Big news for Dauphin Island, Alabama fans today.
ConocoPhillips had been proposing a Liquefied Natural Gas regassification facility based on environmentally questionable technology to be built at Compass Point, 12 miles south of Dauphin Island. The company's proposal to build the terminal had come with an attractive package of economic incentives for the State of Alabama. Environmental groups were opposed to the facility as proposed because they felt the open-loop technology would be harmful to the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Open loop regassification technology uses seawater to melt natural gas frozen for transportation.
ConocoPhillips will propose a different kind of plant based on a newer technology for Compass Point at some time in the future.
ConocoPhillips withdraws LNG proposal
ConocoPhillips has withdrawn its application to construct a liquefied natural gas terminal 11 miles off the Alabama Coast and will investigate using an alternative technology that will not harm the Gulf's ecosystem, Gov. Bob Riley told the Press-Register Thursday.
A statement from the governor's office said ConocoPhillip's decision came after Riley made clear this week that he would veto the project if it used a seawater-based "open-loop" reheating system.
Riley has indicated for several months that there was a good possibility he would reject the project due to concerns about its impact on Alabama's saltwater fisheries.
"As governor, I will not permit the establishment of any activity that I believe may adversely impact our marine resources if I have the power to stop it. All along I've expressed serious concerns," Riley said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "In response to my concerns, ConocoPhillips felt the best course of action would be to withdraw their application, and a letter to that effect is being sent from the company to the federal Maritime Administration."
The withdrawal means that the months of uncertainty surrounding the billion dollar project will continue. In interviews, Riley has said he was not opposed to the terminal itself, just to the method ConocoPhillips planned to use to convert the imported gas into a useable product.
Opposition to the terminal has become increasingly vocal over the last year, primarily because ConocoPhillips sought approval to use 50 billion gallons of Gulf seawater each year to reheat the natural gas, which arrives at minus 260 degrees and must be warmed to convert it into a useable product.
Companies that have proposed terminals for the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts seek approval of natural gas reheating systems, citing the threat to sea life posed by the use of seawater.
Only terminals proposed for the Gulf of Mexico have sought approval for the seawater method. Three have been approved so far, though Louisiana Gov. Blanco vetoed the most recent proposal offshore of her state. Officials with Freeport-McMoRan, which proposed that terminal, announced a few days after the veto that they would submit a new proposal using the natural gas reheating method.
Scientists at all of the federal fisheries agencies are opposed to the seawater reheating process, and fear it could decimate Gulf fish populations. The ConocoPhillips terminal would suck in 150 million gallons of water per day, and kill every thing in it, including the eggs and larvae of some of the Gulf's most popular recreational and commercial species, such as redfish, red snapper, shrimp and blue crabs.
Documents associated with the terminal indicate that federal officials would be unable to determine if the facility was impacting Alabama's redfish population unless state harvests declined by more than 36 percent.
The withdrawal of the proposal also means that candidate Riley may not have to make a final decision on the project before November's general election, when he faces Democrat Lucy Baxley in the race for governor. Last week, Baxley called on Riley to delay his veto for six months and allow more time for study.
Riley, however, was not legally allowed to delay his veto. Under federal law, the governor has a 45-day window to veto the LNG terminal. The veto period began after federal officials issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement in April.
The deadline for the veto is June 11th. If Riley had chosen not to veto, final approval would have been left up to federal officials, who have so far approved three similar LNG terminals in the Gulf. Only one has been constructed off the Louisiana coast.
ConocoPhillips officials did not return multiple calls seeking comment, though Riley's office said that the governor and company officials had discussed the issue on the phone Thursday.
The governor is scheduled to announce the withdrawal of the application today at the Mobile Convention Center.