Passamaquoddy Keep LNG Terminal Off Tribal Land

"SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. -- The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has canceled the developer's lease of Passamaquoddy tribal land in Maine where the company wanted to build a liquefied natural gas terminal.

On Friday, the BIA gave a group of Passamaquoddy Tribe members the outcome they had battled for in court for the past five years and cancelled the tribe's 50 year lease with an Oklahoma-based company, Quoddy Bay LNG.

The agency's decision follows nearly five years of litigation and efforts by Nulankeyutmonen Nkihtaqmikon, NN, a group of members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe living on the Pleasant Point Reservation in northeastern Maine.

NN was formed to protect their cultural and spiritual traditions from the harmful effects of the proposed LNG terminal on Passamaquoddy Bay on an area of Passamaquoddy land known as Split Rock."

Environment News Service had the story April 28, 2010.