Saturday, February 27, 2010

Calais LNG whale assessment submitted to FERC - woefully inadequate!

 Since right whale habitat studies have concentrated only in the open Bay of Fundy — not near Head Harbour Passage or in Grand Manan Channel — research is unlikely to reveal actual right whale activity in the unstudied areas, including the 40 right whales that frequented near the entrance to Head Harbour Passage last summer (2009). Such research and results are commonly referred to by the scientific community as "garbage in, garbage out"; the results are a reflection of the quality of the research.

As marine biologist Art MacKay, who has been mapping whale sighting data in the Quoddy area, stated last summer, Head Harbour Passage was "plugged with whales." (See Art's whale-sightings map at the top-left of his I Love Quoddy Wild website. Or go directly to a larger version of his Fundy Whales map on CommunityWalk.)

Danielle Dione's Quoddy Link Marine Sightings and Updates blog has video-recorded and still-photographed prolific whale (including right whale) activity in the proposed LNG transit area, the area that Calais LNG's "research" claims would be unaffected by LNG transits. 


Bob Godfrey

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Whales unaffected by LNG plant: report BY BARB RAYNER

February 25, 2010
CALAIS — A biological assessment filed by Calais LNG with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has concluded that increased vessel traffic from this proposed project is not likely to adversely affect North Atlantic right whales.

The lengthy report – a biological assessment on threatened and endangered marine mammals and sea turtles – was prepared for the company by Normandeau Associates Inc of Bedford, New Hampshire and submitted to FERC this week.

It concludes that liquid natural gas transport vessels using the terminal will avoid travel through the areas most heavily utilized by right whales but also notes that low visibility, such as fog and night transit, in addition to the whales’ surface behaviour, limits the ability to see these whales.

The report says Calais LNG has sought the most effective mitigation measures to reduce the risk of collisions with whales.

These mitigation measures, and others, will be included in a Ship Strike Reduction Plan which will be included as part of the charter party agreement with project carriers.

Based on the relatively low percentage increase in vessel traffic (3.1 per cent) that the Calais LNG project will contribute to the entire Bay of Fundy area, combined with the mitigation measures and a ship speed of 10 knots, the authors of the report assert that “the increased traffic from this project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the North Atlantic right whales.

The report also states that the overlap in frequency and source levels of vessel noise with right whale calls, vessel noise and presence of vessels may affect but are not likely to adversely affect the right whales. Similar reasons are listed in the report as
to why it is felt the project will also not adversely affect humpback, fin, sei, blue and sperm whales. Due to the relatively low prevalence of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles within the transit route, the report notes that the vessels are also unlikely to adversely affect them either.

Calais LNG proposes to build an LNG receiving, storage and vaporization terminal and related natural gas send-out pipeline at a site near Ford Point on the St. Croix River in Calais.

The project will allow for berthing and off-loading LNG vessels, storage of three 160,000-cubic-metre LNG tanks and delivery of natural gas to the send-out pipeline connecting the terminal with the interstate pipeline of Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline for transportation to markets in New England.

The terminal site will be located within the Calais city limits on a site approximately six miles (9.5 km) southeast of the city’s population centre and approximately 20.7 miles (33 km) from the pipeline.

The site area is approximately 337 acres which include intertidal land with about 2,800 feet of frontage on the St. Croix River and adjacent submerged lands.

The terminal will be developed on a portion of about 35 acres that lie between US Route 1 and the St. Croix River. It will include berthing and unloading marine facilities and will receive one to two LNG vessels a week.

Initial construction will include two tanks and timing of construction of the third tank will be based on considerations such as expanded market requirements and inventory management in support of supply reliability.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Additional LNG capacity in the Bay of Fundy is not needed

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Business at LNG company pumps up — The Boston Herald, Boston, MA
From www.savepassamaquoddybay.org

As Mayor Thomas M. Menino fights to ban future liquefied natural gas shipments from Yemen into Boston Harbor, a rival company is touting its new offshore LNG buoy system as a safer alternative.

…LNG tankers are now steaming in at a regular rate, sometimes two at a time, offloading their dangerous cargo about 10 miles out to sea.

By the end of this month, Excelerate will have unloaded about seven tankers at its offshore site, or about 15 to 20 percent of the gas used by New Englanders during the current season, he said.

Webmaster’s (Bob Godfrey) Comments


Canaport LNG is supplying 20% of the Northeast's natural gas. Distrigas in Everett, Massachusetts is supplying 20%. Northeast Gateway is supplying another 20%. Soon, Suez Energy's Neptune LNG will also be supplying approximately 20% of New England's natural gas. That's 80% of New England's natural gas needs — already met by existing and under-construction projects, not to mention the natural gas arriving by existing pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico.

Ill-sited latecomers Calais LNG and Downeast LNG simply are not needed.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Groundbreaking Tidal Power Technology to be Tested in Cobscook Bay

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x231607
02/18/2010 Reported By: Anne Mostue

A Portland-based tidal power company unveiled its latest underwater turbine structure today in Bangor. It's the largest ocean energy device to be deployed in U.S. waters, and it will be submerged in Cobscook Bay early next month.



Eastport continues to be the hub for some of the most advanced tidal power research in the country, according to the Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company and the University of Maine.

"Cobscook Bay and Western Passage, which are on either side of Eastport, are the best tidal energy resources on the east coast of the U.S., so that's why we're there," says Christopher Sauer, CEO of Ocean Renewable Power Company, which is developing tidal power projects in Maine, Alaska and Florida.

Sauer contracted Stillwater Metalworks of Bangor and Harbor Technologies of Brunswick to build its latest turbine, nicknamed Energy Tide 2 (pictured above). "It's going to be at the end of deployment arms that are at the side of a barge and it's going to be lowered in underneath the barge and it will be about 25 feet below the surface," he says. "And the barge is going to be moored in Cobscook Bay, just off from an area called Shackford Head. So actually, interesting, as you drive into Eastport, at one point as you're coming into town you'll actually be able to look over and see it."

The device is made up of a rectangular framed box containing a 10,000-pound generator and turbine blades. It looks like a giant push-reel lawnmower - 46-feet wide by 11-feet tall, and 14-and-a-half feet deep. "It's the largest Ocean Energy Device ever deployed in U.S. waters," Sauer says. "It's rated, designed for a maximum capacity of 60 kilowatts, so that's the largest yet done in the United States. Now in Europe and other places they have done bigger, but in the U.S. this is the biggest."

Friday, February 19, 2010

Will the Bay of Fundy feel the Bumble Bee's Sting Too?

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State plans aid for cannery workers

Federal limit on herring catch cited as main reason for closing plant

By Rich Hewitt
BDN Staff

GOULDSBORO, Maine — A state Rapid Response Team could be on-site as early as next week to begin the process of assisting workers who will be idled when the Bumble Bee Foods cannery closes in two months.

Officials from the Maine Department of Labor are working with company officials to get the process started, according to department spokesman Adam Fisher.

“We’re shooting for next week,” Fisher said Thursday. “We’re looking to start the conversation with workers about their next steps.”

Bumble Bee announced on Wednesday that it plans to close the plant on April 18, ending a century-old tradition in the community and in the country. The former Stinson Seafood plant is the last sardine cannery in the United States. An estimated 128 people are expected to lose their jobs when the facility is shuttered.


Read the entire article here: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/137227.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7be8fca4a0-RSS_MORNINGUPDATE_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_source=BDN+News+Updates