For immediate release.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-Nation Alliance

Contact:
Linda Godfrey, Save Passamquoddy Bay Coordinator
207-853-2922
Vera Francis, We Take Care of Our Homeland/SPB Pleasant Point
Coordinator
Janice Harvey, Save Passamaquoddy Bay/Canada

Response to Downeast LNG’s Request to Withdraw their State of Maine
Application.

Save Passamaquoddy Bay (SPB) is not surprised that Downeast LNG (DeLNG)
has decided to withdraw their proposed Robbinston project proposal from
the Maine state Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) permitting
process. “We’re not surprised, yet we’re very happy that the waste of
the public’s time and resources on a project that was always doomed to
failure may come to an end, and we can all get on to more realistic and
appropriate economic and quality of life enhancing efforts,” said Linda
Godfrey, Coordinator of Save Passamquoddy Bay.

The DeLNG developer failed to do his due diligence from day one --
Passamaquoddy Bay is not an appropriate place for LNG proposals. Their
proposal violates the Society of International Gas Terminal and Tanker
Operators (SIGTTO) standards for LNG terminal siting. A whole range of
SPB experts testified at the July 16-20 BEP public hearings that this
clearly is not an appropriate place, and that irriversible damage could
occur to our environment. DeLNG’s even attempted to fool the board and
the public into granting them an extension to perform the due diligence
they should have completed before they even filed their application has
become public.

The State of Maine has absolute decision making power in this process
-- Governor Baldacci designated the State Planning Office as the
department responsible to coordinate the state permitting process, and
Commissioner Martha Freeman appointed multiple state agencies to act as
the committee.  This group has been doing their work at the tax payer’s
expense for this entire time. The Board of Environmental Protection was
established as the state’s eyes, ears, and brains to look at DeLNG’s
proposal as it relates to the environment. The process, requirements,
expectations, rules, timeline, laws -- everything about this process
has been known to DeLNG.  DeLNG has had multiple legal teams, PR
personnel, advisors -- all who should have known that they had to
follow a process.

DELNG’s case was flawed, and that showed up clearly at the July public
hearings. It has led them to fear failure. Nothing more should be read
into their decision to withdraw their proposal. They are simply trying
to go through another door by saying they’ll reapply. Well, July 16-20
was the time for them to have their data ready, their studies
completed, their experts prepared, and their case made.  Simply put,
they were not ready, and no amount of Ted O’Meara’ s public relations,
or developer Girdis’s claims that they are “looking forward to
presenting a more complete case” holds water.  The public is smarter
than that.

If one reads the findings of the BEP’s denial of DeLNG’s latest request
to have an extension, to remove SPB’s public witnesses, to delay the
BEP‘s work, one can see the real story, not the public relations fluff.
All of the facts are on our website <www.savepassamaquoddybay.org> and
open for the public to see.

A significant reality -- and the missing fact from The Girdis/O’Meara
news release -- is that within the last week Canada has said again
absolutely “No” to LNG tankers transiting through Head Harbour Passage.
Head Harbour is the one and only route available for large ships into
Passamaquoddy Bay. If the developers can’t get in the door, they don’t
get in -- period.  Canada is a sovereign nation speaking directly to
the United State on this matter. The developer mocks Canada’s position,
and defies Canada’s right to decide on this issue, at DeLNG’s peril.

In this David and Goliath story, Goliath today announced that he has
suffered a deadly blow. This action to withdraw proves it. There is
only one possible choice left, and that is for Goliath to find another
location for his proposal. The technology he has proposed is old
technology, at best. The state of the art is offshore, non-intrusive
operations. That’s where DeLNG and its developer peers who are looking
at Split Rock and Devil’s Head should go -- offshore.

There are complicated legal issues involved in what happens next. Save
Passamaquoddy Bay is pursuing all ways that will stop the costs to
private citizens and Maine taxpayers, and end these projects in
Passamaquoddy Bay. We are bolstered in our resolve, and clear about our
commitment to keep Passamaquoddy Bay free of this proposed
industrialization.