Golden Pass LNG

Permit may speed LNG site plans - 08/16/2005

By: DAN WALLACH and CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE, The Enterprise

A permit to allow Exxon Mobil Corp. to begin site preparation for its proposed Golden Pass liquefied natural gas project could be issued as early as today, the project manager said Monday.

It does not mean the terminal actually would be built in the area between Sabine Pass and Port Arthur along the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel.

"We did the same thing with the cogeneration project," said ExxonMobil Beaumont refinery spokeswoman Kathleen Jackson, referring to the steam-electric generating plant eventually built next to the refinery complex in Beaumont.

Beaumont refinery executives who pursued the cogeneration project did so over the course of several years, eventually securing permission to build.

Regardless, the tumblers are clicking into place to unlock the south Jefferson County site for development as a terminal to receive supercooled Persian Gulf natural gas for a heated North American market.

The federal government is pursuing importation of liquefied natural gas as a method of satisfying a growing market and is issuing permits for up to a dozen or so terminals, many along the Gulf Coast.

There are opponents who are raising concerns about safety, including some who live across the ship channel on Pleasure Island.

One of the requirements for a permit is community acceptance of the development.

There are enthusiastic supporters as well.

"It means we can start building roads when the Corps of Engineers permit becomes available," said Tom Burger, ExxonMobil's project manager for the estimated $1 billion investment.

Burger said in a telephone interview that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission almost two weeks ago issued a conditional permit allowing site preparation when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved its own permit.

ExxonMobil must dredge a berth in the ship channel as well as build roads across wetlands to gain access to its site. The company must show how it would manage the dredged material and how it would replace wetlands elsewhere.

"Last week, we exercised our option and bought 500 acres. We already owned 300 acres. We now own riverfront property," he said.

Burger said the company has advance financing in the "millions of dollars" for site work and has retained Bo-Mac Contractors for the road work and Fugro Consultants for soil analysis and for test pilings.

If the project is approved, perhaps by October or November, the terminal would need solid footing on pilings expected to be sunk 100 feet deep, Burger said.

"It won't be until November before we know," Burger and Jackson said.

Still, ExxonMobil must assemble other preliminary steps in the project.

The company will ask the Port Arthur City Council for an industrial district agreement at its meeting today.

The 30-page agreement includes a $16 million in-lieu of tax agreement to be paid out from 2008 to 2015, stipulating a "good faith" effort to give Port Arthur businesses, contractors and residents opportunity for employment.

Copyright 2005, The Beaumont Enterprise. Reprinted with permission.