Quoddy Bay LLC announced on July 18 that the company plans to develop the Robbinston Inland Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Storage Project and will seek approval for the construction of three LNG storage tanks in Robbinston. The Robbinston project will be in addition to the planned Split Rock import facility at Pleasant Point. Quoddy Bay is filing an application to the Robbinston Planning Board immediately and is scheduled to informally discuss the project with the board on Thursday, July 21.

     Quoddy Bay plans to complete details of the application after consultation with the board and members of the community and hopes to obtain local permitting over the next several months. The completion date for both projects, Split Rock and Robbinston, is 2009 or 2010, and between the two facilities the company expects to provide 100 jobs.

     Brian Smith, Quoddy Bay project manager, says, "This combination of Split Rock and an offsite LNG storage facility in Robbinston is the best of both worlds. The Passamaquoddy Tribe will receive between $6 to $12 million a year for land leases at Split Rock and any large storage tanks will be quite a distance away and will have very little visual impact. We will lay an eight-mile underwater pipeline for LNG under the bay to bring it ashore underground at Robbinston and pipe it one mile west of the shoreline to our storage tanks." The large tanks will be a half mile west of Route 1 and be over a mile from shore and will have a screen of trees to provide minimal visual impact either from Route 1 or from Passamaquoddy Bay.

     The three tanks and the associated equipment will bring new property value of approximately $230 million to the town of Robbinston, which will provide for 90% of the town's valuation and the town's property taxes. Smith says at present the tax rates for all residents can be reduced by about 90% should the facility be constructed. In addition, Quoddy Bay will offer to form and fund an economic development initiative that will provide the town $1,000,000 a year in excess of the tax payments.

     The Robbinston Inland LNG Storage Project calls for three full containment LNG storage tanks, compressors, regasifiers and gas send-out facilities. The facility will be used to back up the LNG import facility, which will be located at Split Rock, approximately eight miles away. Because there will be no need for additional ship berthing at the Robbinston site, no pier or associated infrastructure will be necessary near the coastal zone. "This is important," said Smith, "because we avoid building anything on the shoreline directly opposite of the resort community of St. Andrews." Quoddy Bay plans to meet with members of the various nearby Canadian communities.

     Questioned as to what Quoddy Bay would do if Robbinston turned down the proposal, Smith said, "We would not file with the intention of being denied. Our facility is within the specs of the town and consistent with town ordinances." Exclusion zones will not be required for the pipeline, but there will be a 1,000-foot exclusion zone for the storage tanks.

     Quoddy Bay has taken options on a total of 150 acres from four landowners. The Robbinston land was optioned shortly after the decision to construct an import facility at Split Rock at Pleasant Point.

Two projects can co-exist
     Another company, Downeast LNG, based in Washington, D.C., announced on July 11 plans to construct an import facility and a storage tank area at Mill Cove. Smith said Quoddy Bay LLC was not aware of the other company's plans to develop a facility at Mill Cove. Smith said, "We want to make sure that the residents of Robbinston know of our plan as well."

     Smith said Quoddy Bay's Robbinston storage project would be located within one mile of Downeast LNG's import facility and its proposed two tanks. Smith said both projects could co-exist in the area.

Downeast LNG President Dean Girdis says it is full speed ahead for his project.
     Both proposed projects will have some impact on the environment. Lee Sochasky, executive director of the St. Croix International Waterway Commission, says, "The commission takes the recent LNG proposals for Robbinston very seriously. We will begin reviewing these to see how well they fit with the St. Croix waterway's international management plan." Maine and New Brunswick established the commission to coordinate management of St. Croix's international resources.