2005 November 11
by Marie Jones Holmes
A petition calling for a referendum vote for Robbinston residents on the location of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and any related facilities in the town was presented on November 5 to Robbinston Town Clerk Pam Reynolds. The petition also asks that the vote not be held until an impact study of the Passamaquoddy Bay LNG proposals is completed.
The petition, presented by Robbinston resident Richard Berry, was signed by 77 registered voters out of a total of 288 voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. Reynolds will now have to verify the voting status of the petitioners.
Robbinston First Selectman Tom Moholland stated in September that plans were under way to hold a vote in the town to get a sense of how residents feel about the LNG projects. A vote has not yet been scheduled.
The petition states, "We, the undersigned registered voters in the town of Robbinston, Maine, petition for an all-day secret ballot referendum of voters on the question, 'Shall an LNG terminal and/or any related facilities be accepted for development on land located in our town?' We call upon the selectmen to schedule the vote on this question no sooner than 45 days after the completion of an independent impact study being conducted by Yellow Wood Associates, in collaboration with the St. Croix Estuary Project, in order that Robbinston citizens are allowed to study the report and make an informed choice. We would further request a quasi-judicial public hearing approximately 10 days before the vote in accordance with Title 30-A section 2528 of the Maine Revised Statutes."
Yellow Wood Associates of St. Albans, Vt., the group which conducted the Harpswell LNG study, will be conducting an economic and environmental study dealing with all of the proposed LNG sites in Passamaquoddy Bay from Lubec to Calais. The study, which is being sponsored by Save Passamaquoddy Bay C a 3-Nation Alliance and the St. Croix Estuary Project, is expected to be available in approximately two months at an expected cost of $50,000. The St. Croix Estuary Project is a Canadian community-based organization promoting the wise management of the St. Croix estuary area and its resources. Funding for the study will come from donations from individuals and groups.
Berry says of the funding, "We will find it somewhere. We will raise it somehow." In seeking names for the petition, Berry said he found that Robbinston residents, whether they signed the petition or not, want to know more facts about the proposed projects.
Robbinston projects proposed at this time include terminal and storage tank facilities at Mill Cove for Downeast LNG, based in Washington, D.C., and a cryogenic pipeline and a storage tank facility at Mill Cove for Quoddy Bay LLC, an Oklahoma-based firm. The pipeline and storage tank facilities would serve Quoddy Bay LLC's terminal facility at Split Rock at Pleasant Point.