Broadwater Backup Sought: The State Hires a Consultant to Find Alternative Locations and Technologies for the Proposed Terminal
By Tom Incantalupo, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
May 19–New York State has hired a private consultant to study alternatives in the Atlantic Ocean to Broadwater Energy’s proposed location in Long Island Sound for its liquefied natural gas terminal, state officials said yesterday.
The state Energy Research Development Authority said it has contracted with the Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio, for $111,000 to study not just alternative sites but alternative technologies.
“Alternative locations and technologies in the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island have not been fully explored and developed,” the state agency said in the contract with Battelle.
The energy agency retained Battelle on behalf of the state Department of State, which is considering whether to issue Broadwater a permit to operate the 1,200-foot-long regassification terminal midway between the Suffolk County and Connecticut shorelines. A spokesman for the state department said considering alternative sites is routine in such proceedings.
The alternative Atlantic locations being examined south of Long Island include where another company, the Atlantic Sea Island Group, is proposing to construct a man-made island with a liquid natural gas terminal. That site is 13 1/2 miles south of Long Beach, and the proposal, now under review by the Coast Guard, has raised concerns in that city.
But at least some environmentalists consider a fixed facility in the ocean a less distasteful alternative to a floating one in Long Island Sound.
“It won’t close the [Sound] estuary several times a week, it doesn’t impact the lobster industry, and it won’t negatively impact recreational boaters to the same degree,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the 80,000-member statewide Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which vehemently opposes Broadwater’s proposal.
Broadwater said, however, in a statement yesterday that it had studied and rejected more than 20 alternate sites and believes its proposed Long Island Sound site is “the only location to reliably and safely deliver gas to this market.”
The project needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and, because it would be in New York waters, approval by state officials as well.
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.