Downeast LNG | Press Release

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ted O'Meara - 207-791-1461

July 12, 2005

LNG Terminal Proposed For Robbinston, Maine

Downeast LNG plans facility on St. Croix River between Calais and Eastport

ROBBINSTON, Maine - After more than a year of carefully researching and evaluating many different sites in New England, including nearly a dozen in Maine, a development team today announced plans to build an LNG terminal in the Washington County town of Robbinston. The proposed facility will consist of LNG storage tankage, processing equipment, a new pier and several small support buildings.

“We are excited about working in partnership with the people of Robbinston to create a state of the art, environmentally safe LNG import terminal that will create good paying jobs and promote economic development in Washington County,” said Dean Girdis, president and founder of Downeast LNG, the project’s developer.

Girdis said that project would be built on an 80-acre site on the south side of Mill Cove, near where the St. Croix River meets the Passamaquoddy Bay. He said that the site has excellent technical characteristics so that any impact on the environment will be minimized and added that the project will meet or exceed every government safety and security requirement.

Based on preliminary discussions with town officials and area residents, Girdis said that Downeast LNG believes that the people of Robbinston will be supportive of the project because of its benefits to the town and the economic opportunities it will create. The project will create about 300 construction jobs over the three-years it will take to build the facility. Once operational, there will be about 45 to 50 supervisory, technical and maintenance jobs at the facility.

Downeast LNG was founded last year by Girdis, a former Peace Corps volunteer who has 17 years of experience in economic and energy development. Robert Wyatt, an environmental consultant who has worked on permitting major projects in 39 states and several foreign countries, serves as vice president of environmental affairs. The project’s financial backers are Kestrel Energy Partners LLC, an oil and gas private equity investment firm based in New York. Kestrel Energy and Dean Girdis are the only owners of the project.

Girdis sent a letter to all property owners in Robbinston over the weekend informing them of the project and inviting them to one of two residents-only informational meetings this week in Calais. Additional public meetings will be held in Calais and Eastport later this month. Girdis said that Downeast LNG is committed to a free and open exchange of information with area residents about the project.

According to Girdis and Wyatt, Downeast LNG's approach to the project includes:

developing an LNG facility that delivers clean and safe energy to Maine and New England;

working in partnership with the people of Robbinston and Washington County to create jobs and promote meaningful, sustainable economic development; and

building a facility that has a minimal impact on the natural environment and adheres to the highest safety standards in the industry.

They also announced that once the facility is fully operational, Downeast LNG will provide up to $500,000 annually to communities of eastern Washington County to support economic development activity.

This project will require as many as 50 or more permits and a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before site construction can even be initiated. Each of these major permitting steps will involve significant public comment and involvement. The permitting process is expected to take about two years. “We're going to do this right," said Wyatt. "We do not expect the project to have any significant impact on the natural environment or the marine and tourism-related industries that are so important to eastern Washington County.”

Once built, Downeast LNG expects the facility to receive one ship a week on average. Ship transit from Head Harbor Passage to the pier is expected to take less than 2 hours and offloading about 12-14 hours.

According to the developers, total gas demand in Maine has risen from 121 million cubic feet per day in 2000 to about 225 million cubic feet per day in 2004, with about 90% of gas used for the production of electricity. Maine has five gas-fired power plants located in Veazie, Bucksport, Jay, Rumford, and Westbrook. During the coldest winter days, as much as 40 percent of New England’s gas supply may come from LNG. The site of the proposed LNG terminal in Robbinston is approximately 22 miles from the natural gas pipeline that run from eastern Canada through the state of Maine.

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