Energy needs a port voice too

Against this backdrop, the US Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Maritime Administration, has been conducting hearings regarding a proposed ‘Port Ambrose’ – a liquefied natural gas import terminal that would be sited twenty miles offshore, out in the Atlantic.

Predictably, in a round of public hearings, the environmentalists (who have dubbed Liberty Gas, the project sponsor, as ‘The Dracula Monster’) have railed against the facility – which would be a private facility outside the purview of the Port Authority.

On the plus side, labour interests spoke up in support of Port Ambrose, citing the positive economic benefits and job creation during the construction phase. The ‘facility’ in this case would be akin to a buoy, which would link up with tankers able to gasify their liquid cargo, for discharge into underwater pipes that tie into the existing gas distribution grid.

Not surprisingly, I am in favour of the project, which will offer both economic and environmental benefits. Just up in the coast, in Boston, two similar buoy systems operated successfully and safely, prior to a big drop in US LNG prices, which slowed the flow of imports.

One hopes that forward thinking politicians in the region reading this article, and other similarly sentimented pieces, would take an expansive look at such energy supply issues, and talk to the Coast Guard and MARAD to allay fears regarding maritime safety issues. Energy prices are volatile; terminals in the US Gulf will supply LNG to foreign customers, but New Yorkers will need the gas for heating in the winters and, increasingly, for powering air conditioners in summer. Local utilities are far along in planning for new gas fired generating plants.

The New York area took a pounding last October with the hurricane, with parts of the maritime supply chain severely disrupted. The resiliency that was demonstrated, in the form of supply lines getting back to normal in weeks and not months, points to the capabilities of the human infrastructure around the port. Environmentally friendly and economically sensible solutions to our biggest problems – those dealing with energy, can have a maritime component – but our local port community needs to voice support.