Posted on 10/08/2006 8:37:22 PM PDT by thackney
NEW ORLEANS Efforts to get McMoRan Exploration Company's proposed liquefied natural gas port licensed after a 30 (m) million dollar modification appear to be going more smoothly the second time around.
McMoRan spokesman Bill Collier says they're confident the Main Pass Energy Hub project in Louisiana will get its permit because there's been no opposition since the project was modified.
Initially, McMoRan intended to use an open-loop system that required the use of water from the Gulf of Mexico to warm the supercooled liquefied natural gas. Environmentalists said that method would kill an unknown amount of sea life. That opposition eventually led Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to veto the proposed L-N-G terminal that is expected to be built 16 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
McMoRan revised its plans and now will use a closed-loop system in which some of the imported gas, rather than seawater, will be used to warm the liquefied gas.
Collier says the change will cost McMoRan 30 (m) million dollars to modify the terminal and 25 (m) million dollars a year in lost revenue from the natural gas it will use in the closed-loop system.
Blanco and the governors of Mississippi and Alabama have 45 days to approve or veto the port. At that point, the Maritime Administration can approve or deny the port, but could wait another 45 days, until January 3rd, to make its decision.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.