Task Force Blasts LNG Project Proposed for Long Island Sound

REGIONAL - The Long Island Sound Liquefied Natural Gas Task Force has concluded that a recent analysis by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, was flawed in numerous ways.

The task force's final report concluded that FERC's finding that Broadwater would have "limited adverse environmental impacts" is based on three serious flaws.

Their report states that the agency failed to seriously analyze potential environmental consequences, provided a very limited review of alternatives by adopting unrealistic standards, and that those alternatives will need to be implemented to meet the increasing energy needs of Connecticut and New York before the Broadwater project is completed.

"On its own, each of these findings is enough to sink Broadwater. Together they are a full spread of torpedoes that ought to blow the entire project out of the water," said Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell.

Specifically, the task force report stated that FERC's environmental analysis used old data and outdated maps showing erroneous data on the locations of shellfish beds and lobstering grounds and incorrect data on bird feeding and breeding areas.

"Clearly, FERC, in its rush to achieve the goal they set out to achieve, produced a sloppy error-filled report to justify its own needs," the task force report stated.

Task force members found that FERC set an artificial level of natural gas "need" for the region of 1 billion cubic feet per day, much higher than the current actual demand, and setup an analysis ensuring that only Broadwater could meet it.

Any project that could not increase supply to the region to that degree was eliminated from consideration by FERC, task force members claim.

A March 2006 analysis by Synapse Energy Economics stated that "nowhere in these [project] documents or in any other study is a requirement for this quantity of natural gas substantiated for the target market."

The task force report states that "FERC starts with the answer and then frames the question; FERC's analysis was wrong and purposefully misleading."

Specifically, task force members state that FERC's analysis failed to consider ongoing capacity upgrades to other pipelines and LNG facilities in the region.

The task force reported that "the planned increase of 400 million cubic feet per day on the Iroquois pipeline will be more than enough to meet demand, even without other planned improvements."

Task force members also claim that FERC failed to consider the effects of another LNG project called BlueOcean that is planned for New Jersey.

That project is expected to supply 20 percent more natural gas than Broadwater, be closer to New York, serve more areas, and faces less opposition.

The task force was created by Rell by Executive Order in August 2005 and included state lawmakers, agency chiefs, local leaders, energy experts, and members of the public who reviewed hundreds of documents and held 16 public hearings.

"What they have found it that Broadwater is an environmental disaster in the making, propelled by FERC despite a wealth of alternatives that would likely cost less and cause far less damage," Rell said.

State Senator Andrea Stillman, D-20, said, "The Broadwater proposal has never been anything more than a poorly conceived, band-aid solution to the comprehensive, long-term energy needs of the region; FERC's shoddy prosecution of the many objects we raised betrays its single-mindedness about Broadwater approval and a contemptible lack of a sound national energy plan. Going forward, if FERC minimizes or ignores the findings of our task force and its determined effort over the past 2½ years it will only compound the affront that final Broadwater approval would represent."

Governor Rell is requesting FERC delay a final decision regarding Broadwater until after New York state agencies and New York's newly-appointed Governor David A. Paterson weigh in on the project.