This Day In Clarkland: Sparkle Ponies Come To...

...Bellingham?

In case you missed it, the latest Straw Sparkle Pony is a proposal to build a floating LNG plant off of Bamberton which is located deep within Saanich Inlet on Southern Vancouver Island.

Which is bizarre to contemplate on its face if you think of the tankers competing with ferries, etc. to get in and out of the inlet, not to mention the need to travel 'round the corner to get to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and all that.

But then ask yourself the following...

How the heck would the gas get to that patch of water below the Malahat in the first place?

Why through the United States, of course.

Samantha Wohlfeil of the Bellingham Herald has the story:

Natural gas could move from Canada to Canada, by way of Whatcom County, through a proposed pipeline that mirrors a plan shelved a decade ago.

Williams pipeline company announced plans Sept. 1 for the “Island Gas Connector,” which would run natural gas from a plant near Sumas to Cherry Point. There, the pipeline would then run another 47 miles underwater to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The project was announced by Oklahoma-based Williams, which owns the Northwest Pipeline that already runs through Whatcom, and partner Steelhead LNG, a Vancouver, B.C.-based energy company.

The pipeline, as imagined by the company, could run near Lynden, through Custer and round the northwest side of the BP refinery on its way to Cherry Point, based on a map showing the not-yet-approved route the company would like to take. It would deliver natural gas to the proposed island plant to be converted into liquefied natural gas that could then be shipped by tanker...


And how loosey-goosey is the pipeline part of the 'plan', at least at the moment?

Well.

This....

...“It will be highly regulated,” (William's spokesperson Michele) Swaner said of the pipeline project. “We will do lots of studies, and extensive exploration.”

The current proposal would be an “open access” pipeline, Swaner said, meaning other companies that wanted to tap into the U.S. pipeline in the future could do so, under an agreement with Williams.

It has not been decided how big around the pipe will be, or how much natural gas would move through it, Swaner said...


Good grief.



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I'll get into what I reckon is the straw that is stirring this particular pony's drink in a later post, but if you need a hint think....Port Alberni.


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