FERC OKs Broadwater LNG
NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) clearly transcends partisanship, as demonstrated last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Broadwater Energy liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound.
FERC last week approved the Broadwater project. It would, according to the federal regulators, be the first “floating terminal for the storage and delivery of liquefied natural gas in the United States.” The project would deliver some 1.25 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas per day for generating plants and local gas distribution utilities in the Northeast. The project would sit nine miles off the New York coast and 10 miles off the Connecticut coast. Both states have historically opposed the project.
The 5-0 FERC vote, which simply says the project meets federal standards for safety, security and the environment, triggered hyperbolic complaints by Connecticut that the project doesn’t meet those standards. Connecticut and New York had earlier raised those concerns, and FERC had earlier rejected them as bogus.
Ironically, FERC is led and dominated by Republican appointees. The opponents include the state of Connecticut, with a Republican governor, who replaced a disgraced Republican governor, and an activist Democratic attorney general; and New York, with a new Democratic governor with no record on the issue, replacing a disgraced Democratic governor who was a fierce opponent of the Broadwater LNG project as the state’s attorney general.
The Connecticut objection to the FERC approval seemed to anticipate and embrace a New York response to the regulatory order, with no evidence that the Empire State agreed with its frequently contentious neighbor. Let’s be clear here. New York is likely to echo Connecticut’s view. But it had not at the time of Connecticut’s latest clash with FERC.
The Broadwater project – a joint venture between TransCanada Corp. and Shell – includes eight LNG storage tanks, with 8 bcf of storage capacity for gas, a regasification plant, and a 21.7 mile gas pipeline connecting to the Iroquois Gas Transmission System pipeline. FERC Chairman Joe Kelliher, a Republican, said after the vote to approve the project, “We have reviewed the record in the Broadwater LNG proceeding and have considered carefully the concerns of the many citizens who have commented on the project.” Nonetheless, said Kelliher, FERC is signing off on the project.
That drew immediate fire from Connecticut Republican Gov. Jodi Rell, along with Connecticut Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (an acolyte of former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer’s adversarial approach in New York). Blumenthal has long been an adversary of FERC decisions, such as the undersea power line crossing Long Island Sound from Connecticut to the island, arguing that hypothetical and unlikely environmental harms outweigh immediate and measurable energy benefits.
In a statement after FERC’s March 20 ruling, Rell said the federal decision “is nothing short of a disgrace.” Strangely, supporting the as-yet unknown position of New York, Rell added that the FERC decision “is a discourtesy to New York Governor David A. Paterson – who has been in office less than a week – and an assault on the most precious environmental asset our two state possess: the reinvigorated Long Island Sound.” Speaking for herself and, presumably for Paterson, she proposed that FERC further delay the approval of the Broadwater project.
Rell’s railing was based in part on the prior opposition Spitzer to the $700 million LNG terminal. New York has not yet made a decision on the LNG project, according to the New York Times.
FERC Chairman Joe Kelliher in a March 21 letter to Rell said that her opposition to the project, calling for a further delay, implied that the FERC decision “somehow encumbers the New York governor” in his responsibilities to react to the project. Kelliher wrote, “I have no reason to doubt the ability of Governor Paterson to perform his new responsibilities and to act in what he sees is the best interest of the people of New York.”
Kelliher said the FERC decision “in no way implicates a future decision by Governor Paterson regarding the consistency under the state’s coastal zone management program, and we set no time limit on his decision.”
This case is headed to federal court. It will be additional years before the Broadwater LNG project delivers gas to U.S. markets, if at all. It isn’t party politics. It’s local politics.