McMoRan Exploration Co. gets it, why not Shell?

Kudos’ to Governor Kathleen Blanco and her stand on LNG. She stood strong and the oil companies are starting to read the handwriting on the wall, well most of them anyway.

McMoRan revised its plans and now will use a closed-loop system in which some of the imported gas, rather than seawater, will be used to warm the liquefied gas.

It is hoped other companies proposing "open-loop" LNG terminals off our Louisiana coast will follow McMoRan's lead and use the more environmentally friendly technology that is available for their projects.

Shell continues to go forward with their plans to build an Open Loop LNG facility. Shell has said many times that it would not be economically feasible to build offshore LNG facilities unless they were built open loop.

I guess the McMoRan Exploration Co. didn’t buy the rhetoric any more than the thousands of every day people that petitioned Shell to go closed loop and protect our environment.

Another reason stated by Shell’s Shell's Executive Director, Gas & Power, Linda Cook was: The option of closed loop vaporisers, which is the alternative to open loop, it not without disadvantages. Closed loop vaporisers result in the use of 2% of the natural gas that comes through the asset. It also results in a ignorantly more greenhouse gas emissions and can disrupt wetlands.

What Linda Cook does not tell you is that all of the LNG fuel will be used somewhere on this earth and that the green house emissions will be no less if the LNG facility is open loop. The only difference is who pays for the 2% of the natural gas. It appears to me that Shell doesn’t feel that protecting our Gulf Marine Environment is worth their companies 2% investment.

I am proud of the result of the tremendous effort put forth by all of us that fought the LNG battle, which certainly includes the thousands, and thousands of RodnReel readers that made it clear to our politicians that they want our Gulf Marine Environment protected.

Governor Kathleen Blanco heard the message loud and clear and threw down the gauntlet.

Governor, keep up the fight; let’s get those oil revenues that Louisiana deserves and let’s take every step we must in order to insure the restoration of our coasts and protection of our wetlands.

Shell you may have flown under the radar of the political awareness of the Governor and others to get your permit; but you will not escape the microscope of public scrutiny should you continue to pursue open loop technology.

Your peers will prove that you could have profited handsomely and protected our Gulf Marine Environment but you chose not to.

In the end the only explanation for your position will become apparently clear… strictly profit, so much for Shell's “Good Neighbor Policy”.