The Guam Power Authority plans to save power customers about 1.3 billion US dollars over the next 30 years by converting its oil-burning power plants so they can be fuelled by liquefied natural gas.
The Pacific Daily News reports the conversion will create jobs and provide a cheaper and cleaner energy source compared to burning fossil fuels.
The Guam Power Authority General Manager, Joaquin Flores, says without the switch, new federal emissions standards would require the utility to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to replace its current smokestacks.
The Public Auditor Doris Brooks has questioned the estimated 800 million US dollar cost, saying it's nearly as much as the entire Guam government's one billion dollar debt.
An environmental expert, Richard Wallsgrove, has warned that from an environmental standpoint, natural gas, depending on how it's extracted, could be worse than coal as a fuel source over time.
