UPDATE: Dobson releases statement about LNG terminals after interview with WKRG-TV

UPDATE (Oct. 11, 1:52 p.m.): District 2 congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson says she misspoke when she said she supports liquefied natural gas terminals for Mobile Bay and the Alabama coast. Here’s the story: Dobson says she misspoke about LNG terminals in Mobile Bay

ORIGNAL STORY

MOBILE, Ala. ( WKRG ) — Congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson says she would support Liquified Natural Gas terminals in the Mobile Bay area.

Those facilities were met with strong citizen backlash when proposed for lower Alabama more than 15 years ago.

Energy independence has been a priority of Dobson as she campaigns for the District 2 congressional seat.

“We need to be encouraging responsible development of all of our energy sources,” Dobson told News 5 . “Natural gas is remarkably cleaner than gasoline.”

Dobson said Alabama should expand its natural gas industries including liquified natural gas.

In the LNG process, natural gas is cooled in terminals to negative 160 degrees Celsius when it becomes a liquid. It is then transferred to ships and sent primarily to Europe where it is re-gasified.

Dobson said LNG is a business market Alabama needs to tap and she supports LNG terminals in south Alabama.

“Yes, absolutely. Natural gas is a huge opportunity for this nation and this area,” Dobson said.

But LNG terminals were hugely unpopular among residents when proposed for Mobile Bay more than 15 years ago. In 2006, Conoco-Phillips proposed a terminal off Dauphin Island. Two years later, Norwegian company TORP wanted to construct an LNG terminal off Fort Morgan.

Alabama’s then-Governor Bob Riley worked to kill both deals, citing the potential for damage to marine life and the potential for explosions.

In January, President Joe Biden announced a moratorium on increasing LNG exports, claiming methane, which is produced when natural gas is burned, is just as bad, if not worse for climate change, as carbon dioxide.

Still, Dobson said, the idea of LNG terminals should be explored.

“There’s a balance there,” Dobson said. “Making sure we are developing these resources in a responsible way but acknowledging the world benefits when we are energy independent.”

The U.S. is already the No. 1 exporter of LNG worldwide, and exports are expected to double by the end of this decade.

There is an LNG terminal in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The rest of the nation’s LNG facilities are off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.

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