Cecile Scofield told the Martin County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners that Brightline passenger rail is owned and financed by the same New York hedge fund as the liquid natural gas (LNG) liquefication plants that are sending LNG by rail over Florida East Coast Railway (FECR), and the LNG export and passenger rail projects are mutually dependent, presenting “unique risks”, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

FRA: FECR LNG export by rail & Brightline, Cecile Scofield @ Martin BOCC 2024-06-18, Fortress Energy Partners (FEP), Hialeah, Port Miami, Port Everglades, JAX

Here is Cecile’s presentation, extracted from Martin County’s own video:
https://youtu.be/KjjdDdb1HI8

Below is the text Cecile read to the Martin BOCC.

Among other materials, she drew from the Federal Railroad Administration 281-page FOIA response on FECR LNG by Rail request 2024-06-07.

For more background, see LNG Export by truck, rail, and ship:
https://wwals.net/issues/lng

MARTIN COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING – JULY 18, 2024 –
PRESENTATION BY CECILE (“CECE” SCOFIELD)

Movie: FRA: FECR LNG by rail –Cecile Scofield to Martin County, FL BOCC

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has 600 times the energy of natural gas. Ignited flammable vapors can travel with the wind, cause flash fires, pool fires, vapor cloud explosions and BLEVEs.

Fortress Energy Partners was established in 2014 to build a nationwide small-scale LNG production and distribution business using rail corridors.

On September 3, 2014, FECR expressed interest in moving containerized LNG from FEP’s new LNG production facility in the Hialeah Rail Yard in Miami to the Bowden Yard in Jacksonville.

On September 24th, AAF Holdings applied for $1.75 billion in bond financing to establish passenger rail service in the company’s transportation corridor, with stations located in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando, and…

On December 31st, American LNG Marketing, an FEP affiliate, requested DOE authorization to export LNG, transported by rail in the same corridor, from Miami to Ports of Miami, Everglades, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, and Canaveral.

On March 3, 2016, the FRA responded, in part, that LNG rail transport presented “unique risks,” no railroad in the U.S. was transporting LNG, proposed routes traversed congested, highly populated areas with frequent highway-grade crossings and eventually share routes with 110 mph high-performance passenger trains.

So how did FRA’s LNG Team know about All Aboard Florida, now Brightline?

FRA: FECR LNG by rail –Cecile Scofield to Martin County, FL BOCC 2024-06-18

FRA held bi-weekly LNG conference calls with FECR and asked if LNG trains would be sharing tracks with passenger train services, and how would they ensure the trains would not interfere with each other’s schedules. FECR said it was not operating passenger service on the line at the time, that routes would host AAF passenger trains in months and years ahead south of Cocoa, and PTC would be implemented prior to starting the service.

On June 7, 2016, FECR revised LNG shipments to be limited to Ports of Miami and Everglades as a “pilot” initiative to gain experience with the rail move, and FRA approved 100,000 gallon-a-day shipments beginning March 9, 2017. Several churches and schools were designated as “Potentially Sensitive Targets” along the transportation routes.

FECR advised that, in the event of a leak, Crews would stop the train, communicate the situation to the Dispatch Center, summon Emergency Responders and position themselves in an upwind position. In other words, “run.”

If FECR freight shipments are currently scheduled by Grupo Mexico and passenger rail by Brightline, what could go wrong?

All referenced entities, except Grupo, were affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, a New York Hedge Fund, and the two projects are mutually dependent.

Thank you.

Cecile Scofield and Martin County, FL BOCC 2024-06-13

Martin County Board of Commissioners MCTV Board Meeting June 18, 2024, 9:00 AM

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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https://wwals.net/donations/

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