Labor programs train workers for wind turbine energy projects

From an Article & Web Site of OffshoreWindAlliance.org, August 3, 2022

Annapolis, MD – Ørsted, the U.S. leader in offshore wind and developer of Skipjack Wind in Maryland, today commended the U.S. Department of Commerce and State of Maryland for a $22.9 million federal investment in the state’s offshore wind workforce training and pledged to work closely with State leaders to prepare Maryland residents for its offshore wind workforce. The State of Maryland, through the Maryland Department of Labor, will utilize the funds to create Maryland Works for Wind, a regional consortium to establish the state as a key hub for offshore wind training, fabrication, and employment.

Ørsted will invest nearly $735 million in Maryland and create thousands of local jobs during Skipjack Wind’s development and operation. As part of this effort, Ørsted is committing $10 million to STEM education and workforce development programs in Maryland. These programs will convene Maryland colleges, universities, community colleges, school systems, registered apprenticeship programs, pre-apprenticeship programs and community organizations to ensure the industry’s immense opportunities are available equitably and sustainably.

“Ørsted is proud to be making significant commitments to develop supply chain, manufacturing, and operations capabilities across Maryland as we develop Skipjack Wind,” said David Hardy, CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America. “The Maryland Works for Wind initiative positions the state to build a pipeline of skilled talent to support Skipjack Wind’s development and other projects in the U.S. and globally. Ørsted is excited to work with the Maryland Department of Labor and its partners to ensure all Marylanders have access to the skills needed to secure good-paying jobs in offshore wind.”

Building on Ørsted’s landmark agreement with the North American Building Trades Union, and the Baltimore – D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council, Ørsted is committed to working in partnership with organized labor to build Skipjack Wind’s onshore and offshore construction, and ensure those who are building this clean energy infrastructure are paid decent wages, work in a safe environment, and have a voice on the job.

Ørsted’s labor agreements have set the bar for working conditions and equity in the offshore wind industry, and will inject new dollars in middle-class wages into the American economy, create apprenticeship and career opportunities for communities most impacted by environmental injustice, and ensure projects will be built with the safest and best-trained workers in America. The Maryland Works for Wind initiative will be critical in helping to reach these goals.

Ørsted is also partnering with Tradepoint Atlantic to build Maryland’s first offshore wind staging center. Ørsted invested $13.2 million in port infrastructure upgrades for handling offshore wind components such as nacelles, blades, and towers, and will develop 50 additional acres for the laydown, storage, and assembly of components. Ørsted will also enable the development of a subsea array cable and turbine tower manufacturing facilities in Maryland to serve offshore wind projects in the U.S. and globally, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in local investment and creating hundreds of local jobs.

On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Ørsted entered into a $70 million supply agreement to establish Maryland’s first offshore wind steel fabrication center at Crystal Steel Fabricators and will construct Maryland’s first zero-emissions operations and maintenance facility in west Ocean City.

About Skipjack Wind

Skipjack Wind is a 966-megawatt offshore wind project under development off the Maryland-Delaware coast. The project will create nearly 1,400 jobs in the Delmarva region, power approximately 300,000 homes in the region with clean energy, and enable more than $500 million in economic investment. Learn more at www.skipjackwind.com.

About Ørsted Offshore North America

The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Four years in a row, Ørsted earned recognition as the world’s most sustainable energy company by Corporate Knights, including for 2022. The company is a global clean energy leader and has the largest portfolio of offshore wind energy in the world.

In the United States, Ørsted operates the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and constructed the two-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project – the first turbines to be installed in federal waters. Ørsted has approximately 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy in development in five states and across seven projects. Ørsted Offshore’s North American business is jointly headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island and employs approximately 250 people. To learn more visit us.orsted.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@OrstedUS).

Wind turbines growing more numerous and more powerful

From an Article by Rachel McDevitt, State Impact Pennsylvania, May 27, 2022

PHOTO IN ARTICLE ~ Turbines that are part of the Sandy Ridge Wind Farm in Centre and Blair counties. Wind energy is one option for electricity consumers in Pennsylvania.

The electric grid operator for the region that includes Pennsylvania is PJM (aka Pennsylvania – Jersey – Maryland) is preparing for a shift in electricity generation. There are nearly 700 Pennsylvania projects waiting in PJM’s queue. Most are solar projects. PJM recently released a road map for the grid of the future.

Over the next 15 years, it expects to add 100,000 megawatts of renewable power from sources including onshore and offshore wind, solar, and battery storage. Right now there are about 15,000 MW of renewables on the PJM grid. It takes one megawatt to power about 200 homes.

PJM estimates it will cost $3 billion to bring on those resources. Some of those costs could be offset by federal infrastructure money. But some will ultimately filter down to consumers’ bills. However, some experts argue that the low cost of generating renewable energy and a more efficient grid will save money in the long term.

To prepare, PJM is looking to streamline the process for new sources to join the grid and studying how to expand transmission and maintain reliability. Electric generators and municipalities within PJM recently voted to speed up and improve the process for getting new power on the grid. The plan is expected to go into effect later this year or in early 2023. Under it, proposed projects would be addressed on a first-ready, first-served basis rather than first come, first served. PJM would also simplify its analysis of project costs.

This PJM operator says the number of projects entering its New Services Queue has nearly tripled over the past four years, because of the rapid growth in renewables. PJM started this year with nearly 2,500 projects under study, with the vast majority of proposed megawatts coming from renewable or storage resources.

The plan would create a fast track for about 450 projects. There are nearly 700 Pennsylvania projects waiting in PJM’s queue. Most are solar projects.

PJM Interconnection coordinates the movement of electricity through all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Pennsylvania has a total generation capacity of more than 48,000 megawatts.

About StateImpact Pennsylvania ~ StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, and the Allegheny Front. Reporters Reid Frazier, Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks out ...

Article by MARC LEVY, Associated Press, WSAV NBC News 3, January 14, 2020

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The attorneys general of 15 states said this week that they oppose a Trump administration proposal to allow rail shipments of liquefied natural gas, arguing the trains will share tracks with passenger trains and travel through congested areas.

The protesting states included Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the Trump administration issued a special permit in December to ship LNG by rail.

The rulemaking by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration stems from Trump signing an executive order in April that, in addition to seeking to speed up oil and gas pipeline projects, directed the transportation secretary to propose a rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be shipped in approved rail tank cars.

In their 18 pages of comments submitted Monday, the states said the Trump administration’s proposed rule would put residents, first responders and the environment at greater risk of catastrophic accidents. The administration failed to adequately analyze those risks and failed to consider the environmental and climate effects of allowing LNG to be shipped in rail tank cars, the states said.

The flammable and odorless liquid would be transported “through densely populated areas, potentially in unit trains of up to 100 tank cars operated by just one person, on the same rail lines used by high speed passenger trains, with inadequate safety precautions,” the states said.

They asked the pipeline administration to withdraw the proposed rule pending the completion of more safety studies and the development of an environmental impact statement.

Federal hazardous materials regulations allow LNG shipments by truck, but not by rail, except for with a special permit.

In December, the Trump administration issued a special permit to a New Fortress Energy subsidiary to ship LNG by rail from northern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas fields to a yet-to-be-built storage terminal at a former explosives plant in New Jersey, along the Delaware River near Philadelphia.

From there, the LNG would be exported to foreign markets.

The other objecting states were California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.

Unit trains are often 100 RR cars long

Monday was the deadline for comments to be filed.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

See also: Massive oil refinery leaks toxic chemical in the middle of Philadelphia on June 21, 2019

Pace Law School also has a strong Environmental Law program

From an Article by Nicholas Malfitano, Pennsylvania Record, March 6, 2018

NEW YORK – Democratic state attorneys general, like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, are getting free help from New York University School of Law to bolster their environmental causes, though a Commonwealth business advocacy group worries this results in important work being outsourced to an out-of-state entity.

It was announced in August that a nearly-$6 million funding grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, administered through the NYU School of Law’s recently formed State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, will dispatch special prosecutors to the offices of several state attorneys general to advance policies aimed at the development of renewable energy, protecting the environment and addressing climate change.

David J. Hayes, the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center’s Executive Director, said, “Each of the attorney general offices chosen to participate has demonstrated a commitment to advancing progressive policies on clean energy, the environment and climate change.”

Hayes is a former deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Department of the Interior, for presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Since leaving government service five years ago, he has served as a professor at Stanford University Law School.

“State attorneys general play a unique role in defending the citizens of their states from environmentally destructive actions and in advocating for the interests of their constituents. NYU Law fellows will allow them to play an even greater role protecting their states,” Hayes added.

Initially, Washington, D.C. and six states were chosen for the first phase of this program: Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Washington. In December, it was announced that Oregon, Virginia and Pennsylvania would join the list.

All 10 attorneys general are Democrats, and some have made national headlines in this area before. New York’s Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts’ Maura Healey continue to push their states’ investigation of Exxon’s stance on climate change, for instance.

A total of 14 NYU School of Law fellows will be sent to these attorney general offices now enrolled in the program for a tenure of two years and be paid strictly through the NYU School of Law, not from public funds.

It has left organizations like the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), an advocacy group dedicated to “addressing issues regarding the production of clean, job-creating, American natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays,” concerned about the implications of a program like this one.

“We’re alarmed that the Attorney General is outsourcing the office’s important work – which should be objectively and unbiasedly focused on enforcing Pennsylvania’s laws – to an out-of-state entity,” MSC President David Spigelmyer said.

“If not legally questionable, it certainly raises ethical issues and possibly threatens the office’s integrity and independence to serve the people of Pennsylvania. Like all Pennsylvanians, we expect our Attorney General – no matter which party holds the office – to uphold and fairly enforce the Commonwealth’s laws free from partisan, out-of-state activist influence.”

The states involved are seeking to hire candidates for these special prosecutor positions who possess at least 5-10 years of experience in environmental and energy law. It’s an assist Shapiro welcomes.

“Every Pennsylvanian has a constitutional right to clean air and pure water, which is why protecting Pennsylvania’s environment is a top priority of my office. In our first year, I appointed Pennsylvania’s first-ever Chief Deputy Attorney General for Environmental Protection [Steve Santarsiero]. My office has successfully blocked harmful national efforts to roll back ozone protections and fought for tougher emission standards for automobiles and enforcement of limits on greenhouse gases,” Shapiro said in a December statement.

The NYU School of Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center said every AG in the country had the opportunity to apply for the program.

“Based on applications, we selected the strongest ones,” spokesman Christopher Moyer said.

Moyer added the key elements of choosing the states in the application process were “demonstrating need and demonstrating commitment” toward the Center’s values on environmental issues.

Moyer explained that he didn’t believe an NYU law fellow had been hired for Pennsylvania as of yet, and the timeline in which that process would take place would be up to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

Another point of discussion is the salary the candidate fellows will be paid, which as mentioned, is directly from the NYU School of Law.

“It is based on experience, and it also depends on what would be appropriate for that level of a special assistant in the attorney general’s office. These can vary by state, so it’s in accordance with each individual state AG office. That’s a determination that AG Shapiro’s team would make,” Moyer said.

As to specific tasks to be targeted by the candidate fellow, Moyer commented that would also be determined by Shapiro’s office, but generally speaking, the role would focus on regionally and nationally-significant issues of the environment, climate and energy.

In a forward-looking sense, Moyer said the Center is currently devoting its efforts to the states which have been chosen to participate in the program so far – but didn’t rule out the possibility of future expansion.

“If there is room for growth, then we’re sure we would consider expanding. But right now, I think we’re focused on helping these offices get up and running and take on more ability to focus on this important legal work,” Moyer stated.

MD & VA at the Crossroads

EDITORIAL – Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 27, 2016

 YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: “Fracking FOIA”

 [FOIA = Freedom of Information Act of Virginia]

Richmond, VA — At the behest of oil and gas interests, a state commission has suggested that Gov. Terry McAuliffe delay the implementation of new drilling rules. The industry wants time to ram through the General Assembly a new exemption to the state’s Freedom of Information Act so it can keep secret the chemicals companies use in fracking.

The Governor should say no.  Whatever proprietary interest companies might have in keeping their fracking formulas from competitors is heavily outweighed by the public interest in disclosure.  Industry has no more right to hide what toxins it pumps into the ground than it has to hide what effluents it pours into the streams or what particulates it belches into the sky.  And sharing that information with emergency officials in the event of disaster hardly suffices.  Disclosure at that point falls into the category of “too little, too late.”

Fracking is a legitimate means of tapping valuable resources and is safe when done right.  There is no need for Virginia to adopt the categorical opposition to fracking advocated by environmental ideologues.  At the same time, fracking can inflict negative externalities on the broader public – and those externalities cannot be measured, let alone addressed, if they remain hidden from public view.

[Todd Culbertson is the Editor of the Editorial Pages for the Richmond Times-Dispatch].

>  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >

Maryland Defines Drilling Practices –How will they be received?

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has just shared proposed regulations for fracking in the state. They still need to undergo a review process by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive & Legislative Review (AELR), to insure they comply with Maryland law.

MDE Secretary, Benjamin Grumbles announced the new regulation as “the most stringent and protective regulations in the country”. But are the “most stringent” regulations still enough to protect the environment, the health and safety of citizens, and valuable agricultural lands? Many say, “no” including Senator Bobby Zirkin who plans to introduce ban legislation in 2017 ahead of drilling permitting which could begin in October of the same year.

It’s clear now that MDE has missed the October 1, 2016 deadline for adopting final regulations however, the department is suggesting Maryland will have fracking regulations in place before the end of the calendar year. It’s likely a robust reaction will follow the regulations, and legislators will be tasked to act on fracking bills, including a ban in the next session.

A recent Baltimore Sun poll has shown a three to one margin supporting a ban on drilling in Maryland. If public outcry will guide legislators in the next session, the gas industry will be facing a tidal wave of opposition. 

See For Yourself — You can review the regulations

Regulations can be daunting to review, so looking at the “Summary” will help you better understand the more complex components within the full regulations. Engage Mountain Maryland will be looking for how they fall short of providing protection for our state residents, economic well-being, and the environment.

The proposed regulations are submitted with the following three documents. The first summary document outlines the areas addressed within fracking regulations. The subsequent documents outline amendments to existing regulations as well as new regulations MDE is recommending.

CHESAPEAKE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK

From Mike Tidwell, Director, CCAN — Climate Action News, April, 2015

March for Calvert County, MD to be Dominion-Free on May 30th!

Join Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community and climate activists across the region for a peaceful rally, march and community picnic. We’ll reclaim the area surrounding Dominion’s Cove Point construction site as “for the people.” Stand with residents of Lusby, Calvert County and Southern Maryland to show that the people still reject Dominion’s dangerous fracked gas export project. We need your voice, your presence and your energy on May 30th!

STUDENTS — VA Students Lead the Way to a Fossil-Free Future

The Virginia Student Environmental Coalition has had an inspiring semester of action, growth, and new possibilities. Check out everything they’ve done this spring — from flexing their political muscles in Richmond, to organizing the state’s biggest-ever student climate summit, to holding a 21-day sit-in at the University of Mary Washington (pictured to the right) demanding the school divest from fossil fuels. And, they’re ending on a bang with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Resistance Ride in May! Read the full update here.

MARYLAND — By the Numbers: Your impact in Annapolis

The 2015 General Assembly session concluded with a big, people-powered victory: Passage of legislation prohibiting fracking for natural gas in Maryland through at least October 1, 2017. From fighting fracking to pushing for wind and solar solutions, your voices had a huge impact this year in Annapolis. Here are just a few highlights:

5,351 total emails to state delegates and senators ahead of key votes on the fracking moratorium bill.
1,510 messages — and counting — urging Gov. Hogan to sign the fracking moratorium into law.
312 phone calls and 68 lobby visits urging state lawmakers to expand Maryland’s clean electricity standard.

VIRGINIA — Pipeline Fight Heats Up: Submit your #NoACP comment to FERC!

The federal review process has now officially kicked off for both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline — proposed to carry dirty and dangerous fracked gas across Virginia’s beautiful countryside. The opposition is only growing, and here’s how you can add your voice: 1) Click here to demand a full and fair federal review of Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline before tomorrow’s April 28th deadline. 2) Speak out at one of two upcoming federal hearings in Virginia on the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Join Us For a Great Party. Celebrate a Growing Movement

On May 27th, join us in Norfolk for an evening reception to celebrate the growing movement to protect our coast from rising seas, and honor the elected officials and climate champions galvanizing action for solutions. Meet other passionate climate activists, hear a keynote address from Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, and enjoy delicious hors d’oeuvres, local wine and beer in a beautiful downtown Norfolk setting! Click here to see the honorees and get your tickets: $25 regular admission and $10 for students.

Check Out DomTruth.org and Pass It On

On Earth Day — when we’re always on high alert for “greenwashing” from Dominion Virginia Power — we launched a new interactive website to expose the truth:
www.domtruth.org

Explore Dominion’s dirty energy secrets and spread the word!

Henry Hub Spot Gas Prices

Marcellus gas pipeline capacity seen rising 0.5 Bcf/d by month’s end; additional expansions expected this winter

From: US Energy Information Administration, September 19, 2013

Initial service could begin by the end of September for two projects that would increase natural gas takeaway capacity from the Marcellus Shale formation by a combined 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).

These two projects are a 7.9 mile, 0.23 Bcf/d looping pipeline added to Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) (known as the MPP Project’s “313 Loop”) and a 2.5 mile, 0.22 Bcf/d pipeline connecting NiSource’s Columbia Gas Transmission (TCO) pipeline to a 1,329-megawatt gas-fired Dominion power plant (known as the Warren County Extension project). Notably, these would be the first of several projects increasing natural gas takeaway capacity from Marcellus planned for completion this winter.

On September 13, TGP applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin service this coming Monday, September 23 on the 313 Loop, as well as the MPP Project’s planned upgrades to an adjacent compressor station in northern Pennsylvania’s Potter County. Service under its firm transportation agreements, however, would not begin until the originally agreed-upon date of November 1. By that date, TGP also plans to complete upgrades to three compressor stations in northern Pennsylvania west of Potter County to allow for bidirectional flow of natural gas.

Columbia’s TCO requested FERC permission on September 6 to begin service on September 30 on the Warren County Extension pipeline in Northern Virginia. This project also includes upgrades to compressor stations along TCO’s line carrying Marcellus gas east from West Virginia as well as the replacement of TCO’s interconnect with Williams’s Transcontinental Gas Pipeline (Transco), near Rockville, Maryland, which carries gas through the mid-Atlantic and into New York City.

Additional Marcellus gas takeaway capacity expected to come into service this winter includes:

• Dominion Transmission (DTI) plans to:
  • establish a 0.09 Bcf/d interconnect with TGP in northern Pennsylvania’s Tioga County (known as the Sabinesville to Morrisville project), and
  • build new segments adjacent to an existing pipeline to carry an additional 0.26 Bcf/d of gas to interconnects with Transco in Leidy, Pennsylvania, as well as to Spectra’s Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline (TETCO), which carries gas into New York and New Jersey, in addition to other facility modifications (Tioga County Expansion project),
• TETCO plans to begin service on its 0.78 Bcf/d expansion to a portion of its pipeline running from Linden, New Jersey, to Manhattan, New York (NY-NJ Expansion project),
• Transco plans to complete work on 0.24 Bcf/d of expansions to its existing pipeline network, to move more gas from interconnects on its Leidy Line in Pennsylvania to delivery points in New Jersey and New York City (Northeast Supply Link Project), and
• TGP plans to build five looping lines and upgrade four compressor stations in order to add 0.62 Bcf/d of pipeline capacity from northern Pennsylvania to New Jersey (Northeast Upgrade Project).

DOE Approves LNG Exports from Cove Point on East Coast  

.

Article by Laura Beans, EcoWatch, September 12, 2013

.

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday it has conditionally authorized Dominion Cove Point LNG to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) over seas to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

PHOTO: Dominion’s Cove Point LNG import facility, located on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Maryland.

The conditional approval from the DOE is pending environmental review and final regulatory approval, but would allow the facility to potentially export up 0.77 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.

Dominion Cove’s authorization from the DOE to export from the Lusby, MD, terminal will essentially mean more fracking for natural gas in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia that lie above the coveted Marcellus Shale basin.

“Exporting LNG to foreign buyers will lock us into decades-long contracts, which in turn will lead to more drilling—and that means more fracking, more air and water pollution, and more climate-fueled weather disasters like record fires, , droughts, and superstorms like last year’s Sandy,” said Deb Nardone, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Natural Gas Campaign. “And all this when we know that the dangers of natural gas will only become more clear as we learn more about its effects on health and the climate.”

According to LNG Global, Dominion Cove Point owns not only the export station but the pipeline infrastructure that will be used to deliver fracked gas to the terminal. The pipeline will be fed through the interstate pipeline grid, “thereby allowing gas to be sourced broadly,” Dominion stated in their application.

“Their pipeline system provides access to the Appalachian natural gas supply (Marcellus Shale), as well as connections to supplies from the Gulf of Mexico area, the mid-continent, the Rockies and Canada,” LNG Global explained.

Dominion Cove Point is the fourth export terminal approved by the DOE. The others, Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC (Cheniere Energy); Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. and FLNG Liquefaction, LLC; and Lake Charles Exports, LLC lie along the Gulf coast.

“It’s a bad deal all around: for public health, the environment and America’s working people,” continued Nardone. “The economic study the DOE itself commissioned clearly states that LNG export will transfer wealth from wage earners to fossil fuel executives. LNG export is nothing but a giveaway to the dirty fossil fuel industry, at the expense of everyday Americans.”

Visit EcoWatch’s LNG and FRACKING pages for more related news on this topic.

www.catskillcitizens.org

Exporting LNG Will Accelerate Fracking in WV, PA, etc.

Article from Catskills Citizens for Safe Energy, EcoWatch.org, July 25, 2013

Our demand for a longer public comment period on the proposed deepwater liquified natural gas (LNG) port was successful—the Maritime Administration is allowing the public another 30 days (until Aug. 22) to submit comments on this ill-conceived and dangerous project.

If Port Ambrose is licensed as an import facility, there is every reason to believe that it will be used to export Marcellus Shale gas to Europe and Asia. That will mean more fracking in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia—and the pressure to open New York State to fracking may prove to be irresistible.

The Maritime Administration, like the project sponsor, claims that if the current license application is approved, the port will not be allowed to export gas unless the owner applies for a new license, but there are several reasons to be skeptical:

• A new license is not required by law. MarAd has the authority to amend an import license to permit exports, and this could be done without any further public scrutiny or environmental review.
• There is no market for imported LNG in the U.S. There are already two deepwater LNG ports in the U.S. (both in Boston Harbor) and neither of them has imported any gas since 2010.
• If the sponsor goes ahead and spends 3 or 4 hundred million dollars building Port Ambrose, you can bet it won’t be refused permission to export gas when it claims that it can’t make money on imports.
• All potential uses of Port Ambrose must be examined now, before construction gets underway.

In 2009 when project manager Bob Braddock was seeking federal approval to build a LNG import terminal (on land) on the Oregon coast, he insisted it could never be used to export gas.

“I couldn’t make the economics of that work no matter how hard I’d try,” he said. “It’s not like someone can just flip a switch. The technical issues are huge.” According to press reports, concerns that the terminal might be used for exports were dismissed as “a conspiracy theory concocted by environmentalists.”

Then, after the terminal won federal approval, Braddock turned around and applied for an export license saying “There is currently no need for import into North America. We accept that. If anything makes sense, it’s export.”

The State of Oregon, the National Marine Fisheries Association and many environmental organizations are challenging the Jordan Cove bait and switch.

All across America hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to build pipelines, compressor stations and export terminals with the clear intent of stifling the development of renewable energy supplies and locking us into decades of dependence on fossil fuels.

Not surprisingly Republicans in the House are pushing a bill designed to ensure that all pipeline projects will be fast-tracked, even if that means short-circuiting critical environmental review. Please tell your congressional representative to vote down the misleadingly named Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act.

You can Comment on the Port Ambrose project easily and quickly.

Visit EcoWatch’s LNG and FRACKING pages for more related news on this topic.