2008 March 14.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to federal energy policy, the Bush administration has applied a mindless 'if they come, we will let them build it' approach as a substitute for thoughtful balancing of environmental and energy priorities."

— Newsday opinion column, NY State must kill Broadwater to benefit public, 2008 Feb 26.

"High prices, supply shortages, controversies about new drilling opportunities, Middle East turmoil, volatility in the financial markets, and the Democratic gains last November all contribute increased scrutiny of the industry. We will never again be able to fly beneath the public radar! …."
[Bold emphasis added.]

— 2008 Jan, Agenda Welcome and Overview for the 13th Annual LDC Forum - Northeast, June 2–4, 2008

LDC Forum attendees are: Gas buyers from gas and electric utilities, merchant power plants, industrial end users, gas producers, pipelines, marketers, storage operators, and brokers.

"A good while ago, in a BDN OPED, I stated that the LNG import facilities proposed in the Passamaquoddy Bay area are the health and moral equivalent of offering tainted food to hungry people. I further cautioned that care must be taken not to blame hungry people from being tempted to take this food.

Mr. Girdis seems disingenuously surprised and frustrated that the people of Maine and Canada, and the governments they elect, are not jumping at the chance to super-size his fetid meal. One must wonder what in the world he is telling his investors. I suspect that the real audience for articles like this are his investors as he begins his attempt to evade his obvious culpability for this failure in which he continues to earn money while they continue to lose money."

— "Dean Girdis not happy with BEP and State of Maine," Google Groups [Quoddy], 2007 Nov 12.

"…see The Bangor Daily News on another LNG facility’s demise Down East." [Bold emphasis added.]

— "BEHIND THE LINES: Our Take on the Other Media’s Homeland Security Coverage" — CQ.com, 2007 Oct 29

The "demise" quotation is within the Oct 29 Congressional Quarterly page in the above link. To find the quote on that page, search that page for the paragraph beginning, "Bugs ‘n bombs". (NOTE: Search just for "Bugs", since the apostrophe in "‘n" is a curly single open-quotation mark [‘].)

The quotation contains a link to the 2007 Oct 26 Bangor Daily News story reporting on the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) ruling. That ruling denies Downeast LNG's attempt to withdraw from the state permitting process, and puts Downeast LNG's state permitting process on hold until — and if — Downeast LNG can come up with a viable pipeline route connecting their proposed LNG terminal to the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, with a time limit of 2008 July 1.

About Congressional Quarterly:

CQ [Congressional Quarterly] … clients include 95 percent of the members of Congress, top academic and media outlets, and leaders in business, nonprofit organizations, government affairs and the executive branch. [Bold emphasis added.]

"Enough LNG terminals are operating in the United States and soon coming online to handle expected imports of the super-cooled gas, likely causing a standstill to new construction.

"I would say through 2015, I would be surprised if there [are] any new LNG receiving facilities built in the United States except those under construction right now."

— "INTERVIEW—Sempra CFO sees dip in LNG terminal build" — Reuters UK, 2007 Oct 5

"The process has become like water: it's trying to seek the path of least resistance on its way to the bottom."

— Parallel 44: For LNG, Maine is the end of the line, column by Colin Woodard, The Working Waterfront, October 2007 issue.

"When you're up close to the facilities they seem relatively big. When you are further away from the facility, they diminish in the viewshed, so that they aren't so apparent."

— WQDY-FM, "Quoddy Bay info meeting draws international crowd," 2007 May 23

"Some day the oil will run out and we will have forgotten how to make so many things out of the bounty that Nature provides—all renewable, all bio-degradable. Then where will we be? Helpless as a hog on ice, that's where, and at the mercy of 'primitive' cultures and so-called 'developing' countries who still remember how to survive with only what Nature provides."

— Small Misty Mountain: the Awareness Almanac: Nature's Year in a Downeast Village; Pushcart Press; Sedgwick, Maine; 2006 Jan 16; p 127.

"There is a degree of openness that is not being acknowledged by the opponents."

— "Fishermen split over LNG," Bangor Daily News, 2006 November 7

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: On 2006 September 26, Girdis lobbied the Canadian Federal Government in Ottowa, Ontario, and was soundly rebuffed. In Downeast LNG's monthly Status Report to FERC for that period — while mentioning hosting a picnic during the report period — Girdis withheld mentioning his failure with Canada. Girdis's "degree of openness" lacks sincerety.

"First the BIA said, ‘We don’t have it.’ Then, it said, ‘You’ve already got it.’ And when they asked again, the answer was ‘You don’t have a right to it and if you think you do, you’re going to have to sue us to get it.’

"Aren’t you playing hide and seek with the very people [that the Bureau of Indian Affairs] is supposed to have a trust relationship with? You really make groups sue you to get documents?"

— Judge says Bureau of Indian Affairs ‘playing hide and seek’ with info request, Bangor Daily News, 2006 Sep 23.

"Common Transit Questions
"Canadian waters?

"To date, (08/22/06) the Canadian Prime Minister, Steven (sic) Harper, has had no public comment with regard to this subject."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG Report to the Community #2, 2006 August (late August)

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Note: Prime Minister Harper's first name is spelled, "Stephen." Apparently, Quoddy Bay LLC hasn't been following the news. Even prior to PM Harper's election, he has publicly stated his opposion to the LNG projects in Passamaquoddy Bay.

• Conservative leader and Leader of the Opposition, Stephen Harper said last week the federal government is courting an environmental disaster with its silence on the proposed location for a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Maine. — WQDY-FM, 2005 Sep 15.
• You've got to look at the language which he used. Quoting Stephen Harper, 'I will pursue every diplomatic and legal option to stop LNG in Passamaquoddy Bay,' " a jilted Mr. Girdis said as he searched for a sign that maybe, maybe he and Harper aren't finished. — Out There: The Column by Chuck Brown, 2006 Jan 30 (Note: Chuck Brown is a news writer for the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal)

"Common Transit Questions
"What is the impact on local fishermen?

"Quoddy Bay will advise the USCG [United States Coast Guard] and Transport Canada to use safety and security zones that will ensure the safety of all vessels, but that will minimize impacts on other vessels."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG Report to the

Community #2, 2006 August (late August)

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Quoddy Bay LLC has no authority regarding safety and security zones around LNG vessels, and their statement that they will "advise" is presumptuous. Safety and security zones in U.S. waters are an LNG requirement determined by and dictated by the U.S. Coast Guard.

"Common Transit Questions
"Can LNG tankers transit through Canadian waters?

"Yes, the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea mandates the rights of innocent passage. Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG Report to the Community #2, 2006 August (late August)

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: There are two problems with Quoddy Bay LLC's logic on this issue:

1. The United States has repeatedly taken the position that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is not in the United States' best interests. The U.S. has refused to become a party to the Law of the Sea Convention. Quoddy Bay LLC's contention that "the United States doesn't have to observe the Law of the Sea Convention, but Canada must" is unrealistic. In reality, a treaty requires agreement among signatories. That hasn't yet happened with the U.S., and isn't likely to happen in the near future.
2. Transiting close to Canadian communities, LNG vessels would violate the Law of the Sea's conditions regarding peace, good order, and security of the coastal state (Canada). Thus, even if the U.S. were a party to the Convention, the "innocent passage" provision would be violated. "Innocent passage" would not exist for LNG tankers.

"[W]e are very close to a successful end to the pre-filing process...."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG Report to the Community #2," 2006 August (late August)

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: FERC lists a plethora of requirement failures in Quoddy Bay LLC's Draft Resource Reports, pointing out Quoddy Bay's lack of competence. Read the 2006 August 24 docket response filed to Quoddy Bay LLC's prefiling.

FERC has set Quoddy Bay LLC's potential formal application back by at least two months.

"We’re eager to provide FERC with the additional information so that they have the opportunity to review the requested information before our formal application."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG Providing Additional Data to FERC," 2006 August 28

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Quoddy Bay LLC is providing what they're calling "additional information" to FERC, not because it will give FERC an "opportunity," but because Quoddy Bay failed to provide the required information previously, and they can't complete their pre-filing process without furnishing this information. Quoddy Bay LLC's ineptitude has set back their project by at least two months.

"Yellow Wood Associates specializes in working against economic development and have no background in LNG or energy facilities."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG helps," [letter to the editor], Bangor Daily News, 2006 August 10.

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Brian Smith apparently hadn't researched Yellow Wood Associates before writing his letter, or he'd have known that Yellow Wood Associates is in the economic development business — oops!

Smith's criticism of Yellow Wood for having no LNG background exposes Smith's and Quoddy Bay LLC's hypocrisy, since Brian Smith and Donald Mitchell Smith have no LNG background, themselves — oops, again!

"Pure methane burns too hot," therefore, we'll add nitrogen to the gas.

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Smith also stated that Quoddy Bay LLC would be importing "hot" LNG. "Hotness" refers to the calorific content of natural gas, when compared to pure methane — pure methane can't be "hot"; therefore, pure methane doesn't require the addition of an inert, non-burning gas, like nitrogen. It's only when other hotter-burning fuel gasses, such as butane, propane, or ethane are present in large quantities in the LNG or natural gas that it's classified as "hot" and nitrogen is required to "cool it down."

In the 1980s, the U.S. Coast Guard sponsored LNG research at China Lake, concluding that unconfined "hot" LNG vapors can explode. [See the U.S. Coast Guard 2005 Fall edition of Proceedings, "LNG and Public Safety Issues: Summarizing current knowledge about potential worst-case consequences of LNG spills onto water" (PDF).] Brian Smith demonstrates that Quoddy Bay LLC is dangerously ignorant about its own business.

"Maine's natural resources are valuable assets to the state's economy and to thousands of families who make their livelihood from fishing and lobstering. The legislation that has passed in the United States House of Representatives yesterday is another example of the flawed energy policy coming from Washington, D.C. This bill in its current form would have a significant negative impact on Maine's economy." [Bold emphasis added.]

"Even though there seems to be a lot of political support for the LNG projects, I think that something might happen to derail those projects."

—"FERC OKs Cutler study: Engineer plans tidal power plant," Bangor Daily News, 2006 June 21.

"It looks like we will be stuck being a major source of noxious emissions."

— "Possible $700M LNG plan includes jobs, tourism, noxious emissions," Bangor Daily News, 2006 April 19.

In the 2006 April 22-23 Bangor Daily News, they published a correction, indicating that Smith actually said "NOx" (referring to Nitrogen Oxides; NO_x) instead of "noxious." See the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's inclusion of NO_x as an unreduced and problematic air pollutant. (We thank the Bangor Daily News' correction for specifying which noxious pollutant Quoddy Bay LLC proposes to belch into Passamaquoddy Bay communities' air — and our lungs!)

"I'm not an expert on anything."

— "Possible $700M LNG plan includes jobs, tourism, noxious emissions," Bangor Daily News, 2006 April 19.

"[Quoddy Bay LLC's project is under] strict guidelines that require FERC to deal with it within one year."

— "Quoddy Bay suggests “floating bridge” idea,"LNGLawBlog.com; Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan; Washington, DC, 2006 March 29.

COMMENTS QUOTED FROM LNGLawBlog: "LNGLawBlog notes that, unlike the Deepwater Port Act that governs offshore terminal proposals, the Natural Gas Act and FERC’s regulations do not limit the time period in which FERC must make a determination on an LNG terminal application."

"We have long considered the possibility or trying to help out with capital or matching funds or something like that for a permanent bridge [between Eastport and the mainland], and the [railroad] tracks." ..."The only problem we see with that is that we don't want our facility to be contingent on building that bridge."

— "Quoddy Bay LNG makes pitch to Eastport City Council," WQDY-FM, 2006 March 28.

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: Smith wants Eastport to approve his project, but doesn't want to commit to an emergency method of egress off the island. Smith's Harvard education apparently didn't include logic.

"[Passamaquoddy Bay] is a 10-lane highway, and it's not being used."

— Spoken at the 2006 March 16 Eastport Chamber of Commerce meeting to Save Passamaquoddy Bay member Nancy Asante.

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: The "10-lane highway" statement should convince anyone about Quoddy Bay LLC's agenda for Passamaquoddy Bay — massive industrial and port development.

Berreman's remark also confirms that Quoddy Bay LLC has no respect for the internationally-recognized LNG-industry safe practices standards established by the Society of International Gas Terminal and Tanker Operators (SIGTTO), since those standards* preclude Passamaquoddy Bay from even one LNG terminal.

*	SIGTTO safe practices standards are provided, in part, in SIGTTO's publications, "Site Selection and Design for LNG Ports and Jetties," and "LNG Operations in Port Areas." Both publications are available through Witherbys of London, UK.

"Shill" Discovery

The actual screenshot below, near the bottom of many of Downeast LNG's website pages, was brought to our attention by an astute observer.

Direct your attention to the email address, "shill@downeastlng.com", which the company provides for use in contacting them.

While we're sure that the address refers in some way to a staff person's name, it is, nonetheless, ironically prophetic.

Since Downeast LNG will probably revise their contact email address when they learn about our discovery, we've preserved it here.

---

Screenshot:
(2006 Feb 16)

---

Dictionary.com defines "shill":

WEBMASTER'S COMMENTS: