Anti-LNG group adds to steering committee -- The Quoddy Tides, Eastport, Maine

The group formed in Charlotte County to oppose the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Maine, Save Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada, has added three new members to its steering committee, cochair Janice Harvey has announced.

Jessie Davies of St. Andrews, retired director of the University of New Brunswick's Environment and Sustainable Development Research Centre, will serve as the group's environmental impact assessment (EIA) chair. She will coordinate the group's critique of the environmental impact statements being prepared for both the Quoddy Bay LNG and Downeast LNG terminals. These reports are required under the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act and are integral to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission review of the two LNG proposals. Davies has extensive experience with EIA reviews in Canada, including serving on the federal panel which reviewed the environmental impacts of the Sable Gas projects.

John Clark of St. Andrews and John Williamson Jr. of Ottawa will join the steering committee as government relations cochairs. Clark, who retired to St. Andrews, was president of J. Clark & Son Limited in Fredericton for 40 years. He was heavily involved in Fredericton community projects including serving for 12 years as chairman of the Chalmers Regional Hospital Foundation. In St. Andrews, he serves on the Fundy Community Foundation Finance Committee. Clark's business and community experience will be brought to bear in working with provincial and federal governments on behalf of Save Passamaquoddy Bay, as well as in fundraising to meet the campaign goal of $60,000.

John Williamson will serve as government relations cochair in Ottawa, where he now resides and serves as federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Prior to joining the CTF, Williamson worked at the National Post as an editorial writer and a member of the paper's editorial board. Born and raised in New Brunswick, he studied economics and government at McGill University. His work for Save Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada will involve making and maintaining contacts in the federal government to advance the group's position that Ottawa needs to legislate a ban on LNG tankers passing through Head Harbour Passage.

"We also invite the general public to help by donating to the campaign," says Harvey. "We have raised $40,000 towards our $60,000 goal. Most of that money will be dedicated to our intervention in U.S. regulatory approval processes. We need another $20,000 to make sure we have the resources necessary for our Canadian voice to be heard loud and clear in the United States." Information on how to make a donation is available from the Fundy Baykeeper office in St. Andrews at 506-5298838.

Other members of the steering committee are: Susan Lambert, Deer Island; Jan Meiners, Campobello; Carl Sapers, St. Andrews and Cambridge; Janice Harvey, Waweig; Maria Recchia, Kerr's Ridge; Mary Kane, Bayside; and Hugh Akagi, Mary Myers, Lee Ann Ward, Dr. Lesley Pinder, Margot Magee Sackett, Larry Lack and David Welch, all of St. Andrews.