Jody McCaffree (The World, Nov. 4) continues to make assertions as to the dangers of liquefied natural gas to the community, its people and its economy.  She rarely provides hard evidence to support her position and when she does it is often highly selective and often misleading or downright untrue. Her arguments tend to display her lack of understanding of the issues.

I share Ms. McCaffree’s passion for energy independence in general and renewable energy sources in particular. This is a long-term quest and we need practical alternatives until those sources are available. By any metric, natural gas in any form has proven to be as safe, reliable and clean as any hydrocarbon fuel source we have. We should promote its use until better sources of energy are economically viable.

Ms. McCaffree asserts that LNG will “cost our economy dearly” but she fails to say how. In fact, the LNG project will inject $30 to $40 million per year in wages, taxes and material purchases not counting economic stimulus through the construction phase.  Moreover, it will provide a minimum of 100 to 120 direct and indirect family wage jobs giving our young people opportunities they do not have now.

She would have you believe that 151 miles of pipeline will be seized by eminent domain. In fact, history would show that the vast majority of right-of-way acquisition is accomplished by fair and successful negotiation of price or trade with between landowners and pipeliners. Even eminent domain requires fair compensation to be paid to landowners.

Ms. McCaffree says that “LNG is a bad investment of Enron-like proportions” but with no explanation of the parallel. She goes on to cite examples of LNG terminals in the Gulf Coast area, but fails to explain the circumstances. Cheniere’s layoff of 200 workers came at the completion of the construction phase of the project, not the termination of operations. Cheniere’s economic risk is a function of building a facility with very high leverage and no contracted source of supply or market. It is an outright speculative venture and may win or lose big. Jordan Cove will not be built without solid supply and market contracts in place with companies of sufficient financial strength to guarantee performance once it is permitted. 

Ms. McCaffree’s aims are laudable. Her understanding of the practicalities is lacking and her propensity to disseminate misinformation is just plain wrong.

Jon Barton

Hauser