2006 November 26
Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-Nation Alliance (SPB) -- a coalition comprised of Americans, Passamaquoddys, and Canadians surrounding international Passamaquoddy Bay in the Bay of Fundy -- issued a trio of news releases on November 26, condemning the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on three LNG safety issues. SPB claims that the federal agency has been hiding Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) hazards from the public for nearly 30 years; has been disseminating misleading LNG safety information to the public, while encouraging LNG developers to do the same; and has been ignoring LNG-industry world standards.
The three news releases detail how FERC:
SIGTTO, whose membership consists of nearly the entire world's LNG industry, has over the past 30 years established safe practices standards used by that industry.
SPB claims that FERC has failed in its obligation to protect the public and public assets. The alliance also claims that the LNG terminals recently permitted by FERC may not have been licensed properly, since FERC failed to account for the true explosive nature of unconfined LNG vapors when evaluating each of those projects.
Since FERC is an independent federal agency with no apparent oversight by any other government agency, SPB demands that Congress conduct hearings to hold FERC accountable for its misdeeds, and suggests that Congress enact legislation to both correct the lack of oversight, and to include a public safety advocate on the FERC Commission.
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