Gallison LNG Plan Gets House Approval
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By Alex Kuffner
The bill gives communities in the East Bay, and Jamestown, authority over emergency response plans.
PROVIDENCE -- In a near-unanimous vote Wednesday, the state House of Representatives approved legislation that would require a slew of additional approvals for any emergency response plan developed for the transportation of liquefied natural gas through Rhode Island waters.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., would place more roadblocks in the path of a proposed LNG terminal in Fall River by giving the General Assembly and all Rhode Island cities and towns on Narragansett and Mount Hope bays authority over the emergency response plan being developed by the state Emergency Management Agency.
The local communities would have to sign off on the plan before it could go into effect, said Gallison, one of the leading opponents of the marine terminal in Fall River's north end proposed by Weaver's Cove Energy and Hess LNG.
"A community could say, 'This is going to be a problem, so you should do this,' " Gallison explained in an interview yesterday. "If that can't be worked out, then the community can veto the plan."
The bill passed in a vote of 66 to 1. It must now go to the Senate, where Gallison will argue for its passage.
Under the plan put forward by Weaver's Cove and Hess, massive tankers loaded with LNG would traverse Rhode Island waters to reach the proposed terminal, entering Narragansett Bay and then heading north in Mount Hope Bay.
If Gallison's legislation goes into effect, the list of communities that would have say over the emergency response plan would include Newport, Jamestown, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Bristol, and Warren. Gallison is a Bristol Democrat who represents his hometown and Portsmouth.
Those against the plan say that LNG tankers could be terrorist targets or could be subject to accidents that could result in devastating fires.
"Just about every state leader and municipal leaders in all the towns and cities along the bay are opposed to the use of the bay by dangerous LNG tankers. If Weaver's Cove wants this project, it should be Weaver's Cove's responsibility to pay for the preparation of response plans for emergencies that its project could cause," Gallison said in a statement.
Gallison goes on to state that the legislation's vitality is not weakened by Weaver's Cove recent assertions that it would also seek an offshore berth for LNG tankers if it can not win approval for its Fall River location.
It would still see LNG tankers in the bays and so shoreline communities need to be protected, Gallison said. His statement noted a Government Accountability Office study that, according to Gallison, said liquefied natural gas can not be safely moved using tankers as they are vulnerable to terrorism.
Co-sponsors of the legislation include Rep. Amy G. Rice, D- Portsmouth, Middletown, Newport; Rep. J. Russell Jackson, D- Newport; Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske, D-Bristol, Warren; and Rep. Jan Malik, D-Warren, Barrington.
Gallison said yesterday he will continue to do all he can to stop the LNG terminal from being built.
"They just won't go away," he said. "But we're not going away either. We're going to do everything we can to stop this."
"They just won't go away. But we're not going away either. We're going to do everything we can to stop this."
Rep. Raymond
E. Gallison Jr. LNG terminal foe
GALLISON akuffner@projo.com / (401) 277-7457
Originally published by Alex Kuffner, Journal Staff Writer.
(c) 2008 Providence Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Providence Journal
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