Natural Gas

It might just be a case of going from the frying pan into the fire.

Faced with a ever-increasing array of obstacles in developing an LNG receiving terminal in Fall River, Mass., the folks at Weaver’s Cove Energy have come up with a new plan: build an offshore berth in Mount Hope Bay and use a pipeline to ship the gas to the shore.

The new plan calls for the berth to be built about a mile from the nearest shoreline and two miles south of the Braga Bridge–a sticking point in the whole plan for LNG tankers to travel up the Taunton River and go under the bridge. The bridge’s height from the water, though, would have required smaller tankers to make the run from the sea to the plant.

The response over the new plan has been immediate and fierce.

Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), said he was upset Weaver’s Cove Energy has called the new site an “offshore facility.”

“Mount Hope is not the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “It’s a crowded waterway, and LNG tankers would continue to pose a significant hazard to commercial and recreational boat traffic.” He added that even under the plan, the company would still need to build onshore storage tanks.

The original terminal plan was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2005. The three-year fight has cost the city of Fall River about $1.4 million in legal fees, so that’s a good measure that these folks aren’t just going to quit.

In its defense, Weaver’s Cove Energy officials have said the LNG that would come in to their site, is needed for the region to meet a growing demand for gas and to help combat high utility bills.

It’s an argument that is falling on deaf ears in the region–at least so far.

Stay tuned. More to come. Both sides have shown their willingness to carry on the fight, so this dispute over an LNG terminal is far from over.

–John A. Sullivan, News Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, www.OilandGasInvestor.com, jsullivan@hartenergy.com

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