POINT COMFORT - Promising at least 600 jobs at the peak of construction and about 50 permanent jobs later, a proposal to develop the Calhoun LNG facility at the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort has crossed its last hurdle in the permitting process.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted late Thursday to grant permission for construction to proceed on a new liquid natural gas terminal and supporting facilities at the port, according to the commission's news release.
"We've feeling good today," said Rafael Garcia, executive vice president of development. "We'll celebrate today and we go back to work on Monday."
The next step, he said in a phone interview Friday, "is to continue and conclude commercial agreements. We estimate that's going to take us into mid-next year. Then the construction would start, but that's just an estimate."
He estimated that construction would take from three to three and half years. "Getting materials has become a lengthier process."
The commission also authorized Port Comfort Pipeline Company, an affiliate of Calhoun LNG, to construct and operate 27 miles of pipeline to connect the terminal with the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. and the Tennessee Natural Gas Company pipeline, about three miles southwest of Edna. The pipeline project would cost about $62.6 million.
The plan is to import liquid natural gas into Calhoun County, process it and ship it by pipeline throughout the U.S.
Once so plentiful in Texas, a new source of natural gas would guarantee Calhoun County's industrial giants have enough natural gas to operate in the future, while also benefiting the country, officials said.
"A robust energy infrastructure can provide reliability of supply at lower prices," commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said in the release. "A weak infrastructure can result in higher prices, great price volatility, lower supply reliability and less effective competition. Today, we take a series of actions to strengthen our natural gas infrastructure."
Originally, the project came with a price tag of $400 million and was scheduled for construction to begin in 2006.
However, the permitting process took longer than anticipated and the project is now expected to cost about $750 million, Garcia said.
The facility would include storage tanks and processing equipment on man-made land owned by the port.
"They are closer," said Charles Hausmann, interim port director. "This is where they want to be. I'm pleased with that."
The operation would involve importing natural gas being burned off as waste in countries such as Trinidad and Nigeria. Ships delivering liquid gas would be brought from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway through the Matagorda Ship Channel to the port where it would be vaporized and stored. The liquids would become feedstock for the area's chemical plants and natural gas would be transported by pipelines throughout the U.S., officials said. | 
