Natural Gas Plant Could Endanger Tuna Groundsff

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has concluded that the proposed Bienville liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, if approved, could cause “significant direct and cumulative adverse impacts on marine fishery resources” in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. NMFS released its conclusion in a recent letter sent in response to a request for comments on the project’s Draft Environment.

NMFS said the project’s approval without significant design modifications or mitigation requirements, in combination with other similar projects, could impede its ability to rebuild some overfished stocks of marine species in the area surrounding the proposed project site.

The agency acknowledges that the DEIS correctly states that one of the proposed technologies for the project, an open-loop, shell and tube vaporizer heating system (STV), will require an average 126.7 million gallons of seawater per day and subject early life stages of marine species to entrainment, impingement, thermal shock, and water chemistry changes.

”Considering the close proximity of the [Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal] site to very productive marine fishery habitats, we believe that fishery impact estimates could reflect more significant losses if detailed, site specific data and improved life history tables of more representative species, such as the groupers, snappers, amberjacks and triggerfish, were acquired and incorporated into the ichthyoplankton assessment methodology.”

Given that many Gulf of Mexico fisheries already are stressed and have experienced reductions in their populations and require stringent harvest regulation to enable population recovery, NMFS recommends that the project not use the proposed STV system, but choose an alternative that would not cause the likely mortality of all fish larvae and eggs contained in the 46 billion gallons of seawater the system would take in annually.

The fishery impacts also should extend to highly migratory species managed by NMFS, in particular bluefin tuna, swordfish and billfish such as blue and white marlin and sailfish, which are overfished and subject to overfishing.

The DEIS notes that the four species on which detailed analysis of ichthyoplankton impacts were studied - red snapper, red drum, menhaden, and bay anchovy - were not necessarily representative of the marine fisheries expected to be present at the proposed LNG location.

”Because of the economic importance of the group, billfish, tuna, and other fisheries associated with the Gulf of Mexico deepwater habitats, Pinnacle Trend, and the frontal zone of the Mississippi River plume, it is critical that additional life table (e.g., stage-duration and mortality) information be sought or developed to allow an ichthyoplankton impact assessment based on species more representative of the project area.”

NMFS also noted that the project as proposed could negatively impact the recreational fishing industry off Alabama and Mississippi, which is estimated to provide about 5,500 jobs and have a total economic impact of approximately US$562 million/year in 2001 dollars. “NMFS finds such a transfer of LNG facility operating costs to the public, through an uncompensated reduction in fishery resources, to be inappropriate.”

TORP Terminal LP has proposed to construct and operate the LNG receiving and regasification facilities and associated pipelines in the U.S. approximately 62.6 miles (100 km) south of Fort Morgan, Ala. Components of the terminal include a support platform, HiLoad units and parking systems, flexible risers, terminal pipeline, and subsea gas export pipeline.