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The rejection of a merger of a Hawaiian electric utility and a Florida company by the Hawaiian regulator has scuttled a deal to export LNG from British Columbia.

In May, energy company Fortis announced it had signed an agreementto provide liquefied natural gas from B.C. to the Hawaiian Islands. It would have required an additional major expansion to its Delta facility, already undergoing a $400 million expansion, to supply growing demand from B.C. Ferries, the transport industry and markets in Canada, including to Whitehorse and Inuvik.

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However, Hawaiian Electric announced Tuesday it had withdrawn the applications for a liquefied natural gas contract with Fortis Hawaii Energy Inc., a Fortis subsidiary, and also their plans to upgrade one of their power plants to use natural gas.

That follows an announcement that the Hawaiian Electric companies (Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawai’i Electric Light) and Florida-based NextEra Energy had terminated their merger agreement following rejection of the merger by the Hawaiian Public Utilities Commission over concerns that it was a risk to ratepayers.