Herald Tribune Florida...Fish Kills, Fish Extinction follow LNG Path of Destruction?

Article published Sep 29, 2004
Scientists fear LNG terminals could hurt fishing

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS The construction of more than a dozen liquid natural gas terminals along the coast could damage commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, federal scientists are warning.

Two terminals have been approved for the coast of Louisiana. Compass Port, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips Corp., also wants to build a terminal in Gulf waters 11 miles off Dauphin Island, Ala.

But the Coast Guard suspended the permitting process for at least two other terminals in August after scientists raised warnings about possible harm to the fishing industry.

The problem occurs when LNG is heated back into gaseous form with a process that sucks in Gulf water containing potentially millions of fish and crustacean eggs and larvae. Natural gas is cooled to minus-260 degrees to turn it into a liquid that can be shipped in huge tankers from wells around the world to the Gulf.

In the "once-through" system, the terminals would first heat the water to convert the gas, then rapidly cool it for return to the Gulf.

If the organisms are not killed by the temperature drop, they will not survive being banged around by the pump machinery or the harsh chemicals used to keep the inside of the pipes clean, said scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

In a series of environmental impact statements for the terminals, most of the companies have said using a less-damaging closed-loop heating system consumes too much of the natural gas as a heat source.

The extra cost might undercut the financial viability of the projects and increase air pollution problems, the companies said

Gov. Kathleen Blanco is strongly backing the development of LNG terminals, saying they would create 13,000 jobs and preserve over 11,000 existing jobs.

But NOAA officials say the risk of wiping out entire species of commercially important fish in the Gulf, such as red drum and red snapper, is too much to allow the once-through system.

NOAA officials acknowledge a lack of basic information about the population sizes of various commercial and noncommercial fish and crustacean species in the Gulf, and a limited understanding of how killing millions or even billions of eggs or larvae could affect those species.

But most of the terminals will be offshore of the coastal estuaries where many fish live and reproduce, thus increasing the risk, NOAA says.

The Coast Guard has approved permits for ChevronTexaco's Port Pelican terminal, to be located 40 miles off the mouth of the Calcasieu River in southwest Louisiana, and El Paso Corp.'s proposed Energy Bridge terminal 116 miles south of Cameron in January.

Two other LNG projects - McMoRan Exploration's Main Pass Energy Hub off the southeast coast and Shell Oil Co.'s Gulf Landing Terminal off the mouth of the Calcasieu River - have been put on hold by the Coast Guard until the companies answer questions about their estimates of potential kills of eggs and larvae.


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