While high-volume hydrofracking remains off-limits in New York State, the industry is wasting no time setting themselves up here with a network of tra
While high-volume hydrofracking remains off-limits in New York State, the industry is wasting no time setting themselves up here with a network of transport and support services. In the two and a half years since Sane Energy Project formed, we've gone from one pipeline project in NYC to 4, and at last count, 21 gas infrastructure projects statewide are either pending or in process. In this first installment of a series, we'll focus on each project, one at a time.
Liberty LNG Port Revived
Like a toxic whack-a-mole, the LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) port proposed by Liberty Natural Gas LLC has popped up before: withdrawn in 2012 after Governor Christie vetoed one off the coast of New Jersey, it's now back again, threatening both the Jersey shore and New York's Jones Beach. The idea is that LNG tanker ships (carrying gas from Trinidad and Tobago, no less) would float up, connect to submerged buoys and transfer the gas into an existing 22-mile long pipeline serving Long Island and New York City. An alternate site off the Jersey coast would connect to the same line. That these areas are not even fully recovered from last year's superstorm Sandy fazes Liberty not at all: they say the facility "would be built to withstand hurricane conditions." Ok, let's say, the weather's fine. Let's say a floating container of explosives near Kennedy Airport is not a terrorist magnet. Let's say installing ever more pipelines doesn't harm invaluable marine environments. Let's just say. LNG tanker ships still off-gas 24/7, sending powerful greenhouse gas methane straight into our atmosphere. Want more info about the project? We'll keep you posted. But think about it: Even CHRISTIE killed it.
What interests us about this project is multi-layered: First, the pipe that would be built to connect the LNG port to the old existing undersea pipe is sited basically as an extension of the proposed Rockaway Lateral (see map above for how that project would connect Brooklyn to that undersea pipe). Would this end up being a segmented pipeline, or how do these 2 projects connect? The other question is: Gas from Trinidad and Tobago--REALLY? Seems it would be awfully easy, once this port were in place, to get a permit to reverse the flow from import to export, and give Marcellus drillers a convenient exit for their product to better priced foreign markets. Is the project filed that way? Of course not. If they did they could not claim the project serves "the public interest."
The truly head-shaking aspect of this project is that it is sited right where the LI-NYC Offshore Wind Project (aka the Rockaway Wind Farm) is also proposed. The wind farm would be sited about 15 miles off Jones Beach, and about 16 miles off the Rockaways (represented on map above by the massed white circles). The LNG port would be sited about 17 miles off Jones.
There could not be a more stark or obvious choice for New York's energy future than this juxtaposition: on one hand, wind power; on the other, more gas. Steelworkers building pipelines, or steelworkers building turbines. Laying on the beach, looking out to sea and feeling good about the green energy on the horizon. Or laying on the beach and wondering what exactly you're inhaling.
