More on LNG in Passamaquoddy Bay

SJ Telegraph-Journal | Janice Harvey
As published on page D6 on September 15, 2004

LNG PROPOSAL
Terminal for Passamaquoddy Bay is a tri-national issue

In Gleason Cove, the southernmost corner of Passamaquoddy Bay, a few small boats bob on moorings just off from a boat launch on the beach. A herring weir stands sentinel at the cove's mouth, just a stone's throw away from another weir off Gleason Point. An open field backed by old apple trees and softwoods overlooks the cove, one of only a few public access points to the shore along US Route 1 between Calais and Eastport. St. Andrews lies due north; the St. Croix River veers off to the northwest.

One kilometre across the water from Gleason Cove is Calder's Head, a rugged stretch along the back of Deer Island. From these two points, Western Passage tracks southeast, Sipayik (Passamaquoddy reservation at Pleasant Point) on one side and Deer Island on the other. At its narrowest point between Deer Island Point and Eastport, Maine are the roiling waters of the Old Sow, the world's largest whirlpool. Here, Western Passage meets Head Harbour Passage which veers northwest through the West Isles Archipelago to Head Harbour, Campobello, where whales, porpoises, seabirds and fish congregate off Head Harbour Light.

This is the obstacle course through which liquefied natural gas supertankers would travel if a proposed LNG terminal in Gleason Cove goes forward. Entering at Head Harbour and manoeuvred by four tugs, the 300-m vessels would wind through some of the most biologically productive marine habitat in the northwest Atlantic. The upwellings caused by tides and currents rushing through the narrow channels bring nutrients from the seafloor to the surface, creating a smorgasbord for all manner of marine life and sustaining human communities here for thousands of years. This is the straw that broke the back of a 1970s' proposal to build an oil refinery at Eastport.

This proposal is different. A third nation is involved. The LNG terminal is proposed for 42 acres of Passamaquoddy tribal land adjacent to the Sipayik reservation. The Passamaquoddy Tribal Council are now negotiating terms with the Oklahoma-based consortium that would build and operate the terminal.

Four other LNG proposals have been rejected recently by Maine communities. This company played its cards differently. Federal law provides for a stream-lined approval process for energy projects on tribal land. Armed with promises of economic salvation for an impoverished tribe, the company has convinced many people in Sipayik that this is the key to their future. Without the benefit of hearings or even a formal application by the company to federal regulators, a non-binding referendum on the Sipayik reservation in August saw a majority of ballots cast in favour of the development - 192 for, 132 against. The Tribal Council took this as a mandate to negotiate terms with the company.

Fortunately, this is not the final word. A Passamaquoddy group called "We take care of our homeland" will file a petition with the Tribal Council for a new vote, claiming the four-day notice for the referendum in mid-summer not a mandate to negotiate. Leader Vera Francis points out that with 270 eligible voters not voting, closer to 68 per cent either reject the proposal outright or have not been given an opportunity to decide on its merits. Further, the other Passamaquoddy community at Indian Township was not included in the referendum. Then there are the Passamaquoddy people living in Canada, whose chief Hugh Akagi also opposes the project.

Meanwhile, Canadians and Americans, as well as Passamaquoddies, who object to the project have formed a group called Save Passamaquoddy Bay. Vera Francis encourages this. She warns non-natives not to be scared off by some natives who claim this is a sovereignty issue and everyone else should butt out.

A sail along the LNG tanker route makes this point in spades. There are no boundary lines on the water separating New Brunswick and Maine or tribal land from any other land. It's all a seamless mosaic of coves, headlands, passages and islands that support more marine life than any other area in the Bay of Fundy and thousands of people who draw their livelihoods from the same waters.

Even so, these three communities living cheek by jowl have a history of largely ignoring each other, content to live and let live. To come together around this issue will require many to step outside their comfort zone and acknowledge that, like everything else in this ecosystem, their communities are inextricably linked and they must work together to save what they have.

Janice Harvey is a freelance writer and a long-time director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. Her column appears on Wednesday. She can be reached by e-mail at waweig@nbnet.nb.ca