FERC Moves LNG Plant Forward for Long Island Sound

REGIONAL - Officials are expressing frustration with what they feel is a bad call by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding a proposed floating liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound.

In its final report, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission believed that if 86 actions are taken the project would have "limited adverse environmental impacts" to the Sound.

Governor M. Jodi Rell questioned their decision and believes the project will severely negatively impact the Long Island Sound. "I cannot see how any reasonable person or government agency can come to that conclusion," Rell said. "We are talking about building and operating a massive, possibly hazardous industrial facility in the middle of an important estuary with sensitive natural resources. We are talking about a platform as large as an ocean liner, requiring an unprecedented and untested 950-acre safety and security zone, as well as moving security zones around incoming tankers. Let's not kid ourselves: All of this will change Long Island Sound forever." Rell believes that the changes to the Sound will be a "total setback to the decades we have spent improving water quality and habitat in the Sound" and that FERC's opinion that such a facility would be appropriate there is "as shockingly out of place as a steel plant in a state park."

Before it can issue any permits for a facility, federal environmental laws require FERC to wait at least 30 days. Rell plans to have the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection review the EIS document and will request the Connecticut Attorney General's Office to help fight off the facility.

A Dec. 21 letter from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation was severely critical of the project and Rell believes this shows the State of New York also plans to fight the project.

"We will challenge this absurd and indefensible agency decision in court," Rell said.

Connecticut's Congressman Joe Courtney (D-2), whose district includes shoreline towns from Madison to Stonington, along with most of eastern Connecticut, also has released a statement expressing his opposition to a project that will pose a threat to both the environment and security. "After decades of state and federal efforts to clean up the Long Island Sound, it is preposterous to think that the waterway should be used as an experimental guinea pig for untested technology in this way," Courtney said. "This is a terrible, terrible decision and one that I will continue to fight."

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-3), who represents residents in the shoreline towns from Guilford to Stratford along with towns in the New Haven area, also has come out expressing her thoughts on FERC's decision. "To say that I am disappointed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's determination is an understatement," DeLauro said. "Broadwater is the third proposed energy infrastructure project - each larger than the previous - that would transverse the Long Island Sound and FERC has summarily approved them all. Time and time again, FERC has dismissed the environmental impacts these massive projects will have on the continued health and vitality of the Long Island Sound."

A report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on Jan. 9 states that the U.S. Coast Guard is ill-equipped to meet security needs of the LNG terminal and carriers and that local ports lack resources to handle emergencies.

"I have every intention of contacting the Coast Guard Captain of the Port to discuss this proposal and will reiterate my strong, objections to FERC. There are reasonable alternatives to Broadwater that would provide the equivalent infrastructure while maintaining our responsibility to environmental preservation," DeLauro said.

Leah Schmalz, Director of Legislative and Legal Affairs for Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, stated that "this FEIS is a slap in the face to the citizens of New York and Connecticut...a search of FERC's existing dockets shows a federal agency that is hard pressed to find a new liquefied natural gas facility that it doesn't like. This environmental impact statement demonstrates that FERC is not interested in what is best for our region's natural resources."