News Release

2014 May 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Robert Godfrey
Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-nation alliance
(US, Passamaquoddy, and Canada)
PO Box 222
Eastport, ME 04631
(207)853-2922 (Old Sow Publishing)
info@SavePassamaquoddyBay.org

Canada's MP John Williamson Speaks Out Against Downeast LNG

Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-Nation Alliance of US, Passamaquoddy, and Canadian citizens, announced that on Tuesday, 2014 May 27, Canadian Member of Parliament John Williamson, representing New Brunswick Southwest, delivered the following statement in the House of Commons denouncing the proposed Downeast LNG terminal and LNG tanker traffic into and through Passamaquoddy Bay.

"The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will soon decide whether or not the massive Downeast LNG project in Washington County, Maine, will proceed. Yet, there is just one colossal problem with this grand scheme.

"Maine has hundreds of miles of coastline with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean, yet the LNG tanker transit route to this proposed American facility must first navigate through Canada’s internal waters in Head Harbour Passage and then straddles the internationally shared waters of Passamaquoddy Bay – providing unique environmental, navigational and safety risks.

"The Americans concede they do not have the authority to establish or enforce the safety and security zones in Canadian waters. The U.S. Coast Guard has concluded Washington will need to coordinate maritime traffic in our waters with Canadian authorities for LNG tanker traffic to proceed.

"Our Prime Minister has said Canada will not co-operate in these discussions. Our Government has told the U.S. Administration we will not permit LNG tanker traffic to threaten the livelihood of Canadian fishing communities.

"Canada will not become a convenient doormat for the Americans."

MP Williamson's presentation is available in video format at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK-ex5mkdig&list=UUaunLzoA6wNiNSlvtuwaaeQ

Save Passamaquoddy Bay researcher Robert Godfrey stated, "Canada has held firm to its prohibition of Downeast LNG ship traffic since 2007, and for good reason. It would endanger Canadian citizens, Canadian environment, and Canadian economy." He continued, "Since the US has no standing in world court to challenge Canada’s sovereign determination to ban LNG transits into Passamaquoddy Bay, Downeast LNG has exactly zero possibility of receiving the very LNG it would need to operate."

"As anyone who has followed the natural gas supply and market in North America and the Northeast readily knows," he continued, "Downeast LNG is a relic of a previous mindless gold-rush that ended up losing US LNG import projects billions of dollars on import terminals that are now idle.

"Downeast LNG refuses to recognize that it has no future. It's time for the federal government to dismiss this 7-year boondoggle," Godfrey concluded.

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Save Passamaquoddy Bay (SPB) is an alliance of citizens from the U.S., the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Canada, who oppose siting LNG industrial facilities in Passamaquoddy Bay, and who advocate adherence to world-recognized LNG terminal siting best safe practices as published by the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO). SPB advocates creative-economy, tradition-based, and tourism-based economic development for the international Passamaquoddy Bay area.

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