An exploratory effort by TransCanada Corp. to potentially site a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in another Maine town was rebuffed last week when the town council of Cumberland, ME, abruptly called off a scheduled referendum vote on the project.

A referendum had been planned for June 8 for Cumberland residents to vote on whether the town should begin negotiations with TransCanada to build an LNG facility on Hope Island, one of several Maine locations the Canadian company was said to be considering.

Members of the Cumberland council said the main reason for their change of heart was they believed it would be better if a regional approach was taken, involving state and federal officials in the process of assessing the need for LNG terminals in Maine and New England and identifying possible sites, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“I think this issue is too big for us. It’s too big for any one town,” the newspaper quoted Councilor Michael Savasuk as saying. Other councilors said they didn’t believe the privately owned Hope Island, which is zoned residential and would require a special contract zone for an LNG terminal to be sited there, was the appropriate location, the published report noted.

The council cast its vote against the referendum after hearing from a number of residents, who complained that an LNG terminal would be a target for terrorists, sully the environment and possibly disrupt the livelihood of lobstermen.

TransCanada spokeswoman Heidi Feick said “we were investigating it [Cumberland] as a potential site” for an undefined LNG facility. The town was one of about five sites being considered in the state, she noted.

Feick couldn’t say if Cumberland has been completely written off as a possible location. “It’s very, very early in the process. Whether or not it’s still on the radar, I don’t know,” she told NGI.

In March, residents of Harpswell, ME, voted against leasing land to TransCanada and ConocoPhillips to build the Fairwinds LNG terminal and regasification facilities in their community, which is located 15 miles northwest of Portland, ME (see NGI, March 15) The companies at the time, however, said they would not give up on building LNG facilities in the Northeast, and would revisit other sites in Maine.

The $350 million Fairwinds project would include an import terminal and associated facilities to provide 500 MMcf/d of throughput to Maine and the wider New England natural gas market, as well as a 24-to-30 inch diameter pipeline to carry gas from the proposed terminal to the region’s existing pipeline infrastructure.

Opposition to new LNG terminals is running high in several communities nationwide, not just in Maine. Weaver’s Cove proposed LNG project in Fall River, MA, has come under fire from local residents who are opposed to tankers being off-loaded near their community. Protests also have been strong in the Mobile, AL, area against planned LNG projects there.

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