LNG Threat to the Narragansett Bay; Letter from the Executive Director of Save the Bay

Note from Greetings: I hope the people in the Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island read the following letter from Save the Bay's ED, and all wake up and call their congressmen and senators. LNG will disrupt business and travel on the Narragansett Bay. It is dangerous, with a potential blast area that covers many thousands in population and many square miles in property. With its path up the bay past the U.S. Naval Warfare College, it leaves this area a target for potential terrorist attacks. And, in the end, if none of these matter to you... it will most undoubtedly decrease your property values and increase your insurance policy costs as homeowners. Who will want to buy a house in a potentially dangerous area? One where travel is closed down any time a tanker goes up the bay... without notice. And one where it can be seen to be a potential explosion waiting to happen at any time. From Jonathan Stone, Executive Director, Save The Bay Dear Friend of Narragansett Bay, I’m writing today to express deep disappointment over the opinion piece which ran in today’s Providence Journal by Weaver’s Cove LNG president and CEO Ted Gehrig. He suggests that the LNG project proposed for Mount Hope Bay is necessary and beneficial, and that the environmental costs, use conflicts and security issues are insignificant. This self-serving and dismissive approach underestimates our common resolve and ignores the history of Bay stewardship and protection that defines the people who live here. Save The Bay strenuously opposes this project because, unlike any existing user of the Bay, Weaver’s Cove LNG will become a dominant presence from the East Passage to Fall River that is completely out of balance with the mixed uses we all enjoy today. Year-round LNG tanker traffic will disrupt our fragile marine and tourism industries, and the project will destroy critical habitat we have worked for more than two decades and committed hundreds of millions of dollars to save. For the record, while focusing on the higher cost of Canadian natural gas, Mr. Gehrig did not mention his competitors’ two new LNG terminals off the coasts of Gloucester and Boston that are or will be operational by the end of this year that serve the region. So who benefits most from this project, exactly? That would be Weaver’s Cove LNG. In one respect Mr. Gehrig is correct. Two key federal agencies, each according to their narrow permitting mandate, are allowing this project to go forward. This would be an irreversible tragedy. Save The Bay is committed, for as long as it takes, to defeating this plan. It’s wrong for the Bay, wrong for the economy and wrong for our communities. I urge you to take action by writing letters to the editor, contacting your local and state elected officials, writing your Congressional delegates and encouraging your friends and neighbors to fight this project. Please join the cause today. P.S. The LNG Threat is the cover story of the fall issue of Save The Bay's Tides. You may read that story, an important article on the wastewater/stormwater crisis on Aquidneck Island and other items of interest around the Bay online.