Former Mayor Norm McFarlane says the tax concession for Irving Oil to build the L-N-G terminal at Canaport should be reviewed if the land is being used for another purpose other than what was stipulated in the agreement. There was nothing in the deal about constructing a pipeline for oil.
McFarlane, though, doesn’t have any regrets about pushing ahead with the agreement limiting property tax to 500 thousand dollars a year. He says it paved the way for Saint John to have the only L-N-G terminal in the country. It was mean’t to be used mainly for the export of natural gas to the northeastern U.S. but that has not come to pass because the Americans are getting so much of their natural gas from shale gas extraction.
McFarlane says he is disturbed by the tone of the public criticism of the Irvings and Repsol.
Court documents show Irving Oil makes 22.5 million dollars annually on the land where the terminal is located including more than 12 million a year just by leasing it.
