El Paso Energy announced plans in 2007 for a third expansion of the plant. Phase three will add two more tanks and double the storage of the plant to 15.7 billion cubic feet of gas. That will bring the total to six tanks. The new tanks will be no higher than the other 12-story tanks, but will be larger in diameter. The first is expected to be finished in 2010, the second in 2012.

Additionally, 187 miles of new pipeline will be laid by Southern LNG to increase the delivery capacity to 2.1 bcf per day. The new pipe with stretch to Augusta, where the methane will be pumped to South Carolina and Tennessee.

While LNG accounts for only 3 % of the US total natural gas supply, it is forecast to rise to 17% by 2030. There are 5 operating LNG facilities in the US – 4 on land, a fifth offshore. The Department of Energy is predicting a jump of imported LNG from 840 bcf in 2006 to 1.02 trillion cf of LNG for 2008.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is cooled to minus 251 degrees Fahrenheit before it is transported by ship. This converts the gas to a liquid and reduces it volume 600 fold. LNG tankers bring the product here from Egypt and Trinidad. The LNG is then converted back to a gas, stored in the tanks, then fed through pipelines to customers in Georgia and the East Coast.

Every so often, letters to the editor will raise concern about the blast potential of an accidental or intentional explosion at the facility. Obviously, great pains are taken to ensure that such an explosion does not take place. Ships arriving and offloading at the facility are escorted by Coast Guard gun ships. All vessels transiting the area must transit the area at idle speed and with a Coast Guard escort. And, there is constant surveillance of the area.

In addition, the couplings are designed to break free and stop the flow of product, in the event of a damaging wake or collision with another vessel while the LNG vessel is offloading.