Port Ambrose makes no economic sense as an LNG import facility, but it could be a goldmine if it were instead used to export cheap American shale gas to Europe and Asia. After all, one of the largest and most productive shale gas “plays” in North America is the Marcellus—a vast formation that underlies much of New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Williams, the company that owns the pipeline that will tie into Port Ambrose, is already expanding the pipelines capacity to transport gas from the shale fields to Long Island—and some of that gas could end up routed to Port Ambrose for shipment to England, India, China or Japan.
But why would the company behind the Port Ambrose project apply for a license to import LNG if it really intended to export American gas? The answer, in a word, is “fracking”. This controversial method of extracting gas from stone requires pumping millions of gallons of toxic fluid into the ground to develop even a single gas well. The process is known to contaminate drinking water, pollute the air, and cause health problems in humans and in animals. If the corporation behind Port Ambrose applied for a license to export gas, then an environmental review might include an assessment of all these so-called “upstream impacts” of shale gas extraction. At a time when the general public is beginning to wake up to the health and environmental issues posed by fracking, this is something that a bottom line-oriented corporation might well want to avoid.
Next: MarAd puts its thumb on the scales.
