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July 11, 2005

A problem with the process | Linda Godfrey of Save Passamaquoddy Bay thinks LNG is the wrong choice for Washington County

By Michaela Cavallaro
Like many Washington County residents, Linda Godfrey is involved in multiple business ventures, including running programs on the region's culture, history and environment for Elderhostel visitors through her Atlantic Leadership Institute in Eastport. She's also a partner in The Commons, a collective of 50 artisans from around Passamaquoddy Bay, and a co-owner of the Lupine Lodge on Campobello Island, a Canadian island across a narrow strip of water from Lubec. For the last year, she has added another item to her already considerable to-do list: protecting Passamaquoddy Bay from the liquefied natural gas terminal proposed for the region.

As the head of Save Passamaquoddy Bay, Godfrey leads a loose coalition of LNG opponents from the Passamaquoddy tribe, Washington County and Canada. "Our work is not only looking at the ramifications of LNG, which is usually the first foot in the door. We're concerned about industrial development downeast, which is out of scale," she says. "Concerned citizens of Maine [should ask the question], what does high industrialization mean for the state?"

With the Passamaquoddy Tribal Council's recent approval of a deal with Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC to develop an LNG facility on tribal land at Split Rock, Godfrey says her group of about 15 coordinators and roughly 60 other active participants has begun working to shed light on ˆ— and slow down ˆ— what she sees as a flawed process. A group is investigating the environmental implications of the route that LNG tankers might take into the bay, while tribal members are looking into the land-lease agreement between Quoddy Bay and the tribe, as well as the tribal council's request that the Bureau of Indian Affairs waive its appraisal of the land.

That request, says Godfrey, raises questions about the motives of Quoddy Bay's Don Smith, who has said publicly ˆ— including in an interview with Mainebiz ("On the rebound," June 13) ˆ— that he is looking out for the economic security of tribal members. Smith's deal with the tribe includes $8 million in annual payments to the tribe, but Save Passamaquoddy Bay members are deeply suspicious of the outspoken developer. "If they were really doing an appraisal, it might be that the price that the tribe is looking at is multi-multi-million dollars," she says. "So if you really say you are here to support tribes and families, the first step you take is not to give the fastest, cheapest, lowest deal you can imagine."

For Godfrey, the problem with the proposal stems from both what she sees as outsiders' lack of understanding of Washington County ˆ— "We have a much more energized economy than people in Oklahoma or Portland or Augusta think," she says ˆ— and a larger philosophical difference about what is valuable. "There are some people who think this is a golden calf, and there are others who believe that this has the potential to destroy this part of Maine," she says. "How we define wealth and real currency is part of the question, and people have different ways of looking at that."

Although Godfrey says she's not categorically opposed to LNG ˆ— "There are some reasons why some people would be looking at this," she says ˆ— she is convinced that Smith's facility is simply wrong for Washington County. And she feels even more strongly that her grassroots group will succeed in its efforts to scuttle the project. "Because of the way this developer has not only brought this product in, but also the processes he has followed, has made it a very vulnerable process," she says. "So our strength is in the vulnerability of the way he has offended the process, the people and the place."

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