Save the Sound Opposes Floating Gas Plant

Environmental group vows to oppose Broadwater proposal

New Haven (PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, announces its opposition to Broadwater Energys proposed liquid natural gas (LNG) regassification and storage facility in Long Island Sound.

The proposed facility would be approximately the size of the Queen Mary II -- nearly 10-stories tall, four football fields long, and 180-ft. wide -- and would be moored in the middle of the Sound. Save the Sound believes this project represents a significant threat to one of the most beautiful and important bodies of water in the United States.

Not only is the Sound home to thousands of species of wildlife, but also it provides employment and recreational opportunities for millions of people," said Leah Lopez Schmalz, Save the Sounds Director of Legislative and Legal Affairs. This project would require that large areas surrounding the LNG platform and tankers be designated no-use zones, as in no fishing, no sailing, no lobstering, no anything. This constitutes an industrial monopoly and an intrusion on the publics rightful access to Long Island Sound."

There is an enormous potential negative impact on the environment and public safety. In addition to the negative effect on water quality in the area immediately surrounding the facility, possible accidents, including spills and explosions pose significant threats to human and ecological safety.

In addition to the huge LNG platform, there will be 25-miles of new pipeline embedded in the delicate floor of Long Island Sound. As has happened with the Cross-Sound Cable project and the past problems with the Iroquois Pipeline, these types of energy infrastructure projects often have great difficulty complying with environmental standards and can harm the various flora and fauna that live within the ecosystem of the Sounds seafloor and waters.

Over the past decade the governments of Connecticut, New York and the United States, local municipalities, and individuals have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to clean and protect the water quality of this national treasure," Lopez said. The integrity of the Sound must be protected for present and future generations. This proposed facility would turn this beautiful body of water into an industrial park, taking priority over environmental protection and public safety."

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