Attorney General Says Broadwater Threatens Public Safety

by Marcia Chambers | January 9, 2007 12:57 PM | | Comments (9)

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Branford Point—-CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is leading the legal fight against what he terms a “monstrous” floating liquefied natural gas terminal 10 miles off Branford, plunged into Long Island Sound Sunday as part of an organized protest to Save the Sound. He termed the proposed Broadwater facility “an unacceptable security risk” and a terrorist attraction. At issue, he said, was the safety of Connecticut residents.


The swimmers included State Senator Ed Meyer, who represents Branford and other shoreline communities and Branford’s Second Selectman Dick Sullivan. U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman said this was the wrong natural gas project for this region, that there were other natural gas applications for the Northeast that were less invasive and far less risky. Last year, he said, “we passed a wonderful bill called the Long Island Stewardship Act. To put this monster into the middle of the Sound is to put at risk everything we have tried to do.” Congresswoman Rosa De Lauro said she agreed with him.

Lieberman did not take the plunge, preferring, he quipped, to delegate that to Blumenthal. Instead he gave the countdown. Among the 30 swimmers taking the “polar plunge” were residents and members of Branford High’s swimming team. But it was hardly polar bear weather. At 44 degrees F, the water was warm enough for some to linger a bit for a short swim.

Blumenthal minced no words. The terminal, 80 feet high and 1,200 feet long”“the size of four football fields”“was an “environmental atrocity,” and unsafe. In an interview he told the Eagle that the U.S. Coast Guard had “inadequate resources in protecting against terrorists, or providing emergency response to accidents.”

He told us that “a terrorist threat could come by air, from a plane, or by sea, via vessel. He said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) draft environmental impact statement “fails even to mention the threat from the air. Obviously there are no more heavily traveled airways than in this part of the Sound.”

” In January or July, whether we swim in it , boat in it, or simply love it, we are not going to let it be degraded or desecrated by a bunch of utility corporate international owners that simply want to profit at the expense of our environment and our security, ” Blumenthal said. “We are going to fight this battle and win because this project really is unnecessary and unacceptable.”

The terminal would actually be located in New York waters, nine miles North of Wading River and 10 miles south of Branford. The Coast Guard would create a zone around the terminal that would extend into 40 acres of Connecticut waters, a concern to Connecticut lobstermen. The terminal would receive cold liquefied natural gas from tankers, heat it, turn it into gas and eventually pipe it ashore.

Key to the outcome is New York’s position on whether the Sound may simply be turned over to a profit making private company. The New York State Department of State recently told FERC that the Broadwater proposal would “impair the character of the Sound and would have an adverse impact on commercial and recreational fisheries and navigation. The company disputes all this, saying clean fuel is good for the environment.

Right now Blumenthal says he won’t give up on FERC. But if he has to, he will mount a multi-forum legal battle. “We are going to go to court; we are going to fight in the environmental agencies in New York, in Connecticut, in every forum where we can carry this fight, including the U.S. Congress.”

This is the month that FERC holds public hearings on Broadwater, a partnership of Shell Oil and TransCanada Corporations. FERC says that the terminal would have only a minor impact on the environment or on public safety. However, at a recent meeting with Connecticut legislators, two academics said the FERC draft on the impact on the Sound was poorly researched.

Before it can obtain a permit essential for construction, Broadwater must first obtain a final environmental report. And before that happens, FERC will hold four public hearings, two in New York and two in Connecticut. The final hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 16 at Branford High School Auditorium, 18 East Main Street, from 7 to 10 p.m.

RTM member Lonnie Reed, who served as master of ceremonies for the event, urged everyone to attend the hearing. “We oppose Broadwater not because we are anti-energy haters but because we are convinced we can get natural gas in a cleaner, safer way.”

As for the stewardship of Long Island Sound, Lieberman put it this way: “This event is our way of saying that Long Island Sound is really our water, not Broadwaters. It belongs to the people.”
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Comments

Posted by: ctkeith | January 9, 2007 4:50 PM

I find it hard to believe there is not one mention of Lieberman voting FOR the Bush/Cheney energy Bill which made stopping this project next to impossible. Lieberman was the ONLY Senator from a New England state to vote for the horrid Energy Bill.

Broadwater is a Done deal unless New York Gov. Eliott Spitzer decides he's against it and everyone of the Politicians at this event knew that. Not one of then believed a word they spoke about stopping the project at this event.

I supported Save the Sound for years but once they invited Joe Lieberman to speek at this event it became a farce.

The saddest part was watching those high school kids put their arms around Lieberman not realizng that he new dam well his vote for the energy bill guaranteed these same kids will be looking out from Branford Point in 5 yrs at the Broadwater LNG Terminal.

I wonder if those in leadership positions at Save the Sound will be suprised when they call these same kids in 5 yrs to vote and they are told "I don't vote because they're all crooks and liars."

Posted by: Moshe Gai | January 9, 2007 8:12 PM

The comment posted above by one CTKEITH are best described as when in trouble "circle the wagens and start shooting". Alas we must remember to shoot to the outside. Name calling and shooting the encircled wagens will only achieve one objective-- we will all be floating dead in the water. Moshe Gai.

Posted by: ctkeith | January 10, 2007 9:19 AM

Unlike your Hyperbolic and Idiotic Temper tantrum displays seen so often at town meetings there is no "name calling or shooting" in my comments only the cold, hard facts.


Posted by: Moshe Gai | January 10, 2007 1:32 PM

Alas, the shooting into the inside of the encircled wagens contiunue. The cold hard facts of one CTKEITH comment is "...they're all crooks and liars". The polar plunge included political giant figures like Ed Meyer and Rosa DeLauro, but we are told by one CTKEITH the cold facts are "they are all crooks and liars". We are told these are facts not name calling. One positive aspect of this outporing of sympathy is that I now found myself in the same line of fire with Ed Meyer and Queen Rosa. Can some one expect a more honorable place in history? Moshe Gai.

Posted by: ctkeith | January 10, 2007 4:36 PM

Dear Moshe,

Your twisting of my comments proves once and for all that you are more like Ed Marcus than anyone thought.

The cold hard facts were:

1) Lieberman was the ONLY Senator from New England to vote for The Cheney Energy plan (he accepted LARGE contributions from the energy lobby right after that vote}

2) Broadwater is a done deal unless NY Gov. Eliott Spitzer opposes it.Every pol there new that was the case ( I was at the event and talked to each one and some reporters who wanted both sides of this story).The "public comment" part of this process is to allow pople to blow off steam NOT to change the decision.

3) The kids were never told that Lieberman voted for the Energy bill which gave FERC total dictitorial power over siting of ALL LNG terminals and took away the right to take any Ferc decision on siting to court.

My Question for you is:

How does it feel to have become what you profess to dispise?

Posted by: taxpayer too | January 12, 2007 4:57 PM

Okay, gentlemen....enough is enough. Remember, that ulitimately, when push comes to shove, that you're both on the same team and wish the same ultimate results with this issue and other important issues that are quickly surfacing.
*United we stand, divided we fall.....*

Posted by: Moshe Gai | January 12, 2007 11:02 PM

Yes one "TAXPAYER TOO" we all have to stand united with the wagens to our back and shoot outward away from the wagens, not into the encircled wagens (now stated for the third time). Moshe Gai.

Posted by: RobN | January 15, 2007 8:50 PM

I would rather have a wagon to my back than Joe Lieberman, since he was the one who convinced 1/3 of the Democratic party to betray their fellows when they voted for Senator. My back is too fragile to have knife plunged into it. Nevertheless, its nice to see him paying lip service to the effort.

Regarding the AG...Connecticut needs more good solid citizens like Dick Blumenthal.

Now here's a riddle.
Q: How do you keep your industrial waste from polluting the ground below your feet?

A: Don't build it on the ground.


Posted by: matt w | January 24, 2007 10:36 PM

Is this the same Moshe that was in dispute with UConn? If so, for all this talk of shooting outward, you certainly know how to escalate a fight when the opportunity arises- right?

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