Tension surrounds New York natural gas plan
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. — It would be about as long as the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner and would supply enough natural gas to heat 4 million homes a year.
And it would be right in the middle of Long Island Sound, halfway between densely populated areas of New York and Connecticut.
Although years from generating power, a proposed floating liquefied natural gas terminal is churning up controversy and uniting politicians, environmentalists and activists in both states.
The proposed $700 million terminal is part of a growing national debate over the presence of liquefied natural gas facilities in coastal cities. The issue has affected communities from Massachusetts to Texas, as cities grapple over environmental and security concerns while also trying to create more energy infrastructure to deal with rising demands.
Natural gas is used to heat more than 60 million homes in the U.S. and it is increasingly important as a source of fuel for power producers.
Energy demand is especially robust in the area that would be served by the Long Island terminal. About half of the gas would go to New York City, the nation’s largest city with 8 million people. Between 25 and 30 percent is targeted for Long Island, and the rest would go to Connecticut — both densely populated areas.
The proposal also carries political implications: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s company served as a consultant for the project, and the likely 2008 presidential candidate has visited communities this week where public hearings were being held on the proposal.
Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — Giuliani’s potential 2008 rival — has spoken out against the project.
The debate received renewed attention this week as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began hearings on whether to allow Broadwater Energy — a consortium of Shell Oil Co., a Houston-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. — to build the terminal about nine miles off Wading River, N.Y., and 10 miles south of New Haven, Conn.
Broadwater officials say the terminal is needed to meet the growing demand for natural gas. They site the New York State Energy Plan, which projects a 37 percent growth in statewide natural gas use by 2021; Connecticut forecasts the use of natural gas for electric generation will hit 47 percent by 2008.
Broadwater estimates it will reduce natural gas and electricity prices by an average $680 million a year in the region. The median savings for customers, according to Broadwater, will be $300 per year, a figure critics dispute.
Hundreds of residents showed up at the hearings, held in both Connecticut and Long Island, to let their views be known on everything from the environment, security, the need for alternative energy, and the potential threat to the fishing industry in Long Island Sound.
Giuliani said the proposed terminal would be “as safe a facility in design as you could possibly have.”
He said employees would have thorough background checks, and the company was committed to using the latest security technology available.