Wednesday, February 28, 2007

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PIPELINE IN SAINT JOHN!!!!


Pictures 381
Originally uploaded by Oldmaison.
Pictures 390

Some interesting stuff about Irving's Canaport facility

The LNG terminal and pipeline will be used for liquified natural gas AND orimulsion(R)


The LNG terminal DOES NOT use the much (and deservedly) maligned "Open Rack Vaporizer". Here the Bay of Fundy itself takes credit as the EA study looks only at cost factors for the system (it notes that "sea water is readily available), however, the temperature of the water in the bay is too cold.

The terminal will provide 20 full time jobs once operational, according to the EA assessment, however, perhaps due to the negative public reaction to the tax deal their Canaport website now lists it at 40 full time permanent jobs.. Total salary costs for the entire project is 26 million of the 750 million project costs.

The facility will use the "Submerged Combustion Chamber" method to regassify the LNG. The gas is run through a 'water bath'. This has an increased cost because there are fewer suppliers. A study in the Engineering Forum of the LNG Journal notes that "the possibility of incurring emission costs is created".

This is of interest because environmental guidelines state that "A significant adverse residual environmental effect on air quality is one that results in a greater than 5% increase in mass emission rates of any air contaminant of interest (PM, SO2, NOx and CO) in the assessment area during any specific phase of the Project, or that degrades air quality such that the maximum Project-related ground-level concentration of those contaminants leads to an exceedance of the respective ambient air quality standards."

This is important because we've seen in the past where Irving mills routinely exceed provincial guidelines, yet the province does nothing but 'ask them to do better'. In fairness, they 'have' done better, yet they still pollute over the guidelines with no measureable financial penalty.

The chief environmental effect is that the water becomes acidic. Therefore it MUST BE TREATED before being returned to the ecosystem (haven't yet found out how that is being done)

Irving doesn't just own land in New Brunswick, it also owns part of the ocean! They actually own the 'water lot' where the ships berth. They previously 'let' fishermen use it, however, they will not be responsible for any loss of income due to any environmental effects on their 'lot'.

Loss of fishing income will be decided on a 'case by case' basis. No word on the procedure or by whom (see the audio interview with Richard Harris for parrallels)

No comments: