The following article is from the February 2007 issue of

On November 23, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Broadwater Liquid Natural Gas facility [1] in Long Island Sound. Broadwater LNG, which is a joint venture between TransCanada Corporation and Shell, proposes to meet Long Island's increasing energy needs by providing natural gas through a liquefied terminal. In its November statement, the FERC concluded that the proposed facility would not cause damage in Long Island Sound, where the terminal would float.

Broadwater has raised the profile of the energy debate on Long Island with stakeholders lining up on either side of the issue. Last week, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency weighed in on the debate. The agencies responded to the DEIS by questioning the data collection and methodology used by the FERC in reaching its conclusion. Read more HERE [2].

Others have been wary to render judgment on the facility. Kevin Law, the new chairman of the Long Island Power Authority [3] (LIPA), has not taken a position on the Broadwater facility. In an interview with Newsday [4], he says that he wants to create a "master energy plan" for Long Island and "continue to look at the way we are obtaining our energy supplies and look at re-powering opportunities, where we take the existing generating facilities that are emitting pollutants into the air, and where a lot are fueled by oil, and turn them into facilities powered by natural gas."

In the end, the fate of the Broadwater facility may rest in the hands of Governor Eliot Spitzer. If the governor decides that the facility is not in keeping with New York's coastal management plan then it could be dead on arrival, even if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves it. Read more HERE [5].