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** Update: Report back from the meeting: here. **
The third and final public hearing about the Atlantic Island Sea Group LNG will be held in Rockaway (Queens). Anyone interested in stopping LNG’s should come speak up. Heavy Nassau County contingent hoped for…
Sunday, April 19 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Rockaway’s PS 114 “Belle Harbor School”
(400 Beach 135th Street, Rockaway, NY 11694)
This hearing is in regard to the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) island to be built 13.5 miles off the shores of Long Beach. For information and updates, please go to: www.cleanoceanaction.org. You can sign an anti-LNG petition: here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6D9SNcEiRY]
Some actions you could take, in addition to this meeting, to discourage the building of LNG’s:
In NY, call the governor and ask him to take a stand against LNG.
NY Governor Paterson: (518) 474-8390.
And, in New Jersey:
Call NJ Governor Jon Corzine at (609) 292-6000
Ask your town and organization to pass resolutions opposing offshore LNG ports.
Atlantic Sea Island Group initiated a project titled “Safe Harbor Energy”, which proposes to build an artificial island 13.5 miles off the shore of Long Beach . It is the first of three liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities that are being proposed in this region. If accepted, it will set the precedent for industrializing our oceans. This island will require disturbing 110 acres of the ocean’s floor in water that is 60-70 feet deep. Hurricanes commonly occur in this region with waves reaching 55 feet in height. Marine life will be affected. It will be situated in the only natural reef on the New York/New Jersey coast, which serves as a migratory ecosystem for several endangered species of fish and sea mammals, all subject to destruction if these plans are approved. Commercial fishermen claim that such drastic, invasive construction of an island off the shore of Long Beach will have a devastating effect on their industry that is experiencing waning fishing opportunities. Safe Harbor Energy intends to lay approximately 12.8 miles of pipeline four feet below the ocean’s floor from the terminal to meet an existing pipeline that extends from Morgan , New Jersey to Long Beach , Long Island . This existing pipeline is already being used at its capacity. Bringing in another pipeline to meet the existing one will not bring in more natural gas than it already can handle. To irrevocably alter 110 acres of the ocean’s floor for an island and up to 12.8 miles of ocean floor for more pipelines requires the use of tremendous construction equipment invading our oceans. A construction project of this magnitude will alter marine life in this and its surrounding areas forever. This will be the first artificial island designed specifically for the import, storage, regasification and distribution of LNG in this country. A similar island was proposed off the coast of California , but the California Land Commission vetoed it because they found it extremely dangerous. Closer to home, the Broadwater project to situate a LNG barge 9 miles from the north shore of Long Island was rejected. The purpose of this proposed island will be a depot for the importation of LNG from foreign countries.
Environmentalists claim that natural gas is a fossil fuel that emits slightly less carbon dioxide than petroleum, but the process of converting it to liquid for transport would make LNG have a footprint that is nearly equivalent to coal. In contrast, the natural gas that is currently piped from New Jersey to Long Island is produced in the United States . The creation of this island depot will allow Safe Harbor Energy to import from the Middle East and Asia , including Indonesia , Russia and Iran . It is against our national interests to bring in foreign, dirty fossil fuels at a time when we are, or should be, seeking energy independence and alternative fuels. These waters would be covered by large “security buffers” that would deny their use to the boaters, divers and fishermen who have enjoyed these areas for generations.
New York is already a terrorist target. Why would be build a new target less than 14 miles off our shores and invite tankers from unfriendly nations to our ports? Why put this additional burden on our U.S. Coast Guard? Atlantic Sea Island Group claims that importing LNG will bring the price down by making it competitive. LNG is priced according to world demand, which is three times the price of U.S. natural gas. The world LNG price levels that went up last summer with all the crude oil speculation have not dropped one penny even as the world petroleum markets plummet. New discoveries of natural gas in North America flood the regional pipelines that supply the entire nation, making LNG imports obsolete. Experts estimate that current North American reserves can supply more than twice the demand for natural gas over the next 60 years.
The environmental and aesthetic impact should not be downplayed.When we go to the beach and look out onto the horizon, our eyes will be drawn to it and we will see it.
The Broadwater Project (an LNG proposed in Suffolk, on the LI Sound) was recently rejected by the U.S. Department of Commerce because the project’s “adverse coastal impacts outweighed its national interest, in part because its location in an undeveloped region of the Sound would significantly impair its unique scenic and aesthetic character…”
The ocean is our signature natural resource and our open space. It is our duty to protect and preserve it for future generations. The environmental impact study is underway. Long Islanders must be ready to voice strong opposition to this project.
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Ecology, energy, Environment, local, long island, Long Island Politics, New York State Politics, News, progressive politics Tagged: | ASIG, Atlantic Island Sea Group, Insanity Island, Liquefied Natural Gas, lng, nassau, new jersey
[…] In Nassau, some have dubbed the project “Insanity Island.” A hearing will be held on Sunday, in Rockaway, to give the public final input into the […]