Political Maneuvers Can't Stop LNG Proposal
Dear Editor,
Amanda Roberge’s article, “Does the Bay State Need an LNG Terminal?” (WBJ, Sept. 13, 2010) discusses Weaver’s Cove Energy’s LNG terminal which is slated for construction on the shores of the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay in Fall River and Somerset. In the article, Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, describes the private sector jobs to be created by the Weaver’s Cove development as “minimal, frankly.” Weaver’s Cove Energy disagrees and we speculate that the thousands of local union laborers slated to build the project would join with us in that assertion.
When fully permitted and constructed, our development will have paid $125 million in wages to local union workers in return to for 2.5 million labor-hours for work completed at our Somerset and Fall River construction sites.
Weaver’s Cove Energy is a private commercial enterprise that requires no government money and unlike your local utility, is not guaranteed any return from ratepayers for investments made. Once fully permitted, we will invest roughly $700 million of private capital to build our LNG import terminal and, once operational, our terminal will increase the supply of natural gas to New England by approximately 20 percent. This incremental gas supply will tend to drive down natural gas prices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and because natural gas sets the price of electricity in New England more than 90 percent of the time, our project will also tend to drive down electricity prices.
Regional Benefit
Our project is not asking for special treatment as we navigate the permitting process. When reviewed objectively, the facts have consistently demonstrated that our project satisfies all the regulatory requirements and will benefit the region, state and the local communities.
With these approvals behind us, we find politically driven hurdles being imposed by McGovern, who has consistently ignored or dismissed the above facts as he wields earmarks and special-purpose legislation designed to kill a project that meets or exceeds federal, state and local standards.
Members of the local delegation bypassed the normal review processes and passed special-purpose legislation to declare the Taunton River as “wild and scenic” under federal law, even though the three-mile section of the river near our proposed terminal site hosts three major highway bridges, an active railroad line, an abandoned petroleum terminal, an abandoned coal fire power plant, two boat construction yards, two sewage treatment plants with their associated discharges into the river, a dredged federal navigation channel, and a number of combined sewage overflows that dump untreated sewage into the river. Normally, the “wild and scenic river” designation is applied to rivers in unpopulated and undisturbed areas such as the Snake River flowing through Yellowstone National Park.
Even though our project must meet all the federal regulatory requirements that any other LNG facility in the country might be expected to meet, we fully expect continued attempts to block the project using underhanded political maneuvering and special purpose legislation buried in “earmarks.” We will continue to develop our project because the facts show it meets the required federal standards, will create jobs and will tend to drive down natural gas and electricity costs paid by Massachusetts residents. I should confess that we expect to compete in the marketplace with other energy suppliers and, in return, earn a profit for our efforts and investment. At the same time, we will pay substantial taxes to the state and local communities without making any significant demand on local services.
Gregg Landes
Vice president business development, project manager
Weaver’s Cove Energy LLC
WBJ Web Partners
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