Selectmen Concur:

LNG Is NG For LIS

By John Voket

When it came to getting that little nudge of support motivating Newtown selectmen to sign a resolution opposing a liquid natural gas (LNG) filling platform in Long Island Sound, it was Governor Jodi Rell who reached out to provide it. Selectmen Monday unanimously agreed to sign the resolution joining dozens of other Connecticut communities, environmental groups, and the governor herself in saying the proposed facility is no good for the Sound.

Since the last selectmen’s meeting during which the resolution was tabled in order to gather more information, Governor Rell has weighed in on the proposal. A company called Broadwater Energy would moor the LNG platform off the coast of Branford providing a station from which some of the world’s largest oceangoing vessels would dock.

The facility itself in many respects would also be the first of its kind in the world, according to Save the Sound, an environmental grassroots group that is an offshoot of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.

In an August 10 announcement, the governor said she was deeply concerned about the “potential for environmental, public health or public safety problems that could stem from a planned liquefied natural gas facility on Long Island Sound.” As a result, she issued an executive order creating a task force to plan for any issues or incidents associated with the massive floating storage unit.

“The State of New York and Broadwater Energy LLC have proposed the construction and operation of the storage unit that would be 1,200 feet long and 180 feet wide,” the governor’s statement reads. “The facility, to be in New York State waters in the Sound but 11 miles from the Connecticut shoreline, would have a capacity of 350,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas and 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas.”

At their August 1 selectmen’s meeting, it appeared that the Newtown officials were about to adopt the Save the Sound resolution, but Selectman Joseph Bojnowski, who said he works in an energy-related field, suggested the board table the measure creating time to gather more information about possible benefits of the proposed gas pumping station.

“I thought a bit about this, because as you know I’m deeply involved in the energy field — not here in Connecticut but outside of Connecticut,” Mr Bojnowski told fellow selectmen William Brimmer, Jr, and First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. “When you get into these things there are two issues to put the problem in perspective. Is Long Island Sound recreational totally, or like a national park?

“Or is it a commercial area?” the selectman queried again. “And if it is a commercial area, you need to consider LNG just like you would commercial fishing, for example.”

Mr Bojnowski suggested that he did not want to act prematurely to support a resolution being presented by an environmental organization opposed to a development of this nature, without hearing both sides of the story regarding the proposed LNG platform. On Monday, besides articulating the governor’s position on the matter, Mr Rosenthal also read information from Broadwater discussing specifics about the platform.

While the Broadwater statement, which was apparently garnered from the company’s website, acknowledged the need for greater access to LNG and other energy sources in Connecticut and the Northeast, it never specifically mentioned providing direct benefits to the state energy market.

The governor’s announcement goes on to say that, “Connecticut has little to gain and, potentially, a great deal to lose if this project moves forward. It does not make sense for our state, environmentally or economically. This huge storage facility, while perhaps necessary to help meet New York’s energy needs, could pose a clear and imminent danger to our citizens and the environment,” Governor Rell said.

The statement also relates that Governor Rell is creating a task force to explore alternatives for getting more natural gas to the region, and to prepare recommendations for presentation to the regulatory agencies. During discussion before this week’s vote among selectmen, Mr Bojnowski appeared to momentarily favor withholding his support for the resolution pending the task force report, but relented moments later, agreeing to sign the opposition.

At the August 1 meeting, Mr Brimmer was already expressing his support for the Sound environmental initiative.

“I’m definitely against this,” Mr Brimmer said during the previous meeting. “I think it’s near a highly populated area. I’ve spent many weekends on the Sound, and it’s a treasure. To put something like this in the Sound that can have so many ramifications with such a high population close by, if there is any chance this could be a danger, or spilling into the sound, I’m against it.”

The town resolution reflects both practical and environmental reasoning for opposing the facility, noting that “Long Island Sound is one of the most beautiful and important bodies of water in the United States…and a vital part of our nation’s ecosystem.”

The local resolution additionally recognizes that “the project also includes more than 25 miles of new undersea pipeline, a development that in and of itself could have significant and negative impact on the critically important sea bottom of the Sound.”