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April 23, 2008

R.I. House passes hurdle for future LNG plans

PROVIDENCE -- The House approved legislation requiring both General Assembly and a municipality to sign-off on any emergency response plan developed for transporting liquefied natural gas on Narragansett and, or Mount Hope bays.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., passed 66 to 1. It goes next to the Senate.

Gallison, who opposes Weaver’s Cove Energy's proposal to build an LNG port in Fall River, Mass., in which LNG-carrying ships would traverse Rhode Island waters, said in a statement that he also wants to stop the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency from creating an emergency response plan for the Weaver Cove proposal.

State resources should not be committed to "advancing the proposal," the Gallison says.

Any emergency plan would have to be ratified by the General Assembly and the town or city council of each community along the route proposed for LNG tankers. In the current state of things, that would include Newport, Jamestown, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Bristol, and Warren. Gallison is a Bristol Democrat who represents his hometown and Portsmouth.

“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 stated.

Gallison goes on to state that the legislation's vitality is not weakened by Weaver’s Cove recent statements 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.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:22 PM | Permalink

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