Hearings before the Board of Environmental Protection began this week in Calais concerning a proposal to build LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage tanks and a terminal in neighboring Robbinston. Natural gas suppliers are anxious to get as many LNG terminals up and running as possible - North American natural gas demand is increasing by about 3 percent a year, while supply is barely holding steady (and is in decline by some measurements). Bringing in LNG from overseas is one of the few short-term options left to meet future needs.

Whether Passamaquoddy Bay is the right place for a terminal is a difficult question, and I don't envy the BEP its task. Opposition to the project is vociferous, well organized, and widespread.

And perhaps all of it is unnecessary. The Canadian federal government has consistently declared that it will not allow LNG tankers to pass through Head Harbour Passage, the only access to the bay. So it raises a question: Why are the folks of Washington County and the state of Maine being put through this expensive hearing procedure and all the community-splitting controversy when the issue of being able to supply the new terminal remains so unsettled? Seems rather cart before horse to me.

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