The Environment

What's Port Ambrose really all about?

Environmentalists fear LNG terminal could be used for exports

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In November 2004, Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P. filed a notice of intent to build a liquefied natural gas import facility at the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, and the application began winding through Oregon and federal agencies that had to approve it before building could begin, a process that continues today.

In the following years, environmental groups and other project detractors argued that the true intent of Jordan Cove’s developers was to open an LNG export facility, not an import facility, owing to booming domestic natural gas production.

Bob Braddock, Jordan Cove’s project manager, told The World, a Coos Bay newspaper, in March 2011 that the notion of Jordan Cove exporting LNG was “a stupid idea.” But in September 2011 Braddock announced during a presentation before the Professional Engineers of Oregon that Jordan Cove had changed plans, and it would apply for a natural gas export permit from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Opponents of a proposed LNG station in the Atlantic Ocean 17 nautical miles southeast of Jones Beach, Port Ambrose, argue that its developers are now following a similar script.

Liberty Natural Gas, LLC applied in September 2012 to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Maritime Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, for a deepwater port license to construct Port Ambrose.

According to Liberty’s application, Port Ambrose would comprise a system of underwater buoys and pipelines, at which ships called “shuttle and regasification vessels” would dock to unload LNG from foreign shores.

The primary source of the LNG would be the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, according to Liberty’s website. The natural gas delivered to Port Ambrose would be piped to Long Beach. A 21.7-mile pipeline would connect Port Ambrose to the existing Transco Lateral, which extends from south Texas to New Jersey and then runs undersea to Long Beach. The hookup point with the Transco Lateral would be 2.2 miles south of Atlantic Beach.

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