Reuters: London Mayor’s Fantasy Airport Plans Run Into Natural Gas Realities
The London mayor‘s preferred plan for a new airport is likely to fall flat, because it would force relocation of one of Europe’s biggest liquefied natural gas terminals at a time when Britain relies ever more on overseas gas.
Mayor Boris Johnson in July gave his backing to three plans for a new airport, which he said were deliverable by 2029, and favored a 68 billion pound ($106.6 billion) project on the Isle of Grain in Kent, 30 miles east of London.
“The Isle of Grain has the space to accommodate a world-class, efficient hub airport,” Johnson said in a submission to the Airport Commission, which is assessing the options and will make recommendations in a final report by summer 2015.
But building an airport there would require the dismantling and relocation of one of Britain’s most important energy hubs including the LNG terminal, gas storage sites and a big power station in a complex that dominates the eastern end of the peninsula.