Newsletters
November 2008 - LNG, Taunton RIver and Mt. Hope Bay
WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
NOVEMBER, 2008
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.”
- Fight Club movie, screenplay Jim Uhls, novel Chuck Palahnuk
“Monkeys are superior to men in this: when a monkey looks in a mirror, he sees a monkey.”
- Malcolm De Chazal
Sustainable Communities-
Remember when just about every local, regional, state and national environmental organization was talking “sustainability?” What ever happened?
We continue to squander our natural resources. We refuse to control our exponentially exploding population. We’ve dismantled our industrial base and corporitized our agricultural and fishing industries. Seventy years after Aldo Leopold we still lack a “land ethic” and we use “housing starts” as our chief economic indicator.
We’re dependent on overseas countries for most of our energy needs and are rapidly approaching that same dependence for our food and fiber.
We need fundamental change. A paradigm shift is way overdue. Can we save our communities, environment and ourselves? Have we elected political leaders capable of leading the way …or will we continue to elect less than the best and brightest? What do you think?
LNG Six Years and Counting-
Comments on the Notice of Project Change (NPC) for what Hess LNG/Weaver’s Cove Energy is calling their LNG Offshore Berth Project were due November 11. The Coalition for the Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities, of which we are a part, submitted the following to Energy and Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Here are the comments presented by Coalition President Carvalho:
On behalf of the members of the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities, I wish to submit the following comments on the Notice of Project Change for the Weaver’s Cove Energy LNG Offshore Berth Project, EOEEA #13061.
Based on the information provided in the Notice of Project Change, we believe that the change significantly increases the environmental consequences of the project to the extent that it warrants further MEPA review by the submission of a new Scope and a draft and final EIR.
Public Safety
We take issue with the previous Secretary’s Certificate on the SFEIR, dated July 28, 2006, that public safety issues are “largely under federal control” and therefore outside of MEPA jurisdiction.
Within a few days of the date of the Secretary’s Certificate, on August 3, 2006, Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants ruled in the Boston University Biolabs case that public safety issues do indeed come under the purview of MEPA. It appears to us that this ruling changes the whole landscape of what the proponent should be providing in a supplemental EIR.
We have long argued that the proponent has never presented worst-case scenarios that are particular to this site. Instead, the proponent vaguely analyzed these dangers and referenced only studies that were commissioned by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or others. Given the clear ruling in the BU case, we request that the Secretary include in his Certificate a directive that the proponent use the findings of the Sandia and other studies and apply these findings to worst-case scenarios at both the proposed terminal site and at the tanker as it moves in the turning basin.
Since the LNG tanker ships will not be traversing up the Taunton River because of the relocation of the loading dock to Mount Hope Bay, the proponent is assuming that the safety issue related to tankers has gone away. However, given that the turning basin in the revised project will be 1,500 feet from a heavily populated neighborhood in Fall River and 1,750 from the new Kuss Middle School, public safety related to tankers is still very much a major issue in the new proposal.
As they slowly turn in the basin, the LNG tankers would be especially vulnerable, making them easy targets for terrorists from sea or land. As the FERC-commissioned Sandia study documents, the intense fire from a release from an LNG tanker would burn people a mile away and ignite buildings. Most of the heavily-populated South End of Fall River is within a mile of the turning basin. If such an event occurred, the prevailing winds from Mount Hope Bay would cause secondary fires that would spread throughout most of the city, causing enormous loss of life and property.
In addition, a GAO report published in January, 2008 questioned whether the U.S. Coast Guard has the capacity and resources to adequately protect shipments of LNG. Given this lack of capacity to prevent a concerted terrorist attack on an LNG tanker, the EIR should assume that such an easily-executed attack on an LNG vessel in the turning basin is not a remote possibility.
LNG Transfer System
The proponent states that the LNG transfer system---consisting of two identical Pipe-in-Pipe (PiP) lines---“has been used successfully in a number of projects.” However, our understanding is that the system has been used in the Far East but that the length of the piping systems has been approximately one mile. The installation and connection of the rigid PiP sections seems to be an especially challenging procedure that needs additional explanation. In the EIR, the proponent should show where PiP systems have been used, their length, their installation method and how these systems have performed in actual practice.
In addition, the EIR should show how the assembly of the PiP system over the CSX rail line will be conducted and whether CSX approval of the use of their air rights will be obtained.
Alternatives
The proponent’s analysis of LNG demand and supply is not current. Overseas demand for LNG has raised prices in other markets and caused a loss of supply available to the U.S. As Energy Current said in a dispatch dated September 1, 2008:
LNG imports into the U.S. remain low as high-demand premium-price markets in Asia and Spain continue to draw the majority of LNG supply, leaving terminals in the U.S. and northern Europe underutilized. An unexpected rise in U.S. natural gas production also is filling domestic needs, keeping U.S. natural gas prices low relative to prices in other countries.
As rising U.S. demand has been met with rising domestic production, U.S. natural gas prices have remained well below those seen in international markets. The imbalance between U.S and international prices has led to a dramatic reduction of LNG imports into the United States.
Indeed, since domestic production of natural gas in the U.S. is keeping prices low here, while prices are high in Asia and Europe, both the Cheniere and Freeport LNG facilities have filed with federal agencies for blanket authorization to engage in re-exporting LNG from their facilities to foreign markets.
This world-wide LNG price dynamic means that the demand for natural gas in New England---as well as the United States in general---is likely to be met through domestic production, not LNG, for the foreseeable future.
In the EIR, the proponent should discuss this market dynamic as it relates to the demand for LNG from the Weaver’s Cove facility. They should also explain the drop in demand for natural gas for power generation after 2027, as shown in Figure 1-2 in the Notice of Project Change document.
State Legislation
State legislatures in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts have recently passed laws that would restrict the passage of LNG tankers in Narragansett Bay and Mount Hope Bay. A June, 2007 ruling by a U.S. District judge upheld a Baltimore County, Maryland law that would in effect prevent the construction of an LNG facility at Sparrow’s Point. In the EIR, the proponent should describe the impact of these laws and this decision on the viability and timing of the Weaver’s Cove project.
Impact of Dredging
The Notice of Project Change does not mention the significant mortality that can occur to polychaetes and other benthic invertebrates resulting from dredging of the channel and turning basin and excavation and backfilling of the pipeline trench, moving of existing water, gas and other utility lines that run across the river, and the winching of the half-mile sections of piping along the bottom of the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay.
Dredging and trenching can decrease bottom habitat complexity and biodiversity. This issue was not addressed in the NPC and should be given adequate evaluation in the EIR.
In addition, if this project proceeds, how will the project monitor species diversity and abundance? For example, the Atlantic Sturgeon is a Massachusetts endangered species and the Taunton River has historically been the site of Atlantic Sturgeon fisheries. However, no information on this species has been included in previous documents on the project. More information from the proponent is required in an EIR on a wide range of issues related to dredging.
We again reiterate the need for the preparation of a new Scope and a draft and final EIR to allow for the full evaluation of the project and its impacts.
We look forward to reviewing these documents as they become available.
Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay-
The Taunton River and Mount Hope is the most southerly estuarine complex in Massachusetts. Its fauna is rich and varied. With the Labrador Current to the north and the Gulf Stream to the south, a vast array of both northern and southern vertebrate and invertebrate species are attracted to these sheltered waters and spend some or all of their life cycle in the bay and/or river. A mere forty years ago an extensive study was made of the marine resources of the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. More recently other partial studies have been done by various federal and state agencies. The native …and state listed endangered …Atlantic Sturgeon was tallied by one of these more recent studies.
To think a seemingly all-powerful corporation, aided and abetted by elected and appointed individuals, can ignore the will of the people and damage or destroy this complex aquatic ecosystem, is extremely abhorrent.
Here’s a teeny bit …just the fish life …in your river and bay from that early inventory. Quite amazing …or what? Think Hess cares?
Smooth Dogfish
Little Skate
American Eel
Blueback Herring
Alewife
Menhaden
Atlantic Herring
Striped Anchovy
Bay Anchovy
Rainbow Smelt
Oyster Toadfish
Silver Hake
Atlantic Tomcod
Squirrel Hake
Sheepshead Minnow
Mummichog
Striped Killifish
Tidewater Silverside
Atlantic Silverside
Fourspine Stickleback
Threespine Stickleback
Northern Pipefish
White Perch
Striped Bass
Bluefish
Crevalle Jack
Lookdown
Permit
Scup
Squeteague
Spot
Northern Kingfish
Tautog
Cunner
Striped Mullet
Seaboard Goby
Atlantic Mackerel
Butterfish
Northern Searobin
Longhorn Sculpin
Windowpane Flounder
Winter Flounder
Hogchoker
Planehead Filefish
Northern Puffer
Shorter Days/Longer Nights-
November storms have stripped the last of October’s once colorful leaves off local trees and the increasingly shorter days mean winter is about to make its entrance. This is a great time of the year to take part in an organized outdoor event or create your own so you can check up on what Mother Nature is doing. She’s never idle. If not busy ushering out one season, she is busy ushering in another.
On sunny days in winter woodlots and larger forests, note beech leaves hanging on. Beech groves stand out as their smooth shiny bark transmits a subtle glow and gold colored leaves reflect the brightness of the sky. In contrast, a copse of dark green closely growing hemlocks block out almost all sunlight and create a deep, dark, damp forest. Two entirely different woodland environments for you to explore and enjoy.
How are your tree identification skills? Winter is the perfect time, with tree identification guide book in hand, to check out your deciduous and evergreen neighbors.
While examining local tree species you’re also apt to see “new” birds. White and red breasted nuthatches, juncos, kinglets and other wintertime visitors are joining with our tough year ‘round resident cardinals, mockingbirds and tufted titmice. Keep a list. See if it changes as time goes by.
So, time to put away your summer gear and break out your boots, hats, gloves and winter apparel. Find your cross-country skis, sleds, ice skates, snowshoes, etc. Winter is fast approaching and you don’t want to miss it by staying indoors.
Check on our Calendar for fun and educational early winter things to see and do.
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